Battery storage
 

My wife brought home Styrofoam box with a lid to store my boat batteries in. I know you want circulation while charging but can you safely store them in a sealed box outside?

The sealed box will slowly fill with hydrogen gas, given off by the batteries.
Hydrogen gas, in high concentration, is a bomb waiting to go off.

Why store your batteries in a sealed container?!

Selkirk

IF they are charged to the max they may make it through a winter but if at all possible get them inside somewhere somewhat warm and definately off a concrete floor. Discharging batteries do not like cold. At the very least trickle charge them once a month or so if you cant get them a warm bed.

Parting shot . . .
 

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This is what Trojan has to say about Deep-Cycle Battery Storage ... http://www.trojanbattery.com/pdf/WP_...orage_0512.pdf

Govern yourself accordingly,

Selkirk

Thanks fellas lid removed

Urban legend
Batteries on a concrete floor is not true with any modern plastic case batteries. https://www.snopes.com/autos/techno/battery.asp

Good to know, I stand corrected.
I was always real careful of that :sign0176:

Not tryin to get off-topic, but I always liked those "battery savers" ever since they hit the market.
You hook it to the battery, plug it in, and forget about it. They have a solid state chip that won't let the battery over-charge and the battery doesn't need to be 'monitored' like with a trickle charger.

Their for hooking to the battery under the hood and running with your block heater in the winter, but you can use them separately with the battery out of the vehicle when its just sitting on your tool bench or wherever.
Hope this helps.

I store my batteries in a heated garage trickle charge every couple months, be sure to check the water levels and top up with distilled water. we have our trailer on a seasonal site with power connected full time most trailer batteries will lose some water.

I left a battery on the garage floor one winter. Never charged it and it didn't freeze/crack but for some reason it spilled electrolyte on the floor and ate the cement. Now I've got a smooth cement floor with a 8x12" rough, concrete/gravel stain in the corner. For my money I'll keep my batteries stored on substances they can't destroy.

My boat batteries get stored in a heated garage on a piece of plywood under a storage rack.
The plywood has a roped tied to it so it is easy to pull the batteries out- I have always stored batteries onnplywood because I was told I needed to!:sHa_sarcasticlol:
The rope huwever is great , less hassle .
I pull them out halfway through the winter and check the votage and charge accordingly
Cat

One major thing I haven't seen mentioned here yet is to clean the batteries, especially the tops. The thin (or thick) layer of dust and dirt will carry a micro current across the top of the battery between the post thus shorting it out and draining it. It's good to rinse them off once in a while through out there usage and definetly for storage.

Just last week Canadian Tire had a solar panel on sale for about $10. I have one of these on the battery for my boat motor, one for the trolling motor and one for my skid steer. Those batteries are ready to go any time I ask them. If I have a vehicle that I am not going to use for the winter, I will hang one in the side window.

On the other hand, I bought a bike in 09 that had a security system, if you didn't use it for a few weeks, the security system would drain the battery. The dealer where I bought it had installed a battery maintainer. I have used the battery maintainer any time the bike wasn't in use. The bike still has the original battery and it will start the bike any time I want.

Yup, it's amazing that myth still exists!

Lots of people still swear by it. :lol:



Good point! Batteries (especially the tops) should never be allowed to get dirty, not even a slight film.

It's amazing to see how many people spend boatloads of money on expensive batteries, but can't be bothered to take care of them properly. When a battery fails prematurely, nine times out of ten it's the owner's fault :rolleye2:
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We were away for 23 days in September and came home to a '15 Subaru with a dead battery. Dealership said it was just drained from all the crap that uses battery even when the engine isn't on. That's ridiculous. The only advice they could give is have a charger/maintainer on it when travelling. I've never had that problem with other vehicles on past trips, but they didn't have so much in them. And what if you are in a long term lot at the airport?

I would disconnect the battery if long term. Might be a theft deterrent as well. I stored my motor home in a qounset and the battery started it in the spring. Always took a genset and battery charger for insurance, though.

Try disconnecting the positive terminal on the battery. It's worked for me in the past.

When I got back, all I had to do is reconnect the battery and reset the clock.
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You could always try a battery disconnect switch. I had been told by my dealer that if I was going to leave my bike for two weeks I should connect the maintainer. Too bad your dealer wasn't on top of things.

Maybe that's a question that any one on here with a newer vehicle should be putting to their dealer.

Where do you buy them?

Most automotive stores have them, NAPA, AutoValue, etc, or at least they used to.
Buy a high-quality one, some aren't so good from what I heard. Last time I looked a good one was around 40 bucks.
Not sure, but Amazon might have them too.

I had 2 good ones for the last 3 years, no problems so far.
Its nice to be able to not worry about over-charging.

EDIT: Sorry, I got the name wrong.
Its called a "battery maintainer" or "battery tender".

http://automotivethinker.com/general/batterytenders/

I had to have a ton of things reset by the dealer. If you unhook the battery, you will be able to start the car when you get back as you have experienced, but the car (mine at least) still thinks the battery is dead so you still have all the reset issues. Had to reset things like hill assist, other driving assists, the clock, the radio, etc. etc.

If you have a trickle or conditioning charger, lever the batteries plugged in. They will not freeze, nor with they deteriorate.

I have an on board charger on my boat (same idea with conditioning, trickle and rapid charge modes electronically monitored) and the batteries stay plugged in all winter.

Agree with keeping warm... however to my understanding new batteries are totally fine left on concrete...

That reminds me, I meant to pick a couple of those up.

$49 Costco

Actually,they are on sale right now for $15. I think tomorrow is the last day. Or just keep an eye on their flyer, they come up from time to time.

X3 on the Solar Panels!!!!
 

I have two solar panels on my boat. One for the "house" battery, and one for the accessory battery. Solar panels are in the window facing south. Have not had battery issues in years on the boat.

I have solar panels on the south face of the shed where the skidoos sleep all summer. Even in the winter there is a charge on those batteries which keeps the crappy little batteries going strong.

Problem for boats and sleds is that they run for maybe an hour or two and then sit for a week or more (in a fishing situation that is!!!). Most charging systems on boat motors and sleds (2 stroke at least) generate about 15 amps and that's all. You never get a full charge on the batteries and eventually you lose.

CT had their 2.5 watt solar panel on for about $15 last week. I have a couple of bigger panels as well, but this slow steady charge works great for the batteries.

Even on the Quads I have the panels hooked up for storage. Quad batteries are about $140 alone. Same with the good sled batteries. $15 for a solar panel is pretty cheap.

Battery tenders are nice if you have the ability to plug in, but otherwise, you have dead batteries if someone knocks the plug out or a breaker trips.

Drewski

Do Not Disconnect Car Batteries for long!!!
 

By the way, do not listen to someone who says disconnect the car battery and leave it. The CPU needs a charge and if it loses its programming, it can be a tow bill and 3 hours at the dealer downloading the software.

A Fellow parked his 2012 Vette for the Winter under a car port. He disconnected the battery and took it inside. Next spring the total bill was $900.00!!! The CPU lost its programming when it powered down. The CPU has a small battery usually (sometimes called an ECM or PCM), but this is only good for a week at best. Similar to your home computer mother board in a way.

No way to download the software in a modern car without a friend at the dealership helping you out. It is proprietary software and usually takes some level of expertise to do it.

Drewski

Drewski

Same here !

Dodger.