Rechargeable Battery Pack Storage and Maintenance
Following the guidelines below will help keep your WETPak battery pack trouble-free and powering instruments at optimum capacity.
Summary
Charge after each use, no matter how briefly the battery was used.
Keep battery pack connected to a trickle charger when not in use.
Do not allow batteries to discharge below 10.2V. (Sealed Lead Acid batteries self-discharge approximately 5% per month at room temperature, faster at higher temperatures.)
Batteries will accept 1.5 Amp maximum recommended charging current.
Do not store for more than 90 days without fully recharging (13.2–13.5V).
Use a battery charger that will automatically switch from fast charge to trickle charge when the batteries are fully charged (13.2V). Continuous charging with this type of charger will not harm the batteries. If the batteries are not fully charged when stored, the “uncharged” portion provides the chemicals for sulfation (hardening) of the plates inside the battery. This reduces the batteries’ power capacity. Under certain conditions, damage to the battery can occur in just a few hours if not recharged immediately.
Under normal circumstances, sealed lead acid batteries will not leak and therefore need not be stored upright. Store the WETPak-20R connected to a trickle-charger if possible.
If it is not convenient to store the battery pack connected to the charger, charge the batteries once every three months to prevent them from losing their rated capacity. Batteries allowed to discharge below 85% cannot be recharged as many times, may not operate efficiently, or may not work at all.
