Hadn't thought of the condensation aspect. However, next door to my
workshop is a battery shop that does alot of UPS (Uninterruptable Power
Supply) work as well as car batteries. I purchased some UPS batteries
from them and was looking for a place to store them in my shop until I
could get them in place for use. The guys at the shop said that placing
them on the floor was OK, as the plastic cases were not susceptible to
discharge on concrete like the old tar-case batteries are.
I've also had to use a battery that had sat on the floor for a time, as
it was a marginal battery and would not hold a charge. I used it on a
car I was working on, and aside for still needing a charge if it sat for
more than a day or so, the battery had not gotten worse.
Jeff
------------------------------
Re: Batteries & concrete (was Battery Chargers ('Maintainers'))
In a message dated 97-11-04 16:49:20 EST, Mark.Pelzel@cexp.com writes:
> Absolutely
> do not leave your charging batteries or other batteries in storage on
a
> concrete floor - concrete will guarantee that they will fully
discharge
> over a short period even with a small flow.
Mark:
I find that interesting, because I was just asked about that by a member
of
the MG list. Since I didn't know the answer, I asked The battery systems
experts at the Tennessee Valley Authority where I used to work. These
guys are
the corporate headquarters staff specialists, responsible for setting
the
standards and procedures for all aspects of battery power systems at all
of
the TVA nuclear power plants.
According to them, the only potential for problems with storing
batteries on
concrete is the potential for condensation due to the cold storage
effects of
the thermal mass of concrete. Concrete will stay cold long after the air
in a
room has warmed up, thus the moisture in the warm air will condense on
the
floor, and the batteries, creating a possible discharge path between the
terminals. Typically, this is only a problem when the doors to an
unheated
room are opened on a warm spring day, after a several days of cold
weather.
Heating the room dries out the air, so condensation is not a problem
from that
standpoint.
As the battery cases are totally watertight, they should be able to
function
perfectly well standing in a pool of water, so I don't understand how
concrete
could be any worse. As I said, though, this is outside of my range of
knowledge, so I would be interested in hearing more from you on this. If
that
is true, what is the mechanism for the increased discharge?
Dan Masters,
Alcoa, TN
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