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Re: [OM] Batteries

Subject: Re: [OM] Batteries
From: Garth Wood <garth@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2000 08:16:25 -0600
At 09:36 AM 9/29/2000 -0400, you wrote:
>Thanks to everyone for helping me understand the OM PC. I appreciate it.
>
>Next question - 
>
>What's the best way to store extra button batteries? I think I saw that
>someone keeps them in the freezer. What do you all suggest.


NO!  *NEVER* store them in the freezer!  Almost all batteries can withstand 
some temporary freezing, but storage in sub-zero-Celsius conditions for lengthy 
periods causes the various components of the electrolyte to separate out upon 
thawing, thus ruining the battery's ability to produce substantial amounts of 
current.

Alternatively, physical expansion caused by freezing can cause the battery's 
seals to burst -- there goes your battery again.

I find that, in my car, the 9V battery used for the garage door opener (which 
stays frozen most of the winter) works at a reduced capacity until first thaw 
in the spring, when I then have to chuck it and get a new battery.  These are 
alkalines.  There's no reason to believe that a silver cell would behave any 
differently.  Mind you, some batteries (lead-acid car batteries, for example) 
are specifically engineered to put up with long periods of very cold weather, 
usually by increasing the acid levels (or otherwise dicking with the 
electrolyte) so much that the electrolyte never truly "freezes."

I've also had e-mail from Varta's technical group stating much the same thing 
-- freezing is a great way to ruin your battery's potential, and refrigeration 
of batteries is unnecessary for most people (they don't keep batteries around 
long enough for the specialized storage to do any good).  This was in explicit 
reply to a question about freezing mercury or silver cells.  Other cells, with 
different electrolytes, may behave differently.

If you want to extend their life, and you're storing them for multiple years, 
refrigeration (NOT freezing) is good.  Mind you, most "one-shot" batteries only 
decay at a rate of 2 to 3% a year, so why bother?

Garth

 
-------

For those of you with a political bent, the Warren G. Harding Institute for 
Civic Responsibility holds an annual essay contest on some aspect of politics 
and the state.

The topic of this year's essay contest was "Good Government."  The winning 
entry, in its entirety, was as follows:

"Good government.  Good government.  Sit.  Stay."


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