How cold is too cold?

[Milwaukee Midget]

move to So Cal or Fla................

So Cal?  Hmmmm.  That's a thought.  Love it out there - BUT -

Will Pep Boys trade a new battery for my tax refund IOU?

[stratman59]

We have a car dealer that will trade a car for  a tax refund IOU

Robbie

[Seldom Seen Slim]

I forget the exact numbers, but basically -- a battery that's fully charged at 70F will have about 30% of rated power/current/CCA available at 0F.  It's still fully charged, but lead-acid batteries work because of the chemical reaction - and that reaction goes slower at low temps than at higher ones.  Another way to think of it -- if your battery is unable to crank the motor on a cold day -- and assuming you've got the time to do this "experiment" -- take the battery out of the vehicle and warm it to room temperature (which will probably take 12 hours unless you try something like a warm water bath, and be careful of heating too quickly and damaging the thing if you do so).  Once you've got a warm battery -- put it back in the vehicle and it'll most likely spin the engine just fine.

A fully-charged lead acid battery won't be damaged by the cold until the temp reaches far below zero F.  If it's going to be all of +15F or whatever -- there's NO NEED to put the battery in the house overnight.

I've used battery warmers to help during cold weather.  They're pretty much an electric blanket -- plug into 110VAC, are 6" wide by long enough to wrap all the way around the battery, are coated with a rubberlike material that isn't harmed by leaking acid, and will keep the battery at about 50 or 60F.

Bike batteries are likely different than car/truck units -- probably because they are designed for use during warm (relatively speaking) weather.  I make sure the bike batteries are fully charged if the bike is staying out in the barn -- and usually remove them from the bikes and store the batteries in the warm part of the basement during the winter.  I haven't used a "battery tender" and I haven't suffered over-winter battery damage.  But I do charge the batteries a bit during the off season.

[Dean Los Angeles]

I just went out to the shed for an armload of firewood and I put a light under the bike's cover.

How much firewood do use to keep the battery warm?

[DavidinDurango]

as much as it takes?

It has warmed considerably here.  and not yet 2 feet of new snow!  No sign of snow plows or life.  Everything closed (schools, banks, gov't) and a lot of the county w/ no power.  Gotta go find my camp stove, lantern and stuff. 

A lot of white, but no fun.

Hope everyone is surviving with honor!

I just went out to the shed for an armload of firewood and I put a light under the bike's cover.

How much firewood do use to keep the battery warm?

[Dean Los Angeles]

Just to put a point on it, a fully charged battery has a sulfuric acid specific gravity of 1.250 and freezes at -65°F.
In the charged state, each cell contains electrodes of elemental lead (Pb) and lead (IV) dioxide (PbO2) in an electrolyte of sulfuric acid.

As the battery discharges the specific gravity drops. In the discharged state both electrodes turn into lead(II) sulfate (PbSO4) and the electrolyte loses its dissolved sulfuric acid and becomes primarily water. Due to the freezing-point depression of water, as the battery discharges and the concentration of sulfuric acid decreases, the electrolyte is more likely to freeze during winter weather.

A small drop in specific gravity to 1.225 raises the freezing point to -39°F. Keep that battery charged!

[Stan Back]

A note on battery minders . . .

I'm cheap and buy cheap ones.  Don't know if they're any different than the expensive ones.  But, besides always having a charged battery on my hot rods and race car, they seem to significantly extend the life of the batteries.  I had a dead battery in my Mercury Torpedo Salon, looked up the warranty -- ten years old.  No adjustment there, but ten years is a good time.  The two in my roadster have been there nine years and are only used about 3 times a year and seem fine (at least in May they were).

Great, cheap Christmas gift, too.

Stan

[desotoman]

Stan,

Where do you find the cheap ones?

Thanks,

Tom

[Stan Back]

I've bought motorcycle ones -- and I've seen 'em at Harbor Freight.

[wobblywalrus]

Yup, it was 11 degrees last night.  Today was the big thaw.  A tropical 31.  I heard this funny noise in the basement.  Sort of a nice soothing rushing stream type of sound.  The Three Stooges had a show where they were plumbers.  That is what I saw.  Water was spraying everywhere.  It seems a few busted pipes thawed out.  An inch of water on the floor.  I should not have worried about the Triumph battery.  That was the least of my problems.

[racer]

Move your hot rod inside, easier to work on while visiting your new x-wife.

Priorities in the proper order are very important.

Ray     AMA #1944  #1949

[k.h.]

Around here we call that "your future ex-wife." 

12 degrees @ 9 a.m., the kee-kee birds are singing in the bare oak branches, "Kee, kee, keereist it's cold!"

[bearingburner]

Been building my lakester in the cellar for many years now . Wife knows where i am, Says it keeps me out of
the bars. Spent our honeymoon at Bonneville camping in the dump 37 years ago.

[wobblywalrus]

How are you going to get your lakester out of the cellar?

It was 12 last night and it will be 16 tonight.  I made a hole in a window before the freeze so Buster could get in and out of the basement.  A little 3" by 8" cat size hole in plexiglas so he could come in at night and get warm.  The cold air got in and busted nearby pipes.  Another one thawed and broke this afternoon.  Buster had his collection of dead birds and headless rats hidden somewhere in the shop.  They all floated out when the place flooded.  Buster was nowhere to be found.  He is allergic to water.

[Peter Jack]

Wobbly:

Google pet doors. They usually have a flap that's easily pushed out of the way by the pet but they keep the cold out and the heat in to a great extent.

Pete