Car Battery During Storage/ Winter time

[Perroflojo]

I have learned and enjoy reading all the stuff that you guy's are currently posting.

What do you guy's do with the car battery for those times that the car sits on the garage for a few days to a month with out been driving. I have a toy car that I seldom drive during winter and need to buy another battery.

Do you put the battery on a trickle charger all the time, bring the battery indoors etc.

I like to hear you ideas,
thanks,

Lazy Dog

 

[Stuart in MN]

I just disconnect it and leave it until spring. Assuming it's in decent shape to start with and is fully charged, it should be fine. They actually discharge more slowly when they're cold.

 

[Perroflojo]

I just disconnect it and leave it until spring. Assuming it's in decent shape to start with and is fully charged, it should be fine. They actually discharge more slowly when they're cold.

This is what I done lately but the battery is lasting fewer years than the cars I drive daily.

 

[tdkkart]

Get yourself one of these, hook it up, plug it in and forget it till spring, when you find your battery happily charged and ready to go.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/291837178062?lpid=82&chn=ps&ul_noapp=true

The original battery in my last Harley went 10 years, spent all winter plugged into the Battery Tender.

 

[couch67]

If you do keep it in the car, make sure the battery maintains some sort of charge if you get much weather below freezing. A dead battery can freeze solid and crack the casing.

 

[Perroflojo]

If you do keep it in the car, make sure the battery maintains some sort of charge if you get much weather below freezing. A dead battery can freeze solid and crack the casing.

I used to keep the battery on the car and put a charger before I went to use the car. This time I will take the battery out keep it on the basement and put a trickle charge connected to timer.

 

[Stuart in MN]

I'm probably the only person who had a Battery Tender malfunction...I hooked it up to the battery in the fall, came back in the spring, and found out the battery had been boiled dry and was ruined. It was a real tender too, not one of the off brand ones.

 

[BonzoHansen]

My battery tender works great

 

[58Yeoman]

I'm probably the only person who had a Battery Tender malfunction...I hooked it up to the battery in the fall, came back in the spring, and found out the battery had been boiled dry and was ruined. It was a real tender too, not one of the off brand ones.

You're not the only one. I had the real BT also, and it cooked the battery in my 63 Ford. I bought a new battery and chucked the BT, and removed the one from my 58 Chevy also.

 

[PWC Repair]

I would do it like I do all my jet skis, carry them into the shop and peak them out on 2a charge once a month while I'm out there working.

 

[iagsxr]

I used to have good luck just pulling them out and keeping them in a heated space. I now use Harbor Freight float chargers. My 05 GSXR has the original battery in it.

They're an electrical thing from HF. Check the output with a multimeter.

 

[HOTFR8]

I have learned and enjoy reading all the stuff that you guy's are currently posting.

What do you guy's do with the car battery for those times that the car sits on the garage for a few days to a month with out been driving. I have a toy car that I seldom drive during winter and need to buy another battery.

Do you put the battery on a trickle charger all the time, bring the battery indoors etc.

I like to hear you ideas,
thanks,

Lazy Dog

Get your self a decent battery tender. I have 7 all different brands and they are on vehicles 365 days except when I need to drive the vehicle. Everything from the Mower to my car trailer has one and I even have one backing up my UPS Solar power supply.

I'm probably the only person who had a Battery Tender malfunction...I hooked it up to the battery in the fall, came back in the spring, and found out the battery had been boiled dry and was ruined. It was a real tender too, not one of the off brand ones.

If the tender was at fault you should have taken it back to the place of purchase. If the battery was at fault you could have made a warranty claim.
Something does not sound right in that.

 

[matt_i]

I have had good luck with the Battery Minder on batteries both outside and inside. There are two price points, I've done well with both of them so far.

 

[kbs2244]

Bring them inside.
Check for charge about a week before re-install to give time for a slow charge if needed.

 

[PassnThru]

I'm probably the only person who had a Battery Tender malfunction...I hooked it up to the battery in the fall, came back in the spring, and found out the battery had been boiled dry and was ruined. It was a real tender too, not one of the off brand ones.

You're not the only one. I had the real BT also, and it cooked the battery in my 63 Ford. I bought a new battery and chucked the BT, and removed the one from my 58 Chevy also.

If the tender was at fault you should have taken it back to the place of purchase. If the battery was at fault you could have made a warranty claim.
Something does not sound right in that.

I too had a boiled dry battery on a motorcyle in the past year. In this case, it had probably been hooked up for a year without being used much during that time. I bought a new battery and hooked the battery tender back up. Will wait and see what happens this time. Otherwise, it WILL be dead when I need it.
Also, during the time it boiled dry I was also swapping the tender between my motorcycle and my mower battery. No real schedule - just whenever I remembered. Any connection there? Just a coincidence? Who knows but I'm not ready to blame the battery tender yet. Like most things in life - too many variables to draw a conclusion on a single incident.

 

[ambenz]

I have a heated garage but I also clip on a Schumacher trickle charger.

 

[padroo]

On my 1999 Plymouth Prowler I mounted one of these Schumaker on board trickle chargers next to the battery and it travels with the car. I like to plug it in for a day once a month, the Prowler has a lot of parasitic draw.


https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0000AXTUY/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[Schurkey]

Battery Tenders AND the knockoffs are cheap Chinese junk.

Clean the battery case so it can't self-discharge through the conductive slime on the outside of the battery. Disconnect the negative cable. LEAVE THE BATTERY IN THE COLD. Stay away from it for months at a time. Come spring, it should have plenty of charge.

 

[maxpower_hd]

A battery tender, smart charger, have always worked well for me. I usually have at least one battery laying around as a spare or testing battery. I keep it out where I can see it and I am in the garage often so everyone once in a while I through my meter on it just to see what it's doing and I can also see when the charge light is on or off so I know it is working.

I have even used plain old Sears trickle chargers too. You have to manually charge every so often and remove the charger that way though but it works if you are in the shop often.

 

[GTO]

My battery just went in my portable gen set.I had this on a BT for 4 years.I'm not buying a new one.I will just hook my jump box up to the cables and hit the start button.

 

[Showkey]

There are better choices than BT ...........kinda like when guys ask about a DVOM.

 

[TFerg]

I worked at a repair shop 10 years ago and the mechanics always told me not to leave batteries in the cold, especially on cold concrete. It would be nice to know if this is false information. So far it seems the majority of replies say just to unplug and leave in the cold...

Does anybody have proof or a reason why they discharge slower in the cold?

 

[Schurkey]

I worked at a repair shop 10 years ago and the mechanics always told me not to leave batteries in the cold, especially on cold concrete. It would be nice to know if this is false information. So far it seems the majority of replies say just to unplug and leave in the cold...

Does anybody have proof or a reason why they discharge slower in the cold?

Batteries are little more than a device to permit and control a chemical reaction.

Virtually all chemical reactions slow down as the temperature drops. This is why your battery has less cranking power at "0" than at "32" than at "80" degrees.

A battery charged to 85%--specific gravity of 1.250--won't freeze until -60 degrees F. That's colder than it's ever gotten here, although not by much. A fully-charged battery (1.280) doesn't freeze until NINETY BELOW ZERO. Be aware that we're NOT talking about ******** "wind chill". Wind chill can kiss my azz when it comes to car batteries, and most anything else automotive-related. Fairly important for warm-blooded animals, and your home heating bill, though.

Cold preserves your battery by slowing down the chemical reactions that cause it to lose charge and age. You put food in a refrigerator, the battery is not much different except that instead of slowing down bacteria and mold growth, we're slowing down self-discharge and sulfation.

According to Battery Council International, batteries in storage should
be given a boost or freshening charge when the specific gravity value
drops .040 points. When hydrometer readings are not accessible, open
circuit voltage readings may be used. While in storage, a freshening
charge should be given when the battery voltage drops below
12.4 volts for a 12 volt battery, or 6.2 volts for a 6 volt battery.

Don't get me started on concrete and lead-acid batteries. Either the plastic case is porous so the alkaline concrete can damage or be damaged by the acid in the battery, or the case is intact and there's no problem at all except that the cold concrete will pull heat from the battery and cause it to lose cranking power (which is not the same as causing it to discharge.) I've heard about car batteries and concrete floors since I was in high school. If there's any truth to the problems, I'd love to hear PROOF, not more myths.

 

[redmondjp]

Don't get me started on concrete and lead-acid batteries. Either the plastic case is porous so the alkaline concrete can damage or be damaged by the acid in the battery, or the case is intact and there's no problem at all except that the cold concrete will pull heat from the battery and cause it to lose cranking power (which is not the same as causing it to discharge.) I've heard about car batteries and concrete floors since I was in high school. If there's any truth to the problems, I'd love to hear PROOF, not more myths.

It's true, IF the tops and sides of the battery are covered with battery electrolyte, which acts as a conductive path to the concrete floor which, if uncoated, is also somewhat of an electrical conductor.

But other than that? No.

 

[John in OH]

I've got ten or so farm tractors, some newer ones for work and some antiques for play. All of them spend the Ohio winters in unheated sheds.

In the Fall I pull the batteries from the antique tractors and put the batteries in the heated garage on 1 x 6 boards. Several times during the winter I connect a trickle charger to each to make sure they stay boosted.

For the working tractors, their batteries get connected to Battery Tenders when not in use.

Been doing this for quite some time with no issues.

 

[joel]

.... I've heard about car batteries and concrete floors since I was in high school. If there's any truth to the problems, I'd love to hear PROOF, not more myths.

I believe it USED to be true...for batteries of a by-gone era. The cases where not always as good of insulators as they today.

 

[bfr57]

There are better choices than BT ...........kinda like when guys ask about a DVOM.

So, what battery maintainers are better than BT?

 

[PhantomEB]

My diesel when it comes over will just be parked behind the garage and batteries pulled out, stored under the work bench. Can't steal a truck if no batteries and can't go thru the big door either with a 8800 lb truck in front of it.

 

[Showkey]

So, what battery maintainers are better than BT?

The comparison was made to DVOM because the topic is so subjective........like the FLUKE discussions.

But smart chargers/maintainers by Accumate, Yuasa, CTEK, some of the Schumacher models come to mind.

 

[Jazz1]

I bring batteries from my boat and '41 IHC into my heated garage for the winter and put them on the charger once or twice over the season. The Walmart battery in my '41 IHC is 7 years old.
Gets too friggin cold here to leave them out for the winter and risk freezing the battery.

 

[77thor]

Yeah, I also take the battery out and keep it in the basement (heated).
Then I charge 3-4 times over the winter months.

 

[KDXSR5]

At my family's shop, we have an elevated bench that we store seasonal batteries on. It is covered in rubber gasket material. We usually have a dozen or so batteries stored there at a time from cars, trailers, powersports, etc. When one of us is there, we check the battery the charger is currently on for full charge. If fully charged, we move the battery charger to the next battery in line, and let it charge until we leave. This way each battery is getting topped off while in storage, and we are not leaving them to charge unattended.

 

[AirJunky]

Theres a big difference between a trickle charger & a smart charger. If it gets cold in your area, get the smart charger. I've used Battery Tenders & Guest's for years in boats, ATVs & motorcycles with good luck.

 

[nes999]

I use 2 battery tenders at home and about a dozen at work and havent had a single issue. If you hook your battery to a normal charger on trickle charge you can over charge your battery though, so make sure you get a "smart" charger of some sort.

 

[padroo]

Here is some information about concrete floors.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/battery.asp

 

[Showkey]

Theres a big difference between a trickle charger & a smart charger. If it gets cold in your area, get the smart charger. I've used Battery Tenders & Guest's for years in boats, ATVs & motorcycles with good luck.

There really is no good application for a dumb charger unless your going be around to monitor the charger. Overcharging, overheating and boiling the water of is just as bad or worse than letting the batttery discharge over time. A low charge is not necessarily kill the battery (short of freezing) yes low charge condition will cause sulfation, but cooking it will just about guarantee a junk battery.

SMART chargers solve all these issues plus the charge profile automatically changes with the type of battery AGM, wet, GEL etc etc and changes with the batteries condition.

 

[rustyjames]

At my family's shop, we have an elevated bench that we store seasonal batteries on. It is covered in rubber gasket material. We usually have a dozen or so batteries stored there at a time from cars, trailers, powersports, etc. When one of us is there, we check the battery the charger is currently on for full charge. If fully charged, we move the battery charger to the next battery in line, and let it charge until we leave. This way each battery is getting topped off while in storage, and we are not leaving them to charge unattended.

That's what I do too, don't trust any charger left unattended.

 

[joe_padavano]

Here is some information about concrete floors.

http://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/battery.asp

Did ya really need Snopes for this? Common sense should tell you that if the battery doesn't discharge to the CONDUCTIVE METAL battery tray in the car, it isn't going to conduct to the non-conductive concrete floor.

 

[matt_i]

There really is no good application for a dumb charger unless your going be around to monitor the charger. Overcharging, overheating and boiling the water of is just as bad or worse than letting the batttery discharge over time. A low charge is not necessarily kill the battery (short of freezing) yes low charge condition will cause sulfation, but cooking it will just about guarantee a junk battery.

SMART chargers solve all these issues plus the charge profile automatically changes with the type of battery AGM, wet, GEL etc etc and changes with the batteries condition.

Agreed. My understanding of the Battery Minder is it "exercises" the battery albeit very slowly to slightly discharge and then charge the battery in a slow moving sine wave action. Based on the size of the controller the current flow is very small. However it keeps the plates from "shedding" which ultimately builds "bridges" which short the plates. So it truly is a hands-off, come-back-in-the-spring unit. I have been doing this for 6 years now. The best thing is every vehicle is ready to go on a moment's notice and my costs of replacing low-capacity batteries has gone to zero.

 

[JoJoSnap]

My 2008 dodge ram origjnal battery still running strong not losing any juices. Been almost 10 years imagine that?!


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