Battery freezing

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At what temperature do I need to worry about my battery? I've read that they need to be in a heated place in the winter. How about the fact that up here in Northern Minn. we can experience frost during all 12 months of the year. Is an occasional dip below freezing during the summer months something to be concerned about? Michele

[Legacy Posts]

A fully-charged battery can be stored at sub-freezing temperatures with no damage. As the chart shows, it takes - 75° F to freeze electrolyte in a charged battery. But as just a couple degrees below freezing, at +27° F, a discharged battery's electrolyte turns to ice. That's a difference of more than 100° F between the low temperatures a charged and discharged battery can stand

Electrolyte Freezing Points

Specific Gravity of Electrolyte
Freezing
Pont
(degrees F)

1.265
-75 F

1.225
-35 F

1.200
-17 F

1.150
+5 F

1.100
+18 F

1.050
+27 F

Hope this helps did a Google search for batteries freezing

http://www.parkeryamaha.com/tech/battery~help.htm

This is a motorcycle site but a lead acid battery is a lead acid battery no matter what its in.

Its still a good idea to remove the battery in the winter and store it in a cool dry place.

For freezing nights in the high 20s with warmer days a cube heater in the trailer set at about 50 degrees is a good idea anytime unless you are winterized.

[Legacy Posts]

Also, though I have never understood exactly why, they say don't sit the
battery directly on a concrete floor or it will lose its charge. Since it
is in a plastic case, why this is so, I can't say, but I sit it on a piece
of wood in the basement for the winter, and put the charger on it from
time to time.

[Legacy Posts]

:wave Rock, With modern batteries it doesn't matter (any longer) if it's stored directly on a concrete floor. The better insulated battery cases preclude the battery from discharging. But I, like you, continue to store my battery on a 2X4 over the winter months and give it a (re)charge every month or so. And I also keep it in the basement out of our severe Minnesota elements.

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Our battery has sat outside in a shed, on boards for the last 4 years no problem, yet! It gets a full charge in the fall and if we think of it a couple of times over the winter. Notice I said "if we think of it" the winter before last we didn't.

Probably not the best way to store it but it is much to heavy to carry down the narrow steep stairs to our cellar.
Nancy

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Orginally posted by Robb Peliska

:wave Rock, With modern batteries it doesn't matter (any longer) if it's stored directly on a concrete floor. The better insulated battery cases preclude the battery from discharging. But I, like you, continue to store my battery on a 2X4 over the winter months and give it a (re)charge every month or so. And I also keep it in the basement out of our severe Minnesota elements.

Hi Robb
Welcome to this forum.Post lots and have fun.
Your right with the new batteries.
I was just curious about how many people took there vehical batteries into the house in winter?;)

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:wave Ches, I would strongly believe bringing your battery into the house over the winter months is greatly determined by the severity of the winter(s). I, like you, as well as the original poster (Michele) live in sub-sub zero temp climates from December-February (and even into March and April). Knowing the winter months will be easily -20 to -40 degrees (fahrenheit)(had to use the dictionary on that one) I'm much more comfortable with the battery in a warmer basement.

Robb

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Hi Rob
For personal comfort,I agree,bring batteries in to warm location.This year I bought Golf Cart 6 volt batteries.They cost me a small fortune so I would not want to damage them.Inpast years I just put charger on once in a while and left them outside on /in RV.:wave

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I definitely plan to store my battery in the basement over the winter. It doesn't sound like I need to worry about an occasional night in the teens or 20's, though... right? It would be kind of a pain to have to watch the weather and drag it in every night. Do you think that's necessary? Good to know I need to put it on the charger a couple times during the winter.... guess I'll have to bring that in, too... Michele

[Legacy Posts]

:wave Michele, A couple nights in the teens and 20's won't hurt your battery; but, if it's left outside for say a month at those temps without being charged via your tow vehicle as you travel down the road or via a charging with a conventional battery charger then it will begin to loose its charge. It's not necessary to drag it in every time it gets in the teens. What we do is set a date as our final camping session for the fall season (say October 20th) and we know we won't be camping again until spring. Part of our winterizing is to pull the battery and put it in "winter storage" downstairs. And even if we've had temps in the teens before then and we're planning a final camping trip, it's not a problem because by the time we tow to our camping destination the camper battery is again fully charged by the truck. I guess the bottomline is not to worry; just pull the battery for winter come November 1st. Then again, if you're into winter camping then that requires much more attention to battery maintenance. Otherwise it's not a problem.

Robb

[Legacy Posts]

Living on the coast of Northern California, we don't see much sub-zero weather. Taking an RV battery indoors in those areas that do, though, seems like a really good idea.

Some years ago, I found myself going through motorcycle batteries at the rate of one per year. Charging a few minutes periodically helped a bit, but it was very difficult to keep them from boiling off water. Then I bought a "maintainer".

These are little trickle chargers that look a lot like the "wall wart" power supply transformers that much electronic equipment use today. Mine cost about $20 quite awhile ago...but I haven't bought a new motorcycle battery in seven years.

The bottom line is: Wherever you store your battery when not in use, consider keeping it on a battery maintainer. If you have a charger/converter built into your trailer, and weather permits, just keep your trailer connected to 110 VAC. That's what we do, and except for a dab of distilled water in some cells every spring, the batteries look fine.

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I agree with that Bill. I bought one of these because it was on sale. (It's just something I do) anyway, Tom hooked it to the marine battery (about 4 years old and not holding a charge) he uses with his inverter. We were ready to trade the battery in for a new one. After letting it sit over night hooked up, the battery acted like new. It was amazing. We're hooked on these little maintainer chargers.

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howdy, Just my 2 bits worth...In my lawn tractor at the cottage, when I had it, the battery would last me about 4 years. I never took it out of the lawn tractor in the winter or charged it. I just drove the tractor into the shed and parked it and in the spring it never failed me and our temps here go to minus 40 for periods of time in the winter. So if a good battery is fully charged and then stored in cold temps there seems to be negligible discharge. Benny