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#1
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Battery on Concrete / Water-Witching same?
I was surprised that my "factory" manual that came with a 2002 boat/motor, was still propagating the idea that "storing a battery on concrete" would contribute to its discharge. With my considerable background in electronics, I have never heard a credible explanation for this. Does anyone have one? It seems to me more like Water-Witching and Religion.....more Faith than Fact. |
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#2
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Battery on Concrete / Water-Witching same?
I believe that is an old fairy tale which dates way on back to old style
batteries, for whatever reasons, about storing a battey on concrete.I don't see how it would have any effect at all on modern day batteries.The main thing is to keep the battery charged up properly and in my opinion, use the battery once in a while. cuhulin |
#3
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Battery on Concrete / Water-Witching same?
I've heard this on and off for years, and have never really been able
to figure out the physics of it either. Some discussions in urban- folklore circles make me classify it as "ascribing false causality" to a battery's natural loss of charge at a fractional percentage while just sitting there -- exacerbated by any acid that leaked over the case (batteries used to be leakier, especially up top, than they are now). Some people say that trapped moisture under the battery might also help in the completion of a circuit. (Even modern batteries leak a bit, as anyone can testify who has found hidden corrosion under the battery tray in a car that's been in service, with typical (lack of) maintenance, for several years or more.) It may have had even more of a basis in fact in olden times when a battery involved a "battery jar" in a wooden case, but that was donkey's years ago and probably has little to do with relatively modern rubber or plastic cased batteries. http://www.interstatebatteries.com/w...tech_maint.htm As someone points out in one such discussion at http://msgboard.snopes.com/cgi-bin/u...0;t=000695;p=1 there is also some likelihood that the battery was put on the floor because it was unsatisfactory in some way in the first place, whereupon it failed to get better with age. See also http://www.batteryuniversity.com/partone-13.htm -- in particular the statement that "Lead-acid batteries must always be stored in a charged state. {...} Prolonged storage below the critical voltage causes sulfation, a condition that is difficult to reverse." In other words, the concrete isn't the killer of the battery, just its tombstone. Those sites also have quite a bit of information on the care and feeding of costly batteries that most people probably don't know, as does http://www.batteryfaq.org/ I might add that if a battery is leaking a lot, it can uglify the concrete (or pretty much whatever else you set it on), but a seriously leaking battery needs secondary containment pending proper disposal anyway. Cheers, --Joe |
#4
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Battery on Concrete / Water-Witching same?
Gene Gardner wrote:
> I was surprised that my "factory" manual that came with a 2002 boat/motor, was still propagating > the idea that "storing a battery on concrete" would contribute to its discharge. > With my considerable background in electronics, I have never heard a credible explanation for this. > Does anyone have one? It seems to me more like Water-Witching and Religion.....more Faith than Fact. > Sure it is a fact and does happen. Batteries get a thin layer of acid on them as they charge and discharge which comes from the vents or even splashes from moving. That is why you can burn holes in pants by picking up a battery. This layer, although thin will allow some current to flow over the battery to the concrete floor which will discharge a battery over time like a winter storage and leave a stain on the floor. I tried an experiment with my electric boat batteries and left a couple on concrete for a winter, the rest were on plywood. The concrete ones drained down, the plywood ones held. And 'water witching' works really well! I have found well sources and can even find a blocked sewer pipe under a concrete floor or trace out sewer pipes with running water in them! Saves a lot of digging when hooking up a new toilet or fixing trouble. Mike 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile... Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2115147590 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page) |
#5
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Battery on Concrete / Water-Witching same?
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#6
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Battery on Concrete / Water-Witching same?
Mike Romain wrote:
> And 'water witching' works really well! I have found well sources and > can even find a blocked sewer pipe under a concrete floor or trace out > sewer pipes with running water in them! Saves a lot of digging when > hooking up a new toilet or fixing trouble. > Well, Mike, you're in for a treat then! Just prove to James Randi that you can really do it, and the $1,000,000 is yours! Apropos, how exactly do you do it? What appliance do you use? (Stick(s), wood, metal, shape?) |
#7
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Battery on Concrete / Water-Witching same?
The Aboriginals in Australia know how to find water in the desert with a
long straw.I guess they do anyway, I saw it on one of those Crocodile Dundee movies.Get two Coca Cola bottles (or similar bottles) and cut two pieces of coat hanger and bend them at a right angle, put the wires in the bottles and walk around and see if you can find any water. cuhulin |
#8
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Battery on Concrete / Water-Witching same?
Patok wrote:
> Mike Romain wrote: >> And 'water witching' works really well! I have found well sources and >> can even find a blocked sewer pipe under a concrete floor or trace out >> sewer pipes with running water in them! Saves a lot of digging when >> hooking up a new toilet or fixing trouble. >> > > Well, Mike, you're in for a treat then! Just prove to James Randi > that you can really do it, and the $1,000,000 is yours! > Apropos, how exactly do you do it? What appliance do you use? > (Stick(s), wood, metal, shape?) Been doing it since I was a kid. I use a Y stick of either willow or alder and they will dive at water strong enough to peel off the bark in my hands if I try to hold them up if there is a good water source. My dad was a skeptic too until I traced the house sewer pipes and he compared my chalk marks to the blueprints. I know lots of others too, why is someone offering money for a well finder? They are common in rural areas of Canada. Mike 86/00 CJ7 Laredo, 33x9.5 BFG Muds, 'glass nose to tail in '00 88 Cherokee 235 BFG AT's - Gone to the rust pile... Canadian Off Road Trips Photos: Non members can still view! Jan/06 http://www.imagestation.com/album/pi...?id=2115147590 (More Off Road album links at bottom of the view page) |
#9
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Battery on Concrete / Water-Witching same?
> wrote in message > It's not a myth.What happens is this. Concrete by it's nature and > size/weight deadens vibration. It also maintains a more constant > temperature than other surfaces. > > Those two factors lead to a battery that will over time allow > stratification of the chemicals of the battery much more readily > than a battery that gets moved around from time to time. This > stratification harms the battery. Sorry to be crude, but my comment to this is "horse****!" |
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