Frequently Asked Questions – Royal Battery Sales

1 High Meadow Place, Unit 23, Toronto (Highway 400 and Finch Ave. W).

Yes – we have a retail store and warehouse that you can pick up from.

The list is endless but almost every battery for every purpose.

Although we take great care in choosing the best suppliers human error is unavoidable and occasionally products fail under warranty. Please refer to your receipt for specific warranty information as each battery type has its own warranty terms and conditions. Please note that no battery will be considered for warranty without original proof of purchase.

Products can be returned within 30 days for a refund or exchange provided it is unused and in its original packaging. A restock fee may apply for special order items.

Yes, we will safely dispose of your old batteries at no charge.

AGM Sealed Lead Acid Batteries have several advantages such as: 

• Purer lead in the plates, as each plate no longer needs to support its own weight, due to the sandwich construction with AGM matting. Traditional cells must support their own weight in the bath of acid.
• Fluid retention – un-spillable
• High specific power or power density, holding roughly 1.5x the AH capacity of flooded batteries due to purer lead
• Low internal resistance allowing them to be charged and discharged quite rapidly
• Water conservation – never requires addition of water
• Acid encapsulation in the matting
• Operation well below 0°F or -18 °C.
• Availability of UL, DOT, CE, Coast Guard, and Mil-Spec approved types
• Vibration resistance due to the sandwich construction

Periods of inactivity can be extremely harmful to lead acid batteries. When placing a battery into storage, follow the recommendations below to insure that the battery remains healthy and ready for use.

NOTE: Storing, charging or operating batteries on concrete is perfectly OK.

The most important things to avoid:

1. Freezing. Avoid locations where freezing temperature is expected. Keeping a battery at a high state of charge will also prevent freezing. Freezing results in irreparable damage to a battery’s plates and container.

2. Heat. Avoid direct exposure to heat sources, such as radiators or space heaters. Temperatures above 80° F accelerate the battery’s self-discharge characteristics.

Step by step storage procedure:

1. Completely charge the battery before storing.

2. Store the battery in a cool, dry location, protected from the elements.

3. During storage, monitor the specific gravity (flooded) or voltage. Batteries in storage should be given a boost charge when they show a 70% charge or less, 12.45 voltage.

4. Completely charge the battery before re-activating

Starting (sometimes called SLI, for starting, lighting, ignition) batteries are commonly used to start and run engines. Engine starters need a very large starting current for a very short time. Starting batteries have a large number of thin plates for maximum surface area. The plates are composed of a Lead “sponge”, similar in appearance to a very fine foam sponge. This gives a very large surface area, but if deep cycled, this sponge will quickly be consumed and fall to the bottom of the cells. Automotive batteries will generally fail after 30-150 deep cycles if deep cycled, while they may last for thousands of cycles in normal starting use (2-5% discharge).

Deep-cycle batteries are designed to be discharged down as much as 80% time after time, and have much thicker plates. The major difference between a true deep cycle battery and others is that the plates are SOLID Lead plates – not sponge. This gives less surface area, thus less “instant” power like starting batteries need. Although these can be cycled down to 20% charge, the best lifespan vs cost method is to keep the average cycle at about 50% discharge.

Deep-cycle batteries are used when more than half of the capacity of the battery is used per cycle. Deep-cycle batteries are most commonly used within marine applications, electric vehicles, golf carts, electrical mobility devices and solar applications.

Any type of lead acid battery should always be left in a fully charged condition. Having done that, you should either charge your battery every 60 days or so.  Consider getting a smart charger to maintain your battery and prevent overcharging however, we never recommend leaving your charger on your battery all the the time.  A battery will self discharge over time, even while not in use or connected to anything, so a smart charger is a great investment.

Ampere (AMP) – the unit of measure of current flow through a conductor or circuit.

AH (Ampere-hour) – this figure is the time a battery can maintain a constant current under a specific discharge period

Capacity – capacity describes the the total amount of electricity a battery contains. With rechargeable batteries the overall capacity it can provide can easily be reduced if not correctly recharged.

CCA (Cold Cranking Amperes) – the Cold Cranking Amperes (CCA) of a battery measures how well it will perform at a certain temperature. In Europe the most common rating is the SAE (Society of Automobile Engineers) rating of -18c. A figure listed as being SAE rated will mean that at -18c it can provide that many amps over a 30 second period. The higher the CCA rating, the better that battery will be at starting a vehicle.

Current – current designates the flow of electricity through an electrical circuit. A higher reading indicates a more powerful current.

Current (Alternating) – a current that varies periodically in magnitude and direction.(A/C)

Current (Direct) – an electrical current flowing in one direction only. A battery delivers direct current (D.C.) and must be recharged with a direct current.

Cycle – when a battery has been fully discharged and then recharged, that is classified as one cycle.

Discharging – when a battery is delivering power, it is also in the process of discharging.

Electrolyte – this is a mixture of water and sulphuric acid that fills a lead-acid battery and allows the storage of electrical power.

Element –  the element Inside a battery, is a set of positive and negative plates assembled with separators.

RC (Reserve Capacity) – very similar to an Ampere-hour reading, Reserve capacity is calculated in minutes and much easier to understand. The RC reading is the length of time in minutes that a battery can provide a current of 25amps at a temperature of 25c until it is drained down to 10.5v

Sulphation – a common cause of battery failure, sulphation occurs when a battery is left to stand in a partly charged state. The most common indicators of sulphation are cloudy battery acid and a strong egg like smell, particularly when charging.