Re: Best way to care for a 12V battery?

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quote Indian Group Leader:

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The stated ‘improvements’ were implemented fifty years ago. How is that information relevant to anything we deal with, at this late date? And that said, I’d also challenge the assertion that hard-rubber battery cases allowed the acid to seep out right through the walls of the case.

Simply stated, the relevance is that we are the “Antique Outboard Motor Club, Inc.” and not all our members are up-to-date with the more modern topics.

Correct.. meanwhile, the battery technology +has+ been updated, and I’d wager that none of the old-type batteries are still in-use at this writing.. they just don’t last that long – and as far as I know, automotive / marine batteries have not been supplied in hard rubber cases for over fifty years. My main experience with these old cases has been in vintage / antique motorbikes, where we like to hollow-out the old cases and place new, gel-cell type batteries within to maintain the original look.

(As an aside, up until recent times, storage batteries were generally produced with black plastic cases, to mimic the look of the old hard-rubber types. And to this day, many still are. When the changes came in, manufacturers figured it would create less customer apprehension and confusion if they just kept the same color, despite the fact that the case material was entirely different. Or so I have been told.. though it makes perfect sense.)

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(…) Interstate Batteries of Houston who required us to maintain batteries on racks that they provided at no charge. The batterries were sold on a commission basis and, for warranty purposes, they could not be left on the concrete floor of our repair shop. I assumed it was for the same reason (…)

If I had to guess, I’d think that requirement was more about keeping a professional appearance, use of floor space, ease of handling, air circulation (dispersal of hydrogen gas) and maintaining even temperature, than this concrete-discharging canard, but who knows. It would still be interesting to learn Interstate’s motivation for this policy, though.. Many vendors supply racks & cases to display their products.

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In regard to the second sentence where you challenge the assertion quoted, that information is a direct quote from the site you provided (Snopes.com) when you said that our comments are a lot of “hooey”. If one comment they make on Snopes.com is acceptable to shoot down my earlier comments, then why do you doubt the other facts they put in print in that same discusssion? You cannot have it both ways.

You will notice that Snopes has a rating system that allows for "partially true and false" but they gave this particular article a solid "false". Now why do you think that might be, if the old hard-rubber types may (read: may) have been subject to this? But you’re right, there is some confirmation bias on my part – I wholly agree with the fact that there’s no mechanism by which batteries can be discharged sitting on concrete – but I also challenge their comment that the old types may have been able to seep through the cases, causing discharge.

And exactly how is that supposed to work, anyway? If the case material is so porous, then why don’t the cells leak internally, and discharge along that path as well? Why would a concrete floor need to be involved? Does that even make any sense to anyone? Once again, it sounds like a whole lot of hooey.

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Once again, I apologize if I quoted something that is inaccurate (…)

You don’t owe anyone, myself included, an apology for anything.

-Bill