Freezing point of a battery

ForBruce

i was curious about the golf carts stored in our campgrounds unheated pavilion. (my batteries are home on a desulphanator/maintainer )

so with trip upstate today I measured the voltage of one of the carts and found:

27 degrees temperature
11.69 ..........11.65..........11.62...11.60 volts each which represents
according the to charts about a 20% charge.

here is some information i found about the freezing point of a discharged battery


Freezing,
Percent Specific Degrees
Charge ...........Gravity ...........Fahrenheit
100................ 1.265............. -75
76 ..................1.225 .............-35
74.................. 1.200............. -17
50...................1.150............... 5 (so 50% charge will freeze at 5 degrees )
0.................... 1.100............... 18
<0.................. 1.050............... 27



more info here : http://www.buchanan1.net/lead_acid.shtml

thought i would pass some of this on

BGW

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lgbarne

This is actually very useful. Especially for us hunters who are using our carts a good bit during the coldest months. Message I get is don't leave cart in discharge status for very long in very cold weather. Thanks.

ForBruce

even in warm weather sulphanation start around 50% charge

more info:

Attached Images

battery freezing.jpg (167.4 KB, 15 views)

Brushpup

Very interesting

lgbarne

Gotcha. But I am thinking that coming out to a cart with frozen batts would be a more immediate problem?

I always kept mine on the charger, but there are a couple of others in the camp who let theirs set out between hunts. I am wondering if when the temps are in the teens for all night before and the following day, there could be a risk of the batts turning solid after the morning discharge if left to set out. The batts would have already been below freezing before the discharge, right? Do they warm up considerably when being used?

ForBruce

even a car engine cools down in a few hours of non use........

besides the risk of cracking the case .....the acid and water separate
during battery discharge......and if freezing takes place it can distort or crush the plates and reduce the overall amperage capacity for future use.

shadowman

i leave one of my elec,s out up camp so i can use it when i go up in the winter so heres what i can add......there are times when i only get up there once over the winter but when i do i can jump on the cart and drive............good fully charged batteries at least for me i have never worried about charging them over the winter they arn,t gonna freeze...............now iffy batteries i wouldn,t trust but you can,t ask for anything more knowing that you have already done this for years with same results...........cart sits from november thur early april northeast winters.........plenty of snow and temps that get below 0 on a regular basis.......cart sitting outside unprotected in any way.........go up in april put key in turn on and drive away.........around the block......come back check water plug cart in to charge and nothing more........................

ForBruce

you are the exception......... and maybe the norm.......but who wants to be the test case..not me

all i can tell you is the cart i voltage tested was charged by the owner before storage. and now according to readings it is only 20% charged
(i'm going to check again in 1 month as a reasearch project)

at 20% the chart say freezing takes place at 5F.

this fellow bought the cart used so who knows how old or how they were maintained prior to the purchase.

my other friend had to replace his batteries this last summer after he stored his also the same way in an unheated building at the same campground......

i think you are tempting fate.....but then again who am i to argue with SUCCESS

erict

Was it only charged before storage and not during? I believe Tom leaves his on a charger all the time...

ForBruce

well here is the KICKER....

supposedly they (campground) charges a few times during the winter. Or
they leave the carts on charge all winter.

BUT.... with only a small electric line (about 20 amps or so) how many carts can you leave plugged in ....IT'S CART ROULETTE

Tom ..never said he leaves his charge plugged in all the time..... that makes for a whole different scenario which is ideal.