Long time battery storage
Submitted: Sunday, Oct 08, 2006 at 21:57
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Miker
Hi all, I'm concerned with the batteries in the van as they will be sitting, not being used, for a period of 2 years. My son in law is conecting the mains power every now and again as the van is back under cover after being uncovered by Cyclone Larry, things happen slowly in Nth Qld.
Should the batteries be used occassionaly by turning on a few lights to bring the voaltage down so the battery charger has got something to work with?
From Thailand Mike and Liddy
Reply By: Noosa Fox - Monday, Oct 09, 2006 at 06:32
Monday, Oct 09, 2006 at 06:32
Just so that the Son in Law doesn't have to worry about turning the power on and of, you might like to get a 7 day timer switch, they are available in a lot of large supermarkets or hardware stores for under $20.
When we are not using the van for a while, we set the timer that is connected to the Battery Charger to come on 1 day per week for about 15 hours. So far it has kept the batteries in good order.
2 years is a long time not to use the batteries for so they may not be in good condition after that time anyway.
Brian
AnswerID:
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Reply By: Bushtracker - Monday, Oct 09, 2006 at 18:41
Monday, Oct 09, 2006 at 18:41
Mike and Liddy,
The research has been done, and the results are in... Go to the Owners
Forum
Read - TIP # 61, LONG TERM STORAGE PROBLEMS… (Solutions)
Read - TIP # 95 End of 7 year Test on German A-200 Gel batteries in Storage.
This should answer any questions you have, but after, if you need more; I have a few more
articles for you on battery cycles. The best thing in your case, is to take the batteries out of the van and leave them on a timer to charge them for 12-24 hours at least once a month. Then if anything goes wrong, you don't have a mess in the van, as overcharged gel batteries will still "vent" electrolyte.
Of all the complaints we have had about "batteries leaking" about 30 of them out of the last 1000 batteries, about half of them were a result of people accidently changing the settings on the solar regulator or charger, or a malfuction of one of them, that resulted in cooking the electrolyte right out of the batteries. Even sealed, still vents internal pressure. Several of the "leaking" batteries were being overcharged by the tow vehicle as well, causing them to vent. Any way, pull them out, put them on wood on the floor, hook them back in parallel with the cables, and charge them all as one unit on a timer. Hook one side of the first battery in one polarity (positive or negative) and the other side of the charger of the remaining polarity put on the last battery of the group.
That is the proper way and what I would suggest.
Regards from the lone Ranger...
AnswerID:
569501
