If you have ever encountered a problem in your car when the battery just seemed to be unable to jump start your car? This happens most commonly in the winter and in the morning. After several trials, you finally get the car to start and then the next morning it behaves like it again. If your car battery was brand new or wasn't used for a long time, this might seem weird. Actually, you have just experienced battery sulfation.

If you cut open a battery (I wouldn't recommend this), it's actually made of metallic plates suspended in an electrolyte solution. In a nutshell, a battery creates voltage through electrical processes that happen between these plates and the solution. The only problem is, sometimes, the lead present in the plates tend to combine with sulfuric acid in the solution and becomes lead sulfate. This process is called sulfation.

This could happen to any battery. Those who are most prone to this kind of chemical reaction are those batteries who have been left unused for a long time like in storage rooms or just being displayed and not bought in a store.

The symptoms of battery sulfation are usually the same for most batteries. Your car starts with a little voltage then suddenly dies as if drained immediately of all its energy.

The product of the chemical reaction between the lead in the plates and the sulfuric acid, lead sulfate, actually has enveloped the plates in a crusty precipitate. This greatly reduces the plate's area in contact with the electrolyte solution subsequently lowering capacitance and voltage. In short, the plates become rusted with a different kind of rust, and this rust is getting in the way for your battery to function properly.

Fortunately for you, there are available devices in the market called battery desulfators which can rectify this problem easily. They simply remove the rust off of the plates and you'll find your batteries performing like new. Ask your mechanic about it.

Posted under Cars

With the hundreds of gadgets and other electronic appliances that are now available in the market, the amount of energy consumption is at an all time high. It's always smart to have several power back ups when it comes to our electrical use. There are a lot of benefits that we can get even from a partial independence from the grid.

Several other countries have actually passed laws that pay customers back who generate their own electricity. In Germany, if you own a solar panel system to make your own electricity, if you're consuming less than what you're generating, then power companies actually pay you for the amount you gave back to the grid. Australia is also following closely in the solar power revolution.

You can store the electricity generated from solar panels during the day in battery systems and then live off of it for the rest of the night. Ask your local power company if they have any program about households or businesses which generate their own electricity, they usually do. It's an excellent way to finally get rid of a monthly electrical bill and actually make some money out of it. This could be very useful if you're running a business.

In some homes, they even go as far as completely detaching themselves from the grid. They have systems large enough to support their whole electrical consumption and even probably take in a few low income homes under their wing as well. During the summer, the amount of electricity they generate gets extremely high and they won't have to worry about bills no longer.

You should consider using solar power yourself. It's not something that you can ignore completely. If a solar battery system can immediately make you recover from huge electrical consumption bills, then you should try it out. What have you got to lose?

Posted under Cars