Glossary

Alternating Current (AC) An electric current that reverses direction at regular intervals. Sources of alternating current are shore power, generator power, inverter power or household current.

American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC) sets the standards for safe boating. Freedom Marine conforms to ABYC standards A-20 “Battery Charging Devices” and A-25 “Power Inverters.” For standard information, contact ABYC, 3069 Solomons Island Road, Edgewater, MD 21037-1416 (410)956-1050 fax (410)956-2737.

Ampere (Amp, A) The unit of measure of electron flow rate of current through a circuit.

Ampere-hour(Amp-Hr., Ah) A unit of measure for a battery’s electrical storage capacity, obtained by multiplying the current in amperes by the time in hours of discharge (Example: a battery which delivers 5 amperes for 20 hours delivers 5 amperes times 20 hours, or 100 amp hours of capacity.)

Ampere-Hour Capacity The ability of a fully charged battery to deliver a specified quantity of electricity (Amp-Hr., Ah) at a given rate (Amp, A) over a definite period of time (Hr.). The capacity of a battery depends upon a number of factors such as active material, weight, density, adhesion to grid, number, design and dimensions of plates, plate spacing design of separators, specific gravity and quantity of available electrolyte, grid alloys, final limiting voltage, discharge rate, temperature, internal and external resistance, age and life of the battery (bank).

AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) Battery A lead acid, maintenance-free battery.

AWG (American Wire Gauge) A standard used to measure the size of wire.

Circuit An electric circuit is the path of an electric current. A closed circuit has a complete path. An open circuit has a broken or disconnected path.

Circuit (Series) A circuit which has only one path for the current to flow. Batteries arranged in series are connected with the negative of the first to the positive of the second, negative of the second to the positive of the third, and so on. If two 6 volt batteries of 50 ampere-hours capacity are connected in series, the circuit voltage is equal to the sum of the two battery voltages, or 12 volts, and the ampere-hour capacity of the combination is 50 ampere hours.

Circuit (Parallel) A circuit which provides more than one path for current flow. A parallel arrangement of batteries (of like voltage and capacity) would have all positive terminals connected to a conductor and all negative terminals connected to another conductor. If two 12 volt batteries of 50 ampere-hour capacity each are connected in parallel, the circuit voltage is 12 volts, and the ampere-hour capacity of the combination is 100 ampere hours.

Current The rate of flow of electricity or the movement rate of electrons along a conductor. It is comparable to the flow of a stream of water. The unit of measure for current is ampere.

Cycle In a battery, one discharge plus one recharge equals one cycle.

Direct Current (DC) Current that flows continuously in one direction such as that from batteries, photovoltaics, alternators, chargers and DC generators.