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Publication No. US-MP-OM-001
March 2017
17.0 OPERATION
17.1 General
The sealed design of the VRLA batteries makes it impossible to measure specific gravity as a
state-of-charge indicator. The state-of-charge can be identified to some degree by the amount
of charging current going to the battery.
17.1.1 Determining the State-of-Charge
The following method can be used to determine the state-of-charge of the battery.
1. Place the battery on charge/recharge following a discharge.
Read the ammeter.
The charging current will be a combination of the load current plus the current
necessary to charge the battery.
2. The battery becomes fully charged when the current to the battery starts to
decrease and stabilize.
3. When the current level remains constant for three consecutive hours, the state-of-
charge is approximately 95 to 98%. Full charge can be assumed.
For most requirements, the battery is ready for use.