Batteries and Concrete

[davo]

No longer applicable. In the old days batteries case were made from different materials like canvas or similar. I never believed this myth but actually found a web site accidently that expained this. I leave them in concrete all the time. Plastic is an insulator. If batteries discharged though concrete we would have concrete wiring.

[littlejim]

Do people really believe this sort of stuff?

[BigE]

how's this for some theory are cars harder to start [smiley=argue.gif] in winter or summer?? now go lie on a concrete floor overnight.......... HHHMMMMM makes ya think.


cheers BigE

[Roughasguts]

Then hows this. A battery will last 18 months longer in a colder not freezing enviroment, compared to a battery in the Desert.

[IcemanII]

Roughasguts

I think you have raised a good point, apparently when a battery is above 26deg the life is reduced due to corrosion growth on the positive terminal, I would think that in Brisbane they are probably often sitting around 35deg during the day, its also worth noting the charging requirements change depending on the battery temperature as the fully charged output voltage will vary.
Have some doubts if any of the expensive 3 and 4 stage chargers take temperature type and brand into account and wonder how well they would do in a lab test.

[Roughasguts]

IcemanII, batteries defy all logic to me.
I found 20 years ago, my batteries use to fail in 43 deg temp, stop the car and then nothing. And hopfully the outback road house didn't charge to much for a new one.

Then I found when I moved, on a cold morning and the battery didn't turn over the motor fast enough to fire up.

All you had to do was pour a bucket of hot water on the battery and she would fire up. (mind you the battery was near stuffed)

Same thing I advised to the wifes girl friends when they asked if I could jump start there car. I couldn't be bothered and that trick got them going several times as well. ?????

Maybe the hot water is a temp solution just exciting the cells enough to throw a few more volts out.

But obviously the battery was stuffed.

[Kendall249]

the equalibrium of these sort of batteries are dependent on temp.

[finga64]

Roughasguts

I think you have raised a good point, apparently when a battery is above 26deg the life is reduced due to corrosion growth on the positive terminal, I would think that in Brisbane they are probably often sitting around 35deg during the day, its also worth noting the charging requirements change depending on the battery temperature as the fully charged output voltage will vary.
Have some doubts if any of the expensive 3 and 4 stage chargers take temperature type and brand into account and wonder how well they would do in a lab test.

There's a bit of the answer to why they can and may discharge.
Any contamination on the battery casing is a conductor. Doesn't matter if the battery case is the best insulator in the world.
If there's dirt, salt or any old crap on the casing then add a bit of moisture whether it's moisture in a humid atmosphere or moisture coming out of the concrete (some sheds don't have plastic under the slab) or vapours out of the battery itself and you have a tracking problem. It doesn't take much at all for a conductive track to exist between terminals or down the casing to the concrete (or ground or metal or whatever).
How many have seen that white powder under a battery when it's on the ground or sitting in the metal battery carrier in the car?? That's a sign of a tracking problem.
Sometimes you don't even need moisture. Dry dirt is a pretty good conductor of electricity. That's why we use M.E.N. systems in our power grids and that's what enables us to use 1 wire 11,000 volt power lines in remote areas instead of the normal 2 or 3 wire systems.
How many people clean their ignition leads to try to stop tracking or shorting out of them to fix a miss fire??
The best way to prevent external discharge is to keep your batteries clean and keep the crap off them. Especially the top.

[ribbit]

it is a old mans tale. I sell Century batteries and the reps will tell you that they store them on concrete in their warehouses.
It does not discharge them just time and lack of charging will discharge them

[saurian]

So i suppose , if you put a battery on a stone put some cement on them
and a few additives they go flat as well ???
Ta

[Reef_fisher]

Have heard the same and it also applies to fuel drums full of fuel. The fuel loses its grunt as with the batteries. Don't know one way or the other.

[rainbow_runner]

Sounds like one for myth busters

There is heaps on stuff on the net saying a big "NO" to this one!!