On the way up, the battery discharged; on the way down, it was charged again.
A battery of ten large stills on the fore-shore discharged its steam toward the distant hills.
Any that do not will become disabled after 40 days when the batteries discharge fully.
A battery discharged at high rate will give fewer ampere hours than one discharged more slowly.
But then a footnote mentions that "in actual recording, the battery will discharge 2-3 times faster than this reference."
Unchecked, the batteries discharged their stored energy that hastened the overall collapse of the system.
By now you should be well acquainted with the basic principles by which batteries discharge electricity.
Nickel-cadmium batteries can be charged up more quickly and discharge themselves much more slowly when out of use.
The reason why we rely on fuels is because batteries can't store the energy with enough density or discharge it quickly enough.
Fully charged batteries discharge when they are left unused, and will lose effectiveness.