Not convinced
I’ve been following with interest the ongoing musings about the storage method of batteries impacting their performance. The theory about storage on concrete has been around for years and will probably be argued for time immemorial.
My question relates to the feedback from Mac Carter in issue 424 where he explores the idea that storing batteries on an uninsulated metal f loor (such as in a batter y box) is also detrimental to the batter y. Every car I’ve owned has had the battery clamped down onto a metal battery shelf (except for the VE V8 where it was located in the boot). If metal was such a battery destroyer why do 99 per cent of vehicle manufacturers mount them on the metal batter y shelf ? I don’t know the answer. Just saying... Darren Moss, Adelaide SA YEAH, THIS one doesn’t look like quitting for a while yet, does it? And for every person that has contacted me to support the theory, there’s been another that reckons it’s all superstition and witchcraft and should be ignored in 2019.
You’re right about a lot of car-makers being happy to place the OE battery on its backside on a bare metal tray in the engine bay, but a lot of cars I’ve owned over the years have also featured a little rubber or plastic pad to separate the battery’s case from the metal itself. However, it could be that a rubber pad is more about protecting a battery from the worst of the vibration and impacts that driving along a typical Aussie road will introduce, rather than the voltagedraining consequences of a cold, hard surface.
I’m drawn to the theory that the battery-onconcrete thing is a bit of a throwback to the days when battery casings were made from timber and garages were not the nice, snug watertight places they tend to be now. Which is why a cold, damp concrete floor could cause moisture to wick up the side of the timber battery box and send the battery to an early grave.
And yes, you’d expect a bare metal tray to be an even better conductor of wayward volts than a concrete floor, wouldn’t you? Even so, I’m, still happy to report that batteries stored at the Melbourne Bloke Centre are, indeed, stored on a piece of wood or a rubber pad rather than straight on
“EATING BRUSSELS SPROUTS PROBABLY WON’T KILL ME, BUT WHY TAKE THE CHANCE”
the concrete floor. I’m still not sure if I agree with the theories of Mac Carter and his co-believers, but as my young nephew once said: “Eating brussels sprouts probably won’t kill me, but why take the chance?”