Valen High-temp battery

A catalyst that can combine hydrogen and oxygen into water inside a lead acid battery can extend its useful life in temperatures where normal cells would dry out.

This is particularly relevant to Australia where the design operating temperature of lead acid batteries at 20°C is frequently exceeded because of the climate or the place of installation.

According to Valen, a catalyst has been incorporated into the valve of the sealed lead acid battery. Before the catalyst, the sealed devices, although safer and requiring less maintenance, had a severely reduced operating life (from about 20 to five years) because they dried out.

Further advantages of the inclusion of the catalyst are that potentially explosive gases which would normally be emitted through the valve are reduced by up to 80%. Float current is reduced by 50%, which has the effect of reducing the risk of thermal runaway.

Now the catalyst prevents this and retains all the other advantages of lead acid batteries including their ability to be recycled.