Winter Battery Storage

Sawdust

Sawdust

Jim from Kentucky
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I didn’t want to hack Doug’s thread but he mentioned hooking up some battery chargers for the winter. I know I’ve heard this before but I’m not sure what I’m doing but I have never removed my batteries in the winter. I use 5-6 tractors off and on all year. Our temps go down to single digits and occasionally below zero. I have 4 Everstart 340 cca’s from Walmart 2-5 years old, 1 Everstart truck battery I took out of my work van before I sold it that’s dated 2015 and 1 Deka not sure how old it is. Last year the Deka had to be charged but after that it was fine all year. I’ll probably replace it next year. Does anyone else leave there’s in over the winter.
 
Minus the one vehicle I use daily all other batteries (7) get put on maintenance chargers and stay there till the next time I need them. Could be 4-6 months or more. I don't take them out . They stay in place..And I never start anything till I need it.
 
I take mine out and line up along a wood shelf. Then I hook a small battery charger on then for a few days, after a few days the charger goes on the next battery inline. One of these days i plan on making some cables to be able to hook 3-4 together on the charger.
 
Winters up here can be well below zero for extended periods of time, and four of these tractors have to live out in it. I'm not going out in that crap wading through the s-word to go check voltage and try to start them---LOL! And wouldn't you know it my snow pusher, MF8E can't use a battery---it's a 110 volt starter---LOL! Wish I could convert it but all I figured out was a different engine---again---! I like the 10 HP Tec that is in it right now, so it will stay. Those maintainers in my thread were cheap at $5.99 so hopefully the batteries will stand a chance of being good for next year!

DAC
 
I never take them out. I usually have 2 or 3 tractors set up for snow removal, but the rest don’t get much use over the winter. I do try to start them up at least once a month and let them run a few minutes or take them for a ride.
 
4getgto said:
Minus the one vehicle I use daily all other batteries (7) get put on maintenance chargers and stay there till the next time I need them. Could be 4-6 months or more. I don't take them out . They stay in place..And I never start anything till I need it.
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This is what I do too. Top up the fluid in the fall then leave them on the maintenance chargers. The only ones I remove are in out buildings where there isn't electricity. My batteries generally last 10 years or more.

I don't start them unless I'm going to use them. It can leave the battery with less charge than before you started and not fully warming them just adds water to the oil that doesn't get cooked off.

My understanding about batteries on concrete is that was true way back when batteries had wooden cases but that's not an issue with our modern batteries.
 
Mine stay in year around. Snow removal two will get started when I need them. If I happen to get to the building they are parked in I may switch the batt. maintainer over to another battery, otherwise it stays on the diesel. I used to bring them to the garage and put maintainers on them but never saw where it did anything but make more work. Buy good quality batteries and the winter won't bother them.
 
MiCarl said:
My understanding about batteries on concrete is that way back when batteries had wooden cases but that's not an issue with our modern batteries.
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You're right..

If you Google about if batteries being stored on concrete hurts them (there are hundreds of searches) the answer is always no. Batteries of 90-100 years ago yes...
 
A friend who was an Interstate battery dealer told me 40 years ago that putting batteries on concrete won't hurt a thing. They put some on the concrete floors in the warehouses. My battery maintaining station is a steel shelf and I've never had so darn many batteries before! 3 of them were ones people told me wouldn't hold a charge. One said the battery had frozen. They all seem to hold a charge fine, so that's the main reason I'm trying the maintainers. Hope they will hold on longer!

DAC
 
I pull all the not in use batteries from outside to inside down in the basement where it's about 55F for the winter and -22F outside.

The batteries all get the full charge and then to storage. Gel cell, Li, AGM, Deep Cycle and nor vehicle batteries all come in. I'm not so much worried losing charge due to the cold, it's the poor materials used today in making the batteries. Plastic battery cases have cracked on more than a few occasions on concrete in the frigid cold. 1 was a new battery never put into use. That was a $129 mistake. They don't crack when wood is on the concrete floor and the batteries are on the wood plank. The basement floor is always too cold.

AGM batteries hate cold and hate heat. Those are a must to bring in. The large trailer with the ebrakes has an AGM too.
 
BMaverick said:
I pull all the not in use batteries from outside to inside down in the basement where it's about 55F for the winter and -22F outside.

The batteries all get the full charge and then to storage. Gel cell, Li, AGM, Deep Cycle and nor vehicle batteries all come in. I'm not so much worried losing charge due to the cold, it's the poor materials used today in making the batteries. Plastic battery cases have cracked on more than a few occasions on concrete in the frigid cold. 1 was a new battery never put into use. That was a $129 mistake. They don't crack when wood is on the concrete floor and the batteries are on the wood plank. The basement floor is always too cold.

AGM batteries hate cold and hate heat. Those are a must to bring in. The large trailer with the ebrakes has an AGM too.
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That’s some cold weather Brett at -22F where do you live. I would bring them in also at those temps .
 
I set my batteries for storage under my workbench on the concrete. Charge them up once or twice through the season. My INTERSTATE battery was only down to 95% after 6 months and never got recharged…Its a 1000 CCA i picked up from a wreck and installed in my ‘41 IHC
 
I used to bring my boat batteries in every winter. Any more they all stay right where they are used. So far this year out of 6, one was dead but it was not used for 2 years. Rest all started the GT's and lawn mowers they were in.
 
Some are taken out and others left in. Boat batteries come out and stored in a 45 deg. room. Don't like the idea of a freeze up and battery acid in aluminum boats. The Zero turn battery has never been out but is in an unheated shed. Smaller garden tractor batteries come out and larger equipment they stay in. Usually charge the batteries before reinstalling them.
 
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