Battery placed on ground = dead battery?

[Renthorin]

Just wondering who thinks placing a lead-acid battery on the ground will kill the battery. Kill = drain/damage it more than leaving it in the car or on a block of wood.

I had this discussion with another friend who is into cars and we disagreed.

In the interest of science I am currently conducting a test with two identical batteries. Here are the facts:

1) both batteries are the same make, model, CCA....etc.
2) they are Marine batteries but not sure that would make a difference
3) lead-acid, no maintenance type
4) 12 volt (duh)
5) "on the ground" = concrete garage floor
6) one is on the ground the other is sitting on a chunk of 4x6 I had lying around.
7) batteries naturally discharge on their own so when my reading decrease that is to be expected.

My test began with charging them both fully and then taking a reading with a quality digital volt meter.

Test began Feb 9, 2009

It has been almost a month and I took my first reading since beginning this.

ps - both are still under warranty so if I kill one.....eh....easy to replace

Speculations?

 

[whitehot1]

A friend of mine who is an electrician told me that the worse thing you can do to a battery is place it on a concrete floor,he said it would kill it.

I never questioned him about it, just followed his advice. :smile:

That was back in the mid 80's when he told me that.

John :smile:

 

[Renthorin]

It is interesting how many people are on opposite sides of this debate.

On one hand you have the people who have been told by someone that it is bad.

On the other you have all the battery FAQ's on the web (web is never wrong) and the battery manufacturer's who say it is a myth.

Now my comment to my friend was: "Of course the battery manufacturers say it is a myth. They want you do leave it on the garage floor and kill it so you have to buy another one from them."

His response was "or it could be the truth...."

I will give a hint. The battery that is sitting directly on the concrete does have a different voltage reading than the one sitting on the wooden block. This could be from how they are sitting or it could be some minute difference in the batteries themselves.

They are both at the same temp and right next to each other so I think that would rule out environmental differences.

 

[whitehot1]

Maybe what i was told was wrong by my friend, but one thing i do know is i haven't had a battery go bad by following his advice and it was free.

I have a routine i follow when it comes to taking care of my batteries and i never sway from it.

And i also think how well you take care of them plays a big part in whether or not they last or die prematurely.

John

 

[jpratt]

I say myth. I have asked professors when I was taking electronics courses and they said it is a myth.

 

[DailyDrifter]

The problem is the difference in temp. Cold floor cools the bottom of the cells more, and I believe thats why they get weaker. Im pretty sure if you re-charge it you'll be fine, unless its deader than Chrisopher Reeves legs

 

[Renthorin]

Not sure if when people say "it will kill the battery" they mean it will drain it quicker or it will flat out ruin it.

I took it to mean drain it quicker but I may have misunderstood.

 

[Renthorin]

The problem is the difference in temp. Cold floor cools the bottom of the cells more, and I believe thats why they get weaker. Im pretty sure if you re-charge it you'll be fine, unless its deader than Chrisopher Reeves legs

I would agree that battery life goes down as temps fall. I wonder how to best measure if the one on the floor is colder than the one on the wood???

 

[wile87]

that's exactly it. when you leave a batt on the ground during winter the frozen concrete will cause it to drain faster then if you put it on a shelf. if you live in say cali or florida, it shouldn't matter where you leave it. cold is the arch enemy of any battery

 

[stagemonster]

that's exactly it. when you leave a batt on the ground during winter the frozen concrete will cause it to drain faster then if you put it on a shelf. if you live in say cali or florida, it shouldn't matter where you leave it. cold is the arch enemy of any battery

+1

 

[jcawley3]

I put my boat battery on a concrete floor ever winter...never had a problem when summer rolls around! Myth.

 

[Renthorin]

I should measure the temp of the garage floor and compare that to the air temp.

BRB....


Drat, can't find my aquarium thermometer :-(

 

[RobsIron]

A brick mason once told me that if you sit on a cinder block you'll get hemmoroids.

 

[Renthorin]

A brick mason once told me that if you sit on a cinder block you'll get hemmoroids.

Or at least a chapped ass

 

[gnxtc2]

Myth. When I converted to a 16v system, I took out the 12v battery and left it on my concrete garage floor for 2 years. My friends comes to me and tells me that he needs to replace the battery in his wife's Sebring. I tell him that I have one in my garage. I tell him the history of the battery and says "I have nothing too loose, I'll try it". Plus I gave it to him. He charged the battery and had it for a year until he sold the car.

Billy T.
gnxtc2@aol.com

 

[UNGN]

My dad never let me set a battery on a concrete floor from early childhood, so I tested this myth years ago and found that a battery left hooked up in a stored buick dies at a rate 100X faster than one left on a concrete floor.

 

[wile87]

i'm not saying it will kill a batt buy leaving it on frozen concrete but it will drain it to the point you will have to put a major charge back into it. esp. if you live in il,mich or minn with the way we get sustained below zero weather even if you have a heated garage the ground freezes up to the point you can't lay on it even with cardboard

 

[GNocide]

myth

unless you can run electricity through cement-not

"you know what the greatest thing about electricity is...

we know everything about it and have for over a hundred years"
- Richard Clark

 

[wile87]

so your saying that frozen concret won't drain a batt? where do you live, give me your batt for a complete winter and i'll leave it on the ground of my garage and we'll see if it starts your car up in spring. it's the cold that drains the batt, the concrete only helps in the process

 

[whitehot1]

Well i guess at least the bottoms of my batteries will be clean also by sitting them on a block of wood instead of on concrete.

Even if it doesn't help it can't possibly hurt if i need to sit one out of the cars for some reason.


John