After reading a post I decided it was the best time at fall to explain battery chemistry and good storage habits for them.
The FIRST IMPORTANT thing is to have a FULLY charged battery. And a fully charged battery is 12.6 volt minimum NOT 12v.
At 12 volt a battery is only 25% charged so almost completely dead. A long term dead situation is fatal for a battery and here's why.
A battery is composed of 2 different types of lead plates for positive and negative and water and sulfuric acid mix as electrolyte at 60 and 40%.
The discharging process in the battery is a chemical reaction between all the components. The electrons in the reaction move around and mix with others that change the internal chemistry to different substance. The sulfuric acid mix with the lead to become lead sulfate. And the the same time leave the water stand by itself.
The electrolyte at 60 and 40 % mix freeze at a VERY low temperatue so at our normal use tempersture it never freeze. But when the acid has mixed to become lead sulfate the water now being alone or almost will now freeze in normal winter temperature. We all know ice grow in volume when it become solid from it's liquid state. That increase in volume push against the lead plate and break them damaging them forever.
The lead sulfate resulting of acid and lead mixing is also now present. When resting in that state for a long time the lead sulfate start to crystalize. We also know that crystalizing is another expending of the volume, but this time within the plate itself. This volume expension breaks the plate from the inside and pushing some particules out of the plate in the surrounding liquid. If not squeezed somewhere between swollen plates the gravity bring them down at the bottom making sedimentation.
If recharged right away the sulfate will reverse the chemistry and go back to become acid and lead again.
But the cristalization of the sulfate is a no return state. So over the fact that it broke the plates it will never come back to acid and lead as it's former state. We now have a permanantly damaged battery even if it never froze and also not the same chemical recipe as the original one.
So it is VERY IMPORTANT to always keep your battery FULLY CHARGED AT ALL TIME to get the most of it's power for a long time.
Charging and discharging is called a cycle. Cycling is the aging process of a battery. Even if kept in tip top shape all the time there is no way to avoid some cycling. Also the heat is hard on the battery because the chemical reaction is sped up and put some wear on components. For this reason a battery normal life has been dertermined as 5 years by the manufacturers. So if your battery star to give you some trouble after 5 years chances are good that you may have to replace it.
We can say that the WORST enemy of the battery is to keep her not fully charged but we have control on that. On the other way we do not have control of the ambient temlerature. As explained heat is not really goog for a battery. We also know that moisture help electrical continuity. Humid air and dirt on a battery makes a little passage for the electrons to travel making a parasitic short between the 2 terminals and very slowly discharging the battery.
So other than not fully charged the worst enemy of a battery is HEAT AND HUMIDITY. In fact in the humid and hot area of the world a 5 year life drops down to 3 years also affecting the garranty on batteries.
So, if you understand what I explained it is easy to understand TO NEVER REMOVE YOUR BATTERY TO BRING IT IN for winter. The best way to keep a battery in good healt during winter storage is to FULLY CHARGE it above 12.6 volt and keep it in the COLD to slow down the chemical reaction so it kind of fall asleep. This way your battery if kept charged will be as good as you left it at fall.
Also a trickle charger is not to be left permanently connected to a battery. Don't confuse with an intelligent charger or battery tender which can be left connected at all time. The trickle charger is a full time charger at a low amperage like 1 or 2 amps. But when the battery is fully charged it keeps pushing the electrons around and this is NOT GOOD.
The tender or intelligent charger has a micro computer that watch what is happening and when the voltage of a fully charged battery has been reached it stop charging it. When it senses the voltage has drop below proper voltage it start to charge it back to correct voltage.
Good winter to all our Canadian fellows up in the cold weather. And let's hope it will not last too long or too cold.
The FIRST IMPORTANT thing is to have a FULLY charged battery. And a fully charged battery is 12.6 volt minimum NOT 12v.
At 12 volt a battery is only 25% charged so almost completely dead. A long term dead situation is fatal for a battery and here's why.
A battery is composed of 2 different types of lead plates for positive and negative and water and sulfuric acid mix as electrolyte at 60 and 40%.
The discharging process in the battery is a chemical reaction between all the components. The electrons in the reaction move around and mix with others that change the internal chemistry to different substance. The sulfuric acid mix with the lead to become lead sulfate. And the the same time leave the water stand by itself.
The electrolyte at 60 and 40 % mix freeze at a VERY low temperatue so at our normal use tempersture it never freeze. But when the acid has mixed to become lead sulfate the water now being alone or almost will now freeze in normal winter temperature. We all know ice grow in volume when it become solid from it's liquid state. That increase in volume push against the lead plate and break them damaging them forever.
The lead sulfate resulting of acid and lead mixing is also now present. When resting in that state for a long time the lead sulfate start to crystalize. We also know that crystalizing is another expending of the volume, but this time within the plate itself. This volume expension breaks the plate from the inside and pushing some particules out of the plate in the surrounding liquid. If not squeezed somewhere between swollen plates the gravity bring them down at the bottom making sedimentation.
If recharged right away the sulfate will reverse the chemistry and go back to become acid and lead again.
But the cristalization of the sulfate is a no return state. So over the fact that it broke the plates it will never come back to acid and lead as it's former state. We now have a permanantly damaged battery even if it never froze and also not the same chemical recipe as the original one.
So it is VERY IMPORTANT to always keep your battery FULLY CHARGED AT ALL TIME to get the most of it's power for a long time.
Charging and discharging is called a cycle. Cycling is the aging process of a battery. Even if kept in tip top shape all the time there is no way to avoid some cycling. Also the heat is hard on the battery because the chemical reaction is sped up and put some wear on components. For this reason a battery normal life has been dertermined as 5 years by the manufacturers. So if your battery star to give you some trouble after 5 years chances are good that you may have to replace it.
We can say that the WORST enemy of the battery is to keep her not fully charged but we have control on that. On the other way we do not have control of the ambient temlerature. As explained heat is not really goog for a battery. We also know that moisture help electrical continuity. Humid air and dirt on a battery makes a little passage for the electrons to travel making a parasitic short between the 2 terminals and very slowly discharging the battery.
So other than not fully charged the worst enemy of a battery is HEAT AND HUMIDITY. In fact in the humid and hot area of the world a 5 year life drops down to 3 years also affecting the garranty on batteries.
So, if you understand what I explained it is easy to understand TO NEVER REMOVE YOUR BATTERY TO BRING IT IN for winter. The best way to keep a battery in good healt during winter storage is to FULLY CHARGE it above 12.6 volt and keep it in the COLD to slow down the chemical reaction so it kind of fall asleep. This way your battery if kept charged will be as good as you left it at fall.
Also a trickle charger is not to be left permanently connected to a battery. Don't confuse with an intelligent charger or battery tender which can be left connected at all time. The trickle charger is a full time charger at a low amperage like 1 or 2 amps. But when the battery is fully charged it keeps pushing the electrons around and this is NOT GOOD.
The tender or intelligent charger has a micro computer that watch what is happening and when the voltage of a fully charged battery has been reached it stop charging it. When it senses the voltage has drop below proper voltage it start to charge it back to correct voltage.
Good winter to all our Canadian fellows up in the cold weather. And let's hope it will not last too long or too cold.