storing of battery thought

[diverguy]

well i was cleaning up the garage this weekend and noticed something that i had long forgotten. the othe day i took my battery out (simple) to make my tongue lighter for pushing around and well i left my battery on the floor. forgot and left it there. then this weekend i noticed it nad remember working in shops nad stuff that you are never supposed to leave a battery on a concrete floor. it will drain the battery. is this still true for new batteries. i was always told by the old fogie mechanics to store them on shelves or at the least to place them on wood. have not seen this discussed so i thought i would post.

[Q]

Not true now and never was.

Q

[toypusher]

Don't know about draining the battery. Concrete will draw moisture out of almost anything that it is in contact with. Maybe the older battery cases were of a softer material and the concrete would cause them to crack over time.

[asianflava]

I've heard that before, it equates to an old wife's (Mechanic's) tale. I have a battery sitting on the floor of my garage for almost a year now and it's fine. I charge it every few months to keep it topped off.

I've always wondered where it came from.

[Sierrajack]

Been a mechanic for 45 years and was told to never leave a battery sitting on concrete early on in my life. That's BS, it won't discharge the battery. The actual "real" reason for not letting a battery sit on the floor is because the older filler cap types would "gas" and/or were wet on the bottom and they would etch a neat rectangle on your floor. Now, a real dirty battery smucked up with acid and dirt WILL discharge if placed on concrete because it DOES connect the battery's positive with a ground (your floor).
I store my batteries so they don't get subjected to below freezing conditions ( a fully charged battery isn't supposed to freeze either) and monitor their state of charge usually every 5-6 weeks. I pull them out, stick them on the charger and forget about them for awhile.

[bobhenry]

[img]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dear Tom and Ray:



This business of batteries and concrete floors needs to be explained and put to rest. Years ago, everybody knew that you were never supposed to put a car battery on a concrete floor because it would be quickly ruined. That statement was absolutely true, but they weren't talking about the BATTERY being ruined, they were talking about the CONCRETE FLOOR! Batteries used to be "topped off" with water, which resulted in acid being spattered about. If you put one on a concrete floor without carefully washing it, the acid ate into the concrete, quickly ruining the floor. It didn't hurt the battery one bit, but people who misunderstood the advice and wanted to appear knowledgeable came up with all sorts of foolish explanations as to why the battery should be ruined. Even an acid-spattered battery will not leak its charge into the earth. There may be leakage across the terminals of a "top-post" battery, but that would be slight. So here's the story: If a battery is clean, you can safely put it on your concrete floor. If it's acid-spattered, put it on somebody else's concrete floor or stick a board under it. -- Clay

Ray: Clay, you sound so utterly convincing. If it were up to me, I'd buy your story lock, stock and barrel. But my brother says you're full of baloney.

Tom: The GFCA (Garage Floor Cleaners of America) may indeed have had a hand in keeping batteries off concrete floors. But the real concern WAS the batteries.

Ray: Thirty years ago or so, most battery casings were made of hard rubber. And because of the porosity of that material, battery acid would sometimes seep through the rubber and create a conductive path through the damp concrete, draining the battery.

Tom: But that can't happen today with plastic-cased batteries. That's because molded polypropylene (a k a plastic), is not porous at all.

Ray: So today, you can put your battery on a concrete floor for as long as you want. And here's the interesting thing, Clay. The cooler the temperature, the slower a battery's rate of discharge. And because concrete is often cooler than its surroundings, leaving a modern battery on a concrete floor might actually make it last LONGER.


Click and clack at CAR TALK.COM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I didn't say it !

[Leon]

a real dirty battery smucked up with acid and dirt WILL discharge if placed on concrete because it DOES connect the battery's positive with a ground (your floor).

If the battery is that dirty it will discharge not because of the earth ground, but because of a path across the top of the battery to the other post providing a complete circuit. You can connect a wire from the positive post to the concrete and it won't do anything because it needs a path to the negative terminal of the battery.

[bobhenry]

a real dirty battery smucked up with acid and dirt WILL discharge if placed on concrete because it DOES connect the battery's positive with a ground (your floor).

If the battery is that dirty it will discharge not because of the earth ground, but because of a path across the top of the battery to the other post providing a complete circuit. You can connect a wire from the positive post to the concrete and it won't do anything because it needs a path to the negative terminal of the battery.

O.K. this one I can prove! Get out your mulit meter set it on low dc and place the positive probe on the positive post and one in the muck on top of the battery near the negative read the blead across voltage. now switch and put the negative probe on the negative post and the positive probe in the muck near the positive post. These readings can range from 1/2 to 2-3 volts. Customers in our repair shop were always amazed when we show this to them. A soft brush and some baking soda and a couple drops of liquid soap a light scrub and a rinse then recheck. Amazin' Huh !

[Leon]

That's one of the things I make sure is clean when storing the classic cars for any length of time. Storing it dirty doesn't do a battery any good!

[Lesbest]

The best way to store batteries according to a Delco-Remy rep. "Clean the tops of the cases, dry, charge them, put in plastic bag, place in the freezer and forget till spring. To use-- remove from freezer and let warm up acouple of days. Install and turn key--presto."

A fully charged battery will not freeze, a clean top will not allow any electrical flow from + to -, and reducing the temp. stops the self discharge from happening. It works, the hardest part is convincing the wife I need the space in the freezer for boat batteries. I have never had a battery fail to start anything in the spring this way.

Les