The effect of charge rate and depth of discharge on the cycle life of sealed lead-acid aircraft batteries

The authors present cycle life data of sealed lead-acid aircraft batteries tested under various charge and discharge conditions. The results show that the cycle life is strongly affected by the rate of charge, as well as the depth of discharge (DOD). To achieve this maximum cycle life from sealed lead-acid batteries, not only should the DOD be kept as low as possible, but the charge current limit should be as high as possible. Increasing the charge current, however, required an increase in the size and weight of the charging source. Therefore, an important tradeoff exists between these two tradeoff parameters. This conclusion applies primarily to deep cycling conditions, but it may also apply to some extent when shallow cycling conditions are involved