So there I was, a grass widow in a new country, in a small village in a parking lot, having just dropped off my daughter at her new pre-school when I turned the key in the ignition and heard the all too familiar clicking of a dead battery on my almost new car.Shock and horror, I had left the lights on.Thankfully within an hour of making a call a faithful repairman arrived with battery charger in tow, to rescue me.Once the battery was fully charged he checked it and said, 'Well Mam, the battery is fine, you just don't drive it far enough to fully charge it! You should take it out for at least a 30min spin.' These charges may not be devices that we think of often but when you need them you really appreciate them.Just as automotive batteries are not the only type of battery in use, so too do battery chargers come in all types for automotive as well as industrial use.So what types of battery charger are available for industrial applications? Typically there are three types of charging system namely Constant voltage, Constant current and Traction.The amount of current delivered into a battery by these chargers is carefully controlled.Constant Voltage also known as Constant Potential types like the one used to charge the wet lead-acid battery in my car are also used to charge sealed lead-acid batteries used in many industrial applications.These industrial battery chargers are usually used when sufficient time is available to charge the battery fully.The charger maintains virtually the same voltage input to the battery during the charging process and delivers a level of power sufficient to raise the voltage to the fully charged level while monitoring the battery voltage.Constant Current chargers are the ones we are most likely to use on a daily basis because they are used to recharge the nickel-cadmium (NiCads) found in small portable devices like laptops and smart phones.Irrespective of the state of charge or temperature the charger delivers a continuous amount of current into the battery.Limiting the charging time helps to prevent overcharging of the battery.Traction battery chargers have a dual action combining both of the above scenarios where the battery voltage is measured while a steady amount of charge is delivered to the battery until either a specified period has passed or the battery reaches a pre-set level of charge.Battery Electric Vehicles (BEVs) make use of traction batteries and hence require traction battery chargers.Chargers need to be selected to match the specifications of the battery being charged to yield the best results and to prolong the battery life.
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