Batteries have evolved over the years from the original batteries where you had to take
off the caps and add water every 30 days to the maintenance-free conventional-type batteries
to AGMs and even newer battery-type systems called capacitors, large mega capacitors that
take the place of batteries in some applications. In a conventional battery, we have to be concerned with venting and also the position of the battery
If you tip it to a side, the acid, the electrolyte solution may spill out
Not so with an AGM. AGM stands for absorbent glass material or matte, and there is material within the plate
that absorbs that electrolyte, so therefore if I tilted it quite a bit of an angle one
degree or the other, I'm not going to have acid leak out of everywhere
The other advantage of an AGM is the venting technology. We have what's called recombinant vent that keeps some of those vapors in the battery
which makes it last longer compared to a conventional battery unless it's been abused with excessive
charging voltage. When the battery pressure rises above a certain specification due to excessive charging
the higher charging voltages and so forth, then you can start having that recombinant
vent open up and that's when these things will start seeing a quick degradation in health
and have an early demise. So we want to make sure we charge these properly and know a little bit about testing them as well
They are heavier, they last longer, and that's why they're a little bit more money than a conventional battery