Removing trailer battery for winter

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Welp, I did it today. Made the final step in anticipation of a long, cold winter.

I removed my trailer battery and brought it home for safe keeping in my garage ... where the battery will not freeze. Also makes it easy for me to keep the battery on a little trickle charger.

Years ago, I made up a little "dummy" battery with a piece of wood and a couple of bolts, topped off with some wing nuts ... so that when I do remove the battery for winter storage ... the positive and negative leads won't touch.

Won't touch?

Yup, because we do all our winter camping with the main trailer house battery removed.

So when we're bouncing down the road to a happy winter campout (over the hills and through the snow) ... and the trailer is hooked to the tow vehicle ... the leads won't touch.

And when we're happily camped somewhere, hooked to electricity, the positive and negative leads won't touch ... although, the converter folks assured me long, long ago that the converter will sense no battery is attached and will not try to charge it, sending current through the leads.

But, better safe than sorry.

A gram of prevention is worth of a kilogram of cure.

If you are storing your trailer for the winter (oh no!) ... and don't plan on charging the battery every so often ... and it freezes for months on end where you live ... I suggest you, too, remove your battery and bring it home for safekeeping.

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Oh yeah, and if you bring the trailer battery home for the winter ... make sure you place it on a board ... and not on the concrete floor of the garage.

Have no idea why you need to place it on a board ... but that's what I've always heard ... so I do it.

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Orginally posted by Charles Watts

Oh yeah, and if you bring the trailer battery home for the winter ... make sure you place it on a board ... and not on the concrete floor of the garage.

Have no idea why you need to place it on a board ... but that's what I've always heard ... so I do it.

Charles,

The reason for not placing the battery on concrete is that the hard rubber case of the battery absorbs moisture and gradually becomes conductive. Oh no! They don't use hard rubber any more, just plastic. :jester

Seriously, that caveat applied back in the good old days, but not anymore. It will not hurt to place the battery on concrete.

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See, this is why I pay Morgan the big bucks to be my personal electrical engineer.

I have less to worry about that way!:)

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Orginally posted by Charles Watts

See, this is why I pay Morgan the big bucks to be my personal electrical engineer.

I have less to worry about that way!:)

I live to serve. :angel

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ground/concrete is still a 'temperature' conductor.:o

But if you've got warm concrete......:wave

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I re-researched.

http://www.inct.net/~autotips/battmyth.htm

has this to say (the Exide site agrees):

Battery Myth #2 Storing a battery on a concrete floor will discharge the battery.

There is not currently a strong reason for avoiding contact of a battery with a concrete floor. The battery's contact with the concrete should not create a problem with the material in today' s batteries. If the battery is not clean, but has a surface layer of acid or grime which is conductive, the battery can be expected to self-discharge more rapidly than if it was clean and dry. Many years ago, the batteries were constructed with a wooden case around a glass jar with the battery in it. Any moisture on the floor could cause the wood to swell and possibly fracture the glass, causing it to leak. Shortly after the introduction of "Hard Rubber" containers, which were somewhat porous and of a less than ideal design, there was a chance of current to be conducted through the container of a high carbon content if the moist concrete floor permitted the current to find an electrical ground. These are two of the older reasons for not storing batteries on a concrete floor. There is no reference to avoiding storage on concrete floors in the Battery Service Manual published by the BCI. Their suggestion is appropriate for the current state of the art batteries built by reputable battery manufacturers. For more information on storage, see the AutoTips Battery Storage Tips page.

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Orginally posted by PineConeDon

ground/concrete is still a 'temperature' conductor.:o

But if you've got warm concrete......:wave

PCD,

I agree that concrete is a thermal conductor. How will that affect a battery?

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>>I re-researched

Thanks Morgan! I never doubted you or your response! As I said, that's why I pay you, to be my all-things-electrical guru.

In the final wash, I think it was probably my grandfather who told me to always put my battery on a board ... so my advice is dated, at best!:)

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Orginally posted by Charles Watts

>>I re-researched

Thanks Morgan! I never doubted you or your response! As I said, that's why I pay you, to be my all-things-electrical guru.

In the final wash, I think it was probably my grandfather who told me to always put my battery on a board ... so my advice is dated, at best!:)

If by guru, you mean expert, you must be using my definition of an expert. An ex is a has-been, a spurt is a drip under pressure.

Your grandfather probably said to put it on a plank. That's what we called boards in our generation.

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Orginally posted by Morgan Bulger

<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE

Orginally posted by PineConeDon

ground/concrete is still a 'temperature' conductor.:o

But if you've got warm concrete......:wave

PCD,

I agree that concrete is a thermal conductor. How will that affect a battery?[/quote]

OK, store yours on the concrete floor, I'll store mine on a shelf. But I won't tell the grandkids why.:)

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Orginally posted by PineConeDon

OK, store yours on the concrete floor, I'll store mine on a shelf. But I won't tell the grandkids why.:)

Don,

I leave my AGM battery in the Casita, winter and summer. :sunny

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Hi I just leave mine in all the time. Every 2 weeks or so I plug in and charge them up a bit. Been doing this for 30 years.:snowman

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I always thought you never put a battery on any kind of floor is so you don't discolor or mark up the floor with battery acid residue & the like. Just look at the battery tray of a vehicle & how corroded it can get in a relatively short time. So storing a battery on a floor & maybe charging it too will certainly create some acid residue & the like. Or even some sort of voltage flow creating acid corrision.
MANZI