Battery storage

[GMCAMARO]

What do folks do with say five or six batteries, during the winter that all get maintenance charging? How do you store all those batteries and chargers? Yes, a couple of them are charged in parallel with one charger, but still thats a fair number of batteries. Where do you place them all?

 

[KULIWOBBY]

I have been told in the past to never let a battery sit on a concrete floor for a period of time. It does something to the cells and ruins them. I have no idea if this is true or not.

 

[IMStuner]

I use one of these motorcycle and they make a 10 bank one.

-Bank International Charger - 12V @ 1.25A Each Bank - USA & Western Hemisphere

http://batterytender.com/products/m...rnational-charger-usa-western-hemisphere.html

 

[Laker]

AFAIK, that piece of advice applies to old batteries that had hard rubber casings.
The rubber was somewhat porous and the moisture from the concrete would lead to premature discharge via grounding.

 

[SARG]

I used to remove all our tractor batteries from the equipment for the winter ........ now I've evolved into leaving the batteries in place and using a trickle charger on all of them (7). Last year I even used a cheap timer so the charger would only come on for four hours per day. Now I don't even bother with that.

Just hook up the trickle unit and see it again in the spring. The caveat is that all my machines are under cover.

 

[woodgate]

AFAIK, that piece of advice applies to old batteries that had hard rubber casings.
The rubber was somewhat porous and the moisture from the concrete would lead to premature discharge via grounding.

So since they are plastic now it doesn't hurt them at all to sit on concrete?

 

[Laker]

Yes, in fact it's safer than risking having them falling off a shelf and will actually keep them cooler and slows down the discharge. However, if they are leaking, the acid isn't good for the concrete.

 

[pattenp]

I've only got 3 batteries to keep charged and they stay in the equipment. I got a Battery Tender on each one.

 

[theoldwizard1]

Do not parallel charge ! Neither battery will get "fully" charged.

 

[srmofo]

I left all the batteries in my fleet this year and put maintainers on them. I am tired of replacing batteries prematurely because I forget to throw them on the trickle charger or just get lazy. This year Im leaving them plugged in. My garage is detached , so the risk of an electrical fire (highly un-probable) is not in my mind. Im more worried about loosing my stuff to a break-in than a fire.

There is a difference between tenders/maintainers and trickle chargers.

 

[Murphy4570]

I just leave them in vehicles, with the negative cable disconnected. This prevents them from discharging at all. They remain dormant and hold their charge. If one goes dead for whatever reason, I can usually bring it back by putting a very low charge on it for a day or two, usually two amps.

I don't bother to even do that on carbureted vehicles. When off, there is almost no draw on the battery. I left my plow truck like that, fired it up for the first time in months yesterday. Fired right off, no problem.

In storage, I just put them on a wooden shelf in my garage. I don't really keep spare batteries around, no real need.

 

[bgarrett]

So since they are plastic now it doesn't hurt them at all to sit on concrete?

One reason to not leave them on the floor is because they are ignored and forgotten. and not charged

 

[Gary S]

I leave them in the vehicles. If the vehicle is old enough, you don't need to do anything else. If it is a newer vehicle with electronics, you need to disconnect the battery cable to keep the electronics from killing the battery.
I use only basic old school lead-acid batteries, and they will sit unused or uncharged for at least 6 months and still fire up the car.
Once I tried leaving a trickle charger on one of my batteries. In 2 months, the almost new battery was dead and beyond help.
So, now if I have a battery that has been sitting unused and ignored for 6 months to a year, I put my trickle charger on for only 24 hours, no more.
The Walmart battery currently in my 1970 car has lasted 13 years so far by ignoring it like this. Winter's cold weather is the friend of a battery. Heat is the enemy.

 

[bullfrog123]

RV, lawn mower, 2 wheelers, Ranger batts all sit on counter top in my tool room with the 4 bank Tender hooked up. Every now and then throughout the winter I will switch the leads around too charge other batteries.
3yrs with this method and have yet to buy a replacement battery for anything.

 

[e-tek]

There was a thread on here a couple years back about batteries sitting on concrete. My Dad owned a bodyshop and we always placed batteries on a piece of wood but the general concenus was that it mattered not. They discharged due to not having any new charge - they were also old technology that would discharge in weeks. The newer Deep Cycle keep much longer and newest AGM's don't discharge much at all!
New chargers all have timers, charge and load electronics so just plug em in and see them later!

 

[RECox286]

We have "snowbirds" who migrate to southern climes for the winter.

Most of the cars and boats: we remove the batts, and store them

inside where it is warmer than freezing. (We always put these batts

in a rubber wash tub in case of leaks.) There are some that

stay in the vehicle with a trickle charger, and others that stay in

the vehicle that we start and run on a regular basis. Haven't lost

a battery (in 30 some odd years) to anything other than old age.

Uncle Bob

 

[Stuart in MN]

I just leave them in vehicles, with the negative cable disconnected. This prevents them from discharging at all. They remain dormant and hold their charge.

This is what I do, no problems. In fact, they will discharge more slowly in cold weather, so assuming the battery is in good shape and fully charged, you're better off leaving it out in the garage rather than bringing it inside.