Shorepower provides cab power/hotel loads that can also charge standard engine batteries, battery APUs, laptops, mobile phones, and anything else that contains a battery in your sleeper cab. It has been estimated that plugging into shore power on a regular basis can extend battery life by 20-30%.
Understanding the factors affecting battery life is vitally important for managing performance, particularly with high cost, high power batteries. Electropaedia, a UK-based website, provides a comprehensive knowledge base about energy supply and battery technologies, applications, chargers and ancillary equipment. It contains over 170 web pages of information, explanations, and history of battery technology.
Battery designers try to design out the possibility of abuse wherever possible but ultimately the life of the battery is in the user’s hands.
Tips for increasing battery life:
- Plug in to avoid over-discharging – allowing the battery to become completely discharged.
- Avoid drawing more current than the battery was designed for or short circuiting the battery.
- Avoid using undersized batteries for the application.
- Avoid operating or storing the battery in too high or too low ambient temperatures.
- Avoid using chargers designed for charging batteries with a different cell chemistry.
- Avoid overcharging – either too high a voltage or for too long a period.