I heard what I think is an urban legend about charging and storing batteries-if you leave them on concrete, will that drain them? Should you store them on top of wood?
I did go and buy an automotive/marine battery charger from sears-
89.00 and this is what it has
12/24 volt
2/5/10/125 amp charge
automatic/manual/maintain charge settings-so it appears that once they are charged the maintain setting will work nicely
and it has 3 other settings for gel/deep cycle/regular batteries
I almost spent 200.00 for the statpower, true charge portable-its nice and small and has all the automatic features...but its more that twice the price than the die hard...it does fit in a tool box-
Bobm
HR 31
merrick@pop.net
battery Storing and charging Urban Legend
Moderator: Jim Walsh
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Will W.
Re: battery Storing and charging Urban Legend
Everyone says don't do it so I won't. There is a legitimate electrical reason that goes beyond my abilities to explain. Just don't do it. I usually transport and store my battery in a milk crate.
Will Wheatley
Suzi Q
CD25
Sailing from Chesapeake Beach, MD
willwheatley@starpower.net
Will Wheatley
Suzi Q
CD25
Sailing from Chesapeake Beach, MD
bobm wrote: I heard what I think is an urban legend about charging and storing batteries-if you leave them on concrete, will that drain them? Should you store them on top of wood?
I did go and buy an automotive/marine battery charger from sears-
89.00 and this is what it has
12/24 volt
2/5/10/125 amp charge
automatic/manual/maintain charge settings-so it appears that once they are charged the maintain setting will work nicely
and it has 3 other settings for gel/deep cycle/regular batteries
I almost spent 200.00 for the statpower, true charge portable-its nice and small and has all the automatic features...but its more that twice the price than the die hard...it does fit in a tool box-
Bobm
HR 31
willwheatley@starpower.net
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john
Re: battery Storing and charging Urban Legend
There was a long discussion here on a similar subject a few months ago - as I recall the battery draining on concrete problem was real a very long time ago, when battery cases were made of stuff other than the current plastic components and leakage through the case could/would eventually ground the battery to the concrete. I believe the conclusion of the discussion was that it is not a problem if your battery is less than fifty years old or so and is kept reasonably clean (i.e. not so covered with goop that it grounds itself). You can search the board for information on batteries (there's a lot - this board boasts some extremely well-informed and knowledgeable electrical types!)
John
john.hoft-march(nospam)@appleton.org
John
bobm wrote: I heard what I think is an urban legend about charging and storing batteries-if you leave them on concrete, will that drain them? Should you store them on top of wood?
I did go and buy an automotive/marine battery charger from sears-
89.00 and this is what it has
12/24 volt
2/5/10/125 amp charge
automatic/manual/maintain charge settings-so it appears that once they are charged the maintain setting will work nicely
and it has 3 other settings for gel/deep cycle/regular batteries
I almost spent 200.00 for the statpower, true charge portable-its nice and small and has all the automatic features...but its more that twice the price than the die hard...it does fit in a tool box-
Bobm
HR 31
john.hoft-march(nospam)@appleton.org
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Larry DeMers
Re: battery Storing and charging Urban Legend
Will and all,
You can store the battery on board if you want..or on concrete or wood, or fine tiffany china even ;^).
The old saw of not storing on concrete had to do with the concrete making electrical contact with the case, which if it had been overcharged or sloppily filled when new, would have had Suphuric acid crystals imbedded in it's outer surface. Atmospheric moisture could cause a low resistance path to form around and over the case, to the damp concrete. If a path from the pos. and neg. posts formed, then you will discharge the battery slowly. That is a big if..back then. Now it is an impossibillity..or near so.
We store the battery banks (3) in place all winter long, after having assured that they were all recharged and floated, had toopped off cells, and were at full charge voltage, and *the negative cable was removed for each of the batteries, at the common point (on my boat, that would be the shunt locations..on yours, it would be each individual banks negative lead).
A SPG (specific gravity) test could be performed and the SPG corrected for the ambient air temp to find the exact charge state, but the voltage method is good enough for most purposes. The internal resistance will dictate how much is lost.
In our new cells, the internal resistance would be expected to be as low as it is likely to be in it's life, so the banks lost very little over winter. Our Heart Interface Inverter/Charger is capable of 100A of charging, and when the system was hooked up and charged a month ago, it drew only a 5A load total, so the loss was small. I will know more next weekend, but I am confident that there will be no problems with the banks.
A bit of history. A previous Group 31 Deep Cycle I had provided for the baot upon purchase 12 years ago, was just replaced last year, after failing to hold much charge. This bank was left aboard the boat for 12 years, using the same methods I wrote about above. For a $40 battery (on sale..) and one that was employed to power my canoe with a trolling motor before getting the CD30, 12 years is exceptional duty, when most around me get 2-3 years before yanking and replacing.
So I can recommend this method over battery removal and home storage. Just make certain that the battery itself is clean and dryly stored fully charged and disconnected from any possible discharge paths.
Cheers,
Larry DeMers
DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
Patiently waiting for winter to exit, stage right..on Lake Superior.
demers@sgi.com
You can store the battery on board if you want..or on concrete or wood, or fine tiffany china even ;^).
The old saw of not storing on concrete had to do with the concrete making electrical contact with the case, which if it had been overcharged or sloppily filled when new, would have had Suphuric acid crystals imbedded in it's outer surface. Atmospheric moisture could cause a low resistance path to form around and over the case, to the damp concrete. If a path from the pos. and neg. posts formed, then you will discharge the battery slowly. That is a big if..back then. Now it is an impossibillity..or near so.
We store the battery banks (3) in place all winter long, after having assured that they were all recharged and floated, had toopped off cells, and were at full charge voltage, and *the negative cable was removed for each of the batteries, at the common point (on my boat, that would be the shunt locations..on yours, it would be each individual banks negative lead).
A SPG (specific gravity) test could be performed and the SPG corrected for the ambient air temp to find the exact charge state, but the voltage method is good enough for most purposes. The internal resistance will dictate how much is lost.
In our new cells, the internal resistance would be expected to be as low as it is likely to be in it's life, so the banks lost very little over winter. Our Heart Interface Inverter/Charger is capable of 100A of charging, and when the system was hooked up and charged a month ago, it drew only a 5A load total, so the loss was small. I will know more next weekend, but I am confident that there will be no problems with the banks.
A bit of history. A previous Group 31 Deep Cycle I had provided for the baot upon purchase 12 years ago, was just replaced last year, after failing to hold much charge. This bank was left aboard the boat for 12 years, using the same methods I wrote about above. For a $40 battery (on sale..) and one that was employed to power my canoe with a trolling motor before getting the CD30, 12 years is exceptional duty, when most around me get 2-3 years before yanking and replacing.
So I can recommend this method over battery removal and home storage. Just make certain that the battery itself is clean and dryly stored fully charged and disconnected from any possible discharge paths.
Cheers,
Larry DeMers
DeLaMer
Cape Dory 30
Patiently waiting for winter to exit, stage right..on Lake Superior.
Will W. wrote: Everyone says don't do it so I won't. There is a legitimate electrical reason that goes beyond my abilities to explain. Just don't do it. I usually transport and store my battery in a milk crate.
Will Wheatley
Suzi Q
CD25
Sailing from Chesapeake Beach, MD
bobm wrote: I heard what I think is an urban legend about charging and storing batteries-if you leave them on concrete, will that drain them? Should you store them on top of wood?
I did go and buy an automotive/marine battery charger from sears-
89.00 and this is what it has
12/24 volt
2/5/10/125 amp charge
automatic/manual/maintain charge settings-so it appears that once they are charged the maintain setting will work nicely
and it has 3 other settings for gel/deep cycle/regular batteries
I almost spent 200.00 for the statpower, true charge portable-its nice and small and has all the automatic features...but its more that twice the price than the die hard...it does fit in a tool box-
Bobm
HR 31
demers@sgi.com