Day -2 problems!

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

So long as they aren't sitting on concrete, they should ought be OK.

I never know if you're joking or not But no, they won't be OK just sitting for months at a time self-discharging. At least not OK to my standards. Best way to prolong the life of a LA battery as much as possible is to keep it fully charged, all the time. Smart trickle chargers plugged in 24/7 make that job easy. If my batteries have to suffer an untimely death, I don't want their blood on my hands (it's caustic, after all).

To be fair, though, the heat here will probably kill them before discharge cycles will.

[HazMatt]

Tho an addendum to trickle charging, I was just joshing a little...

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

I never know if you're joking or not [emoji3] But no, they won't be OK just sitting for months at a time self-discharging. At least not OK to my standards. Best way to prolong the life of a LA battery as much as possible is to keep it fully charged, all the time. Smart trickle chargers plugged in 24/7 make that job easy. If my batteries have to suffer an untimely death, I don't want their blood on my hands (it's caustic, after all).

To be fair, though, the heat here will probably kill them before discharge cycles will.

Old skool batteries would discharge if parked on damp concrete, due to the case's carbon content.
That won't happen with modern batts, encased as they are in an insulating hard plastic shell. Course, if you scored a sweet deal on Edison batteries in Austin, the preceding warning applies...
Short of storing them in the fridge (and become a cause marital strife), keep them as cool as you might. Batts discharge more slowly when cold. Higher temps = faster chemical reactions.
A battery stored at 95° will self-discharge twice as quickly as one at 75°. (Who knew batteries masturbated?)
It's also important to keep the batt's top clean, as accumulated dust and acid on that surface has the potential to create a circuit between the terminals.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

So long as they aren't sitting on concrete, they should ought be OK.

There is absolutely no evidence that storing batteries on concrete affects them at all. Wives tale perpetuated since batteries had wooden cases.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

Short of storing them in the fridge (and become a cause marital strife), keep them as cool as you might. Batts discharge more slowly when cold. Higher temps = faster chemical reactions.

We actually do keep all our spare batteries in the refrigerator. Well... excepting automotive batteries . That would, indeed, not go over well. Alkalines, NiMH, & Lithium. In freezer bags with dessicant packs. I pull them out once a year to check them. Very rarely do I ever have to charge (NiMH I keep topped off, Lithium @ ~40% SOC).

[HazMatt]

Huh! Neva thought about freezing 'em!

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

We actually do keep all our spare batteries in the refrigerator. Well... excepting automotive batteries [emoji3]. That would, indeed, not go over well. Alkalines, NiMH, & Lithium. In freezer bags with dessicant packs. I pull them out once a year to check them. Very rarely do I ever have to charge (NiMH I keep topped off, Lithium @ ~40% SOC).

My old man was a mechanical engineer, complete Type A personality.
Regardless of how old I got, I always knew where to find dry cell batteries- in the fridge, low on the door.
Am I the only one who has realized that with one's increasing age, the smarter the paternal unit becomes..?
[emoji848]

[Sleddgracer]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

Tho an addendum to trickle charging, I was just joshing a little...



Old skool batteries would discharge if parked on damp concrete, due to the case's carbon content.
That won't happen with modern batts, encased as they are in an insulating hard plastic shell. Course, if you scored a sweet deal on Edison batteries in Austin, the preceding warning applies...
Short of storing them in the fridge (and become a cause marital strife), keep them as cool as you might. Batts discharge more slowly when cold. Higher temps = faster chemical reactions.
A battery stored at 95° will self-discharge twice as quickly as one at 75°. (Who knew batteries masturbated?)
It's also important to keep the batt's top clean, as accumulated dust and acid on that surface has the potential to create a circuit between the terminals.

I sometimes wonder about plastic battery cases - not an automotive battery, but someone set my cordless drill on my antique dining table one time - over night what ever was leaking/discharging from the battery ate the 0.9 on the hardness scale urethane varnish off the table in the exact pattern as the base of the battery - I haven't got around to refinishing the table yet, so that spot with the bare wood is still showing

[HazMatt]

Sounds like an incontinent battery is to blame.
Do they make Depends for DeWalts..?

[o1marc]

It's funny how people go to extremes when they hear an old wives tale. The killer of batteries is EXCESSIVE heat, not ambient. So putting them in the fridge won't keep them from discharging anymore than room temp, as long as room temp isn't 200*

[HazMatt]

Fer Fred's sake! It-was-a-joke, putting them in the fridge...
Refer to the numbers I quoted in post 22, 2nd to last paragraph.
Please note, this time, the use of the word, "quote"
Temperature DOES make a difference in flooded acid batts rate of self-discharge. Cite your statement to prove otherwise, else keep it to yourself.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by o1marc

It's funny how people go to extremes when they hear an old wives tale. The killer of batteries is EXCESSIVE heat, not ambient. So putting them in the fridge won't keep them from discharging anymore than room temp, as long as room temp isn't 200*

It's even funnier when people disregard basic chemistry as an old wive's tale because they apparently don't understand how batteries work.

As HazMat already pointed out, the chemical reaction responsible for a battery's ability to produce a voltage differential is slowed the lower the temperature goes. This means self-discharge is slowed as well. So yes, putting them in the refrigerator absolutely will slow their self-discharge rate, which in turn will both reduce the average depth of discharge between charges, as well as reduce the number of charge/discharge cycles necessary while in storage. The result is unquestionably longer battery life.

90F is better than 100F. 80 is better than 90. 70 is better than 80, and on & on & on it goes. You might have problems at or below freezing due to physical concerns (like ice crystal formation), but speaking to slowing the chemical reaction alone... the colder the better.

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

Fer Fred's sake! It-was-a-joke, putting them in the fridge...
Refer to the numbers I quoted in post 22, 2nd to last paragraph.
Please note, this time, the use of the word, "quote"
Temperature DOES make a difference in flooded acid batts rate of self-discharge. Cite your statement to prove otherwise, else keep it to yourself.

You may have been joking. I was referring to Hubbards post, don't believe he was joking.

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by o1marc

You may have been joking. I was referring to Hubbards post, don't believe he was joking.

You're right. I wasn't joking. See my post above.

Love,

The Old Wife

[TheHubbardBus]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

My old man was a mechanical engineer, complete Type A personality.
Regardless of how old I got, I always knew where to find dry cell batteries- in the fridge, low on the door.

Your old man was an old wife too?

[HazMatt]

Originally Posted by o1marc

You may have been joking. I was referring to Hubbards post, don't believe he was joking.

Using the quote function, as you did this time, helps dispell doubt, dude.

[HazMatt]

(THB: Whups! Quote function malfunctioned, allowing now for reasonable doubt. Lawsy, but I loathe lawyers)
Thanx for the night mares...
Whups, those are old female horses with nocturnal proclivities...

[TheHubbardBus]

horsies in the night, exchanging glances.
horsies in the night, what were the chances?

[HazMatt]

...
I got nuttin'...
(Tho if it were on a gelding ranch, somebody got nutted.
Wonder how the OP is making out, btw...)

[o1marc]

Originally Posted by HazMatt

Using the quote function, as you did this time, helps dispell doubt, dude.

You just had a guilty conscience.

[HazMatt]

Damn right I do!
Just not about that... [emoji57]

[Native]

Originally Posted by TheHubbardBus

We just went through the same thing. ... ... .
I waited until I saw them & checked their condition before going out to buy new ones.
Then just ran down to the auto parts store and bought a couple. 1/2 hr. round trip if I hadn't had to wait for the store to open.

Bring wire brushes to clean cable terminations, an..d of course a well-sorted tool kit for fasteners.

I don't know how far you have to go, but if it's not just a quick trip across town ...

To the OP: The HubbardBus makes a few good points. Look at the batteries yourself, then buy more. If it starts with the original batteries, then all is good and you have a spare set for the ride home. If the originals do not start the bus, REPLACE THE BATTERIES, 'cause the old batteries could very well be in such a state that a jump with the new batteries may not work or may damage the new batteries.