Battery storage?

[Merc90HPnewbie]

Yes this should be in a more general forum but I like you guys in Mercury Troubles too much <br /><br />I took the battery out of my boat for wintertime storage. This is the first battery I have ever owned with the water fill/vent caps (in other words a non-maintenance free battery). I had read about them in books (am I making you feel old?). Every car or truck service manual I get has that obligatory section up front that shows how to check electrolyte and top off the chambers.<br /><br />Anyway, for winter storage for my lawnmower I usually bring the battery inside into the basement and hook it up to a trickle charger so it's good for next year.<br /><br />However, with this battery, I have some questions<br /><br />-Should I loosen the caps before hooking it up to the battery?<br />-Will this release a flammable/explosive gas (Hydrogen?)<br />-The trickle charger is an automatic maintenance type so it shouldn't 'cook out' the electrolyte right?<br /><br />I'd put it in the garage.......but I don't have one <br />Thanks&happy holidays

 

[JB]

Re: Battery storage?

Same guys, different forum, Merc90.<br /><br />Moving to General Outboard.

 

[cggcpa1]

Re: Battery storage?

Always remove the caps while charging. It does release hydrogen gas during charging, so do it outside or in a ventilated area. Top off the battery only with distilled water as tap water has minerals in it and will shorten batt life. Fill each cell in the batt halfway up the slit inside of the mouth of each cell. Never store a battery on concrete as this will discharge it. Store it on a piece of plywood, ect. A fully charged batt will never freeze either.

 

[ED21]

Re: Battery storage?

No need to remove caps, they are vented. I always got into more trouble when taking caps off like spilling or getting crud in a cell. <br /> A high quality charger shouldn't boil off the electrolite, but you should keep an eye on it. Cheaper unregulated trickle chargers can boil the fluid. I prefer to charge every month or so to keep the battery up. I don't think one battery charging in a basement would create that much hydrogen gas, but I sure wouldn't use a match to check the water level.<br /> Modern plastic cases don't loose any charge through concrete according to many things I've read. Old habits die hard.

 

[ZmOz]

Re: Battery storage?

Yeah, the only batteries you couldn't leave on concrete were those from 100 years ago. That hasn't been a factor for nearly a century.

 

[Merc90HPnewbie]

Re: Battery storage?

Hello<br />Thanks for the info. Where I usually leave my lawnmower battery is on a metal table with the charger hooked up to it. The charger is supposed to be "intelligent" enough to sense the voltage of a fully charged battery and cut off (it has a LED that goes off when it believes the battery is full).<br /><br />Thanks!

 

[butlp]

Re: Battery storage?

http://www.vonwentzel.net/Battery/ <br />I found this web site that seems to have everything you would want to know about batteries, especially for the marine application. <br />I think that in Canada you are not supposed to use regular flooded lead acid batteries in boats, they need to be sealed/spill proof, Gel or AGM.