The Swimming Pool Analogy

A long time ago when I first started in the battery industry a wiser battery man told me about an analogy that has you think of a battery as if it were a swimming pool. Imagine that this swimming pool is empty and at opposite ends of this pool are two hoses. One pumping water in and another pumping water out of the pool. Now to understand this analogy in reference to a battery imagine that the empty pool is your battery with no voltage or charge. A new battery will be a pool full of water and one hose represents a draw on your battery (pumping water out) and the other represents the charge on your battery (pumping water in). 

Using this analogy we can all better understand how a battery works in reference to charge and discharge. So in example, take for instance a RV battery that sits in storage because it is a seasonal toy for its owner. Now imagine the hose that is pumping water out of the pool as the discharge and let’s say this hose is larger than the hose pumping water into the pool. Eventually the water inside the pool will be all gone and the pool will be empty. This is a very common problem in the RV world where one small drain can happen and the owner does not even know. Let’s say there is a drain that is caused by not turning off the cutoff switch or a drain that is not killed by the cutoff switch because it is routed around the switch. 

The maintenance mode on a RV can often times, if not a smart charger, only put out a 1-2 amp charge depending on the system. Now imagine the drain is at a 1.5-2.5 amp draw. Now using our analogy it’s easy to see that over time this battery will eventually be empty but unlike a swimming pool you can do some serious irreparable damage to your batteries. 

Proper maintenance of your batteries can really make the difference of you spending money on replacements every couple years to replacing your battery every 4-6 years. We as the distributors and the manufactures want you to get the most out of your battery because we understand that happy batteries make happy owners and if we can keep you both happy you will want to return to use our products and services. As always if you have any questions or concerns please call us as we are more than happy to give out free advice to help you better take care of your batteries and keep you spending more time enjoying your batteries rather than struggling to keep them running.