Battery Experts! Inside please.

[ForceFed70]

Well, there was frost on my windshield this morning

Got me to thinking about storing the stang for the winter.

Here's my question:
I've got a small 2 amp trickle charger. Do you think I can leave this on the battery all winter, or will that damage my battery? I'm bad for remembering to turn ON/OFF my chargers... would be nice to leave it on all winter.

 

[Max Power]

No, you shouldn't charge it all winter.

Some motorcycle shops and specialty car shops sell a product called the Battery Tender, which trickle charges your battery until it's fully charged, then cycles off. Kinda works like your cell phone charger.

They are about $50 and worth it.

http://www.batterytender.com/

 

[Hack]

I think you should pull the battery out of the car, and throw a charger on it a couple of times through the winter. I usually just start up the charger, and watch the amps go to zero in the first ten seconds, then I disconnect it and that's it. I keep my battery in the basement of my house, since my car is stored in an unheated garage that's not attached to the house.

 

[WORTH]

If the battery is good, it wont hurt to leave it for the winter. A dead battery will freeze, but a good one wont. I've never pulled mine out of the cars or the boats. I do however fire up the cars a couple of times during the winter and take them for a ride.

 

[Hack]

If the battery is good, it wont hurt to leave it for the winter. A dead battery will freeze, but a good one wont. I've never pulled mine out of the cars or the boats. I do however fire up the cars a couple of times during the winter and take them for a ride.

Wow, it must be nice to have such mild winters!

edit: Around here, there's also too much salt on the roads. I won't drive mine until the snow is gone and we've gotten at least one good rain to wash most of the salt away. Enough of my car has already dissolved.

 

[Max Power]

hack, batteries discharge much slower in the cold than they do in the warm. Cold weather is actually better for a fully charged battery than warm weather is. Most battery mfgs will tell you that heat is what kills a battery. As a matter of fact, most battery warehouses aren't heated.

And yes, I live where you do! I just pull the ground cable off in the winter so the radio doesn't drain it. Other than that, I never even need a jump in the spring.

 

[Pakrat]

You should always store your battery on the cold cement floor, you'll be fine.

Yeah uhm, actually same here. I usually just pull the ground (or this year I now just turn the green knob) and I am done with it. I may start it up once in mid winter but that is it. I never have any problems in the spring, but I used to make sure I backed it in, just in case I needed a jump.

 

[Hack]

You should always store your battery on the cold cement floor, you'll be fine.

That's a myth. A cold cement floor won't discharge a battery. Dirt, moisture and corrosion (any conductive path) linking the battery posts discharge a battery. Part of why I like to pull the battery from the car is I then clean it. I don't clean my engine compartment - I rarely even wash the car (maybe once a year). So the battery needs this cleaning.

Cool weather may be good for a battery, -30 is not good for anything. Anyway, I didn't say you have to pull the battery and keep it inside or it will die. What I said was - I do this...

The garage I store my car in is really small and it's a real PITA to get at the car in there. I prefer to pull the battery, clean it up, and keep it in the house. That way I see it occasionally, and I remember to hook up the charger. The battery has lasted me 10+ years, and it was in the car when I got it. I know I'm not doing it any harm with my treatment.

 

[Hack]

hack, batteries discharge much slower in the cold than they do in the warm. Cold weather is actually better for a fully charged battery than warm weather is. Most battery mfgs will tell you that heat is what kills a battery.

Heat may kill batteries in hot areas of the country. It doesn't get that hot here. Most batteries here die trying to start a car in below zero temperatures.

I agree that cold is fine for storage of chemical batteries. However, cold slows any reaction. Therefore, the ability of a battery to produce a current is crippled at cold temperatures. A tiny drain that wouldn't cause any problem between 70 and 100 degrees will absolutely kill a battery permanently (edit: and very quickly) at -10. This is another reason why I prefer to store a battery in livable temperatures.

 

[Pakrat]

Hmmmm, anyone care to set their battery down on the garage floor for the winter and prove or disprove the myth then? A scientific test for the good of all? Anyone?

 

[Hack]

Hmmmm, anyone care to set their battery down on the garage floor for the winter and prove or disprove the myth then? A scientific test for the good of all? Anyone?

Mine sits on my bare concrete floor in my basement every winter.

edit: you may want to consider what physically could happen that would cause a cement floor to discharge a battery. I think that will help you realize it's not true. You have to have current flowing to discharge the battery (or loss of electrolyte).

 

[hummer784]

70 nitrous eater you can leave you battery on the charger if your battery charger is automatic. At the parts store where I work, we sell automatic chargers and they turn on and off as needed.

 

[Pakrat]

Mine sits on my bare concrete floor in my basement every winter.

edit: you may want to consider what physically could happen that would cause a cement floor to discharge a battery. I think that will help you realize it's not true. You have to have current flowing to discharge the battery (or loss of electrolyte).

I'm not saying I don't believe you, but I am a see to believe kind of person and I don't particularly care to test it with my battery seeings how there are more options than just the floor to place it, in other words why piss in the wind if you don't have too. I sure know my ass will go numb faster sitting directly on the floor as opposed to even putting a lousy 1/4" piece of wood in between as a buffer. And since batteries usually have a shelf life to them I have to at least wonder what it is about sitting on a shelf that causes them to discharge and why an extreme tempture wouldn't have some type of adverse affect on that or at least expediate the process. With the exception of you, I have heard more folks complain about doing it and their battery goes dead than not, but that certainly doesn't outrule coincidence. I have also heard folks say they bput a V8 in their T code and changed nothing else on the car and they have no issues, but I am not about to test it out for myself until several others have proven it to me as a fact.

 

[ForceFed70]

Hmmmm, anyone care to set their battery down on the garage floor for the winter and prove or disprove the myth then? A scientific test for the good of all? Anyone?

This used to be true.. cold floor = moisture = draining battey. But the new plastics used in batteries don't have this problem anymore.

Thanks everyone for your info. Guess I should look into a 3rd battery. Hmm.. actually this is a good job for that 120V timer I bought a few years ago. Trickle charge the battery for 30min everyday...

 

[WORTH]

Mine sits on my bare concrete floor in my basement every winter.

edit: you may want to consider what physically could happen that would cause a cement floor to discharge a battery. I think that will help you realize it's not true. You have to have current flowing to discharge the battery (or loss of electrolyte).

Just for *****s and giggles, put your volt meter on the negative post of your battery, and touch the positive lead to the case of the battery, if there is any moisture you will probubly get a voltage reading, a battery CAN discharge threw the case. The amount it discharges depends on how good the case is and what the humidity is.

 

[Ozsum2]

Trickle charge away. I used to trickle my batteries on the old sailboat in Seattle year round. Some guys in dry dock used solar chargers. Same difference.

 

[Hack]

Just for *****s and giggles, put your volt meter on the negative post of your battery, and touch the positive lead to the case of the battery, if there is any moisture you will probubly get a voltage reading, a battery CAN discharge threw the case. The amount it discharges depends on how good the case is and what the humidity is.

I'll try to remember to do it. The car goes into storage in the next month some time.

It's pretty dry around here in the winter. When it's near or below zero, the air can't hold much moisture. And the furnace runs a lot, pumping dry air through the house.

 

[WORTH]

I'll try to remember to do it. The car goes into storage in the next month some time.

It's pretty dry around here in the winter. When it's near or below zero, the air can't hold much moisture. And the furnace runs a lot, pumping dry air through the house.

Well if you put the meter on the case and get no reading you wont have a problem at all, no matter where you store it.

 

[Hack]

Well if you put the meter on the case and get no reading you wont have a problem at all, no matter where you store it.

Well I know I won't have a problem, because I have stored the battery on a cement floor every winter for years. I was going to throw a meter on it just to see what happens.

 

[WORTH]

Well I know I won't have a problem, because I have stored the battery on a cement floor every winter for years. I was going to throw a meter on it just to see what happens.

The guy that showed me that was an electronics tech, he started by putting the ground lead of the meter on the radiator hose and the pos on the battery and getting a 10 volt reading. Electricity can be sneaky when it wants too.