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Black Friday Sale!November 29, 2024 through December 2, 2024 at 11:59 a.m. EST, use discount code odybf24 for 15% off when you shop the Odyssey Battery web store!(Discount valid only in Contiguous United States. 10 item limit applies.)
Perhaps you have heard the misconception that you should never store a battery directly on concrete to avoid damaging it. You were more than likely told to first place a piece of scrap wood or cardboard underneath the battery. Maybe you heard this from your father, a friend, a mentor or even a trusted mechanic. Maybe you wondered if it was true, or you simply followed the advice.
At one time that may have been good advice. Through the years battery cases have been constructed using a variety of materials for the outer case—including wood, steel and hard rubber to name a few. Hard rubber can eventually deteriorate, develop cracks (no matter how small), and if placed on the damp ground or concrete, the battery can self-discharge.
Today however, the truth is that it is perfectly fine to place a battery directly on concrete. That''s because today''s battery cases are made of tough plastics such as polycarbonate or polypropylene for greater impact resistance. These plastics are strong and don''t degrade the way hard rubber can.
One example of today''s superior battery construction is the ODYSSEY® Absorbed Glass Mat (AGM) Thin Plate Pure Lead (TPPL) battery from EnerSys®. The battery cases are made of polycarbonate to withstand a great deal of impact, shock and vibration. The internal case design securely supports the AGM cells and the internal components of the battery. The rugged case and tightly packed design helps prevent failures due to vibration.
No matter what surface you choose to store a battery on, it is important to realize that all batteries will self-discharge over time due to chemical reactions that occur within the battery cells. Two key factors that affect discharge rate are temperature and battery age.
Many believe that cold temperatures will speed up battery self-discharge rate. Actually, the opposite is true. Heat will cause faster self-discharge for most batteries due to the increased chemical reaction within the battery. A battery stored at 95°F (35°C) could self-discharge twice as fast as one stored at 75°F (23.9°C). Heat can also shorten the lifespan of a battery. Batteries stored in cooler climates generally last longer than batteries stored in hot climates.
ODYSSEY® batteries are engineered to be resistant to temperature extremes, feature a slower self-discharge rate and offer twice the life span of conventional flooded lead acid batteries. ODYSSEY® batteries can be stored for 24 months at room temperature without charging and without damage to the plates.
While placing a battery directly on a concrete surface doesn''t cause self-discharge, when storing a battery, it is always a good idea to clean off dirt and grime from battery terminals and wipe off the top of the case. Accumulated grime could create a circuit between the terminals that could cause self-discharge. As always, be sure to follow the manufacturer''s guidelines for care and direct any questions to your battery professional.
Now you know the truth about the "battery-stored-on-concrete" myth. Nonetheless, the next time you prepare to place a battery down on a concrete floor, you may still hear those words of caution passed down to you coming from deep within your memory. You might even automatically reach for a piece of scrap wood. If you do, don''t worry. Storing your battery on scrap wood won''t harm it either.
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Have you heard the one about batteries discharging when stored on concrete? Apparently, some people have taken to storing 12V batteries—the kind used in electric wheel chairs and emergency lighting systems—on wooden shelves to maximize their life expectancy. Is there a spark of truth to this or is this claim dead in the water?
A bit of research reveals this to be a zombie truth: it used to be that batteries would discharge faster when stored on concrete, but newer technology put the kibosh on this phenomenon. Yet the belief persists.
A hundred years ago, this rule-of-thumb was quite useful, as the case around the battery was made of wood and the electrical cells were glass. If the concrete floor underneath was wet, the wooden case would swell, causing the glass cells to break.
Subsequent batteries would sometimes lack a case altogether, allowing electrical discharges into the concrete. Then came porous rubber cases which contained carbon atoms: this also created electrical activity between the cells in the presence of moisture, leading to prematurely discharged batteries.
The batteries of today, however, are encased in plastic or hard rubber, which significantly reduces this energy waste. Batteries do naturally self-discharge over time, however, but this is due to an internal process, not the type of material on which the battery is sitting.
A compound called lead sulphate naturally forms during battery use and it can crystallize onto the negative plate of the battery, especially when the battery rests for a long time. These crystals end up impeding battery performance over time.
A reader asked us to look into this myth because he was concerned about battery life in parking meters. These meters all use a 12V battery to either deliver main power or serve as a backup, and these batteries sit on a sheet of steel set atop concrete or, sometimes, directly on the concrete itself.
If these batteries do discharge faster than expected, I suspect it has nothing to do with the material upon which they sit, but with the ambient temperature. Montreal summers can be pretty brutal: we had a maximum of 32 degrees Celsius last June. I can only imagine how hot it gets inside a black parking meter in downtown Montreal.
Heat is bad for batteries. According to manufacturer Pacific Power Batteries, a car battery in a hot climate will last, on average, only two thirds as long as it would in a cold climate. For example, a battery that lasts 4 years in a cold environment would only last 2 years and 8 months in a hot climate. Keeping the battery on a slab of concrete, which can act as a heat sink, might actually extend its life by absorbing some of that heat.
You might have heard people say that you shouldn’t put a car battery on a concrete floor, and this myth has existed for years, butthe truth is quite different.
Key Takeaways – The concern stems from when battery cases were made of materials that could allow electrolytes to seep out, leading to discharge. But with today’s advances, our batteries are safe from that old problem. Modern car batteriescan safely be placed on concrete surfaces, so there is no need to worry.
So, what else is there to know about this myth and how it started? Stick with me as I’ll guide you through some interesting facts and how technology has positively changed the battery game.
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