Odyssey PC1200 Owner's Manual - page 22
14
Publication No: US-ODY-TM-001 - April 2011
www.odysseybattery.com
Extreme cold temperature performance
High discharge rate performance in extremely cold
conditions is another area in which ODYSSEY
®
batteries
excel. An example of this is shown in Figure 5. Even at
-40°C (-40°F) the battery was able to support a 550A load
for over 30 seconds before its terminal voltage dropped to
7.2V.
figure 5: CCA test @ -40°C (-40°f) on 31-PC2150
Since all ODYSSEY batteries are designed similarly, one can
expect similar outstanding cold temperature performance
from any of the other ODYSSEY batteries.
PARASITIC LOADS
With the proliferation of more and more electronic
equipment in cars, trucks, motorcycles and powersports
equipment, the phenomenon of parasitic loads is becoming
a serious problem.
Parasitic loads are small currents, typically of the order
of a few milliamps (mA) that the battery has to deliver
continuously. Retaining memories and operating security
systems are common examples of parasitic drains on
batteries in modern systems.
On the surface it would seem that such small loads would
not be a factor in the overall scheme of things. However,
since parasitic loads can be applied on a long-term basis
(weeks or months is not uncommon), the cumulative amp-
hours (Ah) extracted from the battery can be significant.
For example, a 10mA draw on a motorcycle battery will
discharge it by 0.24Ah per day. If left unchecked for 30
days, that small 10mA parasitic load will discharge a 20Ah
battery by 7.2Ah – a 36% depth of discharge (DOD).
For reliable engine cranking, an ODYSSEY battery needs
to have at least 70% of its capacity available. In other
words, no more than 30% of the battery’s capacity can be
discharged for good starting performance. Thus battery
capacity and magnitude of the parasitic drain are needed
to estimate the maximum number of days the load can
be tolerated before the battery’s cranking performance is
potentially compromised.
To see how this works, consider the ODYSSEY 31-PC2150
battery, which is a 92Ah BCI Group 31 size battery. Based
on the percent discharge criteria given in the previous
paragraph, to ensure reliable engine cranking no more than
28 amp-hours (30% of 92Ah) should be lost due to parasitic
drain. If the vehicle has a 100mA or 0.1A draw, then the
maximum number of hours the battery should be allowed to
discharge is 280 hours (28/0.10) or about 12 days.
The following steps summarize how to estimate the
maximum time your ODYSSEY battery can support a
parasitic draw before its engine starting capability is
compromised.
1. Determine the parasitic draw in amps; if you have that
number in milliamps, divide it by 1000 to convert it to
amps and denote this as A
par
.
2. Look up battery specification table to see your battery’s
amp-hour capacity at the 10-hour rate of discharge
(C10) and multiply that by 0.30. This gives the maximum
capacity you can take out of the battery to support the
parasitic drain and call this P
cap
to denote parasitic drain
capacity in amp-hours.
3. Divide P
cap
by A
par
(P
cap
/A
par
) to get the maximum hours
the battery should be drained by the parasitic draw, then
divide that number by 24 to get the maximum number of
days the battery should be allowed to discharge and still
be able to reliably start.
Regardless of the application, it is important to make sure
your battery does not have a parasitic load; if there is a slow
drain, connect the battery to a float (trickle) charger that
puts out between 13.5V and 13.8V at the battery terminals.
Physically disconnecting one of the battery cables is an
alternate method to eliminate the drain.
SHOCk, IMPACT AND VIBRATION
TESTING
(A) Caterpillar™ 100-hour vibration test
In this test, a fully charged battery was vibrated at 34±1
Hz and 1.9 mm (0.075") total amplitude in a vertical
direction, corresponding to an acceleration of 4.4g. The
test was conducted for a total of 100 hours. The battery is
considered to have passed the test if (a) it does not lose any
electrolyte, (b) it is able to support a load test and (c) it does
not leak when subjected to a pressure test.
The ODYSSEY battery successfully completed this arduous
test.
(B) Shock and vibration test per IEC 61373, Sections 8-10
An independent test laboratory tested an ODYSSEY PC2150
battery for compliance to IEC standard 61373, Category 1,
Class B, and Sections 8 through 10. Section 8 calls for a
functional random vibration test, Section 9 requires a long-
life random vibration test and Section 10 is for a shock test.
Table 2, on the next page summarizes the test results.
6.0
7.0
8.0
9.0
10.0
11.0
12.0
13.0
14.0
0
5
10
15
20
25
30
35
40
Voltage
Run time in seconds
Voltage profile at 550A discharge
30 seconds (test requirement)
7.2V
34.1 Secs.