SLA is short for Sealed Lead Acid battery a type of rechargeable battery. SLA are commonly found in cars and trucks but have energy density too low for handphones.

The most popular type of SLA battery is the "gel-cell", where the electrolyte in in a gel form, allowing the cell to be used in any orientation. Cell voltage is nominally 2V, and ranges from around 2.1V fully charged to 1.7V.

Common uses include low-end high-end bike lights (the high-high end tend to use NiCd or NiMH batteries) and burglar alarm standby power.

Advantages - robust, easy to charge, versatile, cheap.

Disadvantages - low energy density, significantly decreased capacity with high loads, poor low temperature performance, doesn't handle deep discharge.

Capacity is often specified at C/20 rate (discharging at a constant 1/20th of the capacity - 50mA for a 1Ah battery.

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