Batteries can be dangerous to our health when they are not given proper storage and care.
When you consider keeping them in storage for long, you need to follow specific considerations to ensure that they remain safe where they will not begin to leak, get ruined, or explode.
Proper measures should be taken to prolong your battery life.
Can You Keep Batteries In A Cold Garage?
Yes, you can. The best place to store your extra or car batteries is in a cool, dark environment where they will not be subjected to extreme temperatures, and you can find a space in your garage that has these conditions to keep your batteries. Usually, too much cold or too much heat could affect batteries negatively. Batteries come in different types, and each will have its distinctive chemistries. Therefore, it would be best to find out your type of battery specs before you store it in the cold for a prolonged period in your garage.
Why Do You Need Spare Batteries At Home?
When you have so many devices at your home that operate using batteries, it is essential that you keep fresh batteries in stock all the time for replacements.
Without these ready batteries, it will not be possible to power such devices at home, at work, or even for emergency purposes.
Having ready fresh batteries will help you refresh the dead ones.
To prevent picking which items need to be given priority with storing their spare batteries, it would be wise to keep an emergency one for all the devices.
It may help you when the weather worsens, and the spared one will help during such emergency scenarios to power them.
Garage Battery Storage Tips
- When you consider storing batteries in your garage, ensure that the garage environment is dried properly at room temperature to prolong your batteries’ life.
- Always avoid keeping them in extreme temperatures that may be too hot or below freezing point.
- While storing them in a cool place in your garage may lengthen your batteries life, it is worth noting that this may also have an impact on many of the batteries used in household items.
- Therefore, you need to take precautions while storing them to prevent them from leaking or causing premature power loss when you want to use them.
The following tips will help you when you consider storing different types of batteries in your garage.
For Household Batteries
When you want to store these types of batteries, remember to keep them in their new packaging from the manufacturer so that you may prevent them from getting into contact with other types of batteries.
Supposing your batteries don’t have their original packaging, it would be best to line up all the batteries inside a container while keeping them with their positive ends facing a similar direction.
Always avoid keeping any of the pieces with the opposite end in contact with the other one.
Remove metal objects in your storage areas such as loose change or desk staples.
When the batteries get into contact with them, it may lead to short-circuit, resulting in your batteries developing leakages.
Keep the same type of batteries and those of the same age together in one place.
Avoid mixing different types or old ones with new ones.
The old ones when they get into contact with the new ones will drain their energy.
Also, remember to keep their plastic caps intact until when you need to use them.
Remember to keep them in a storage device that cannot be crushed easily to damage them while in storage in your garage.
For Rechargeable Batteries:
Rechargeable lithium-ion batteries are crucial in homesteads to power crucial devices like cell phones and various power tools.
To keep them safe in your cool garage in good condition, ensure that they remain at 40 percent capacity.
Avoid any chance that might deplete them before you store them.
Before you store them, you can charge them to 100% capacity, and remember to remove them from their charging system as soon as they are completely charged.
When you leave your laptops, cellphones, and other devices plugged in for a long can affect and shorten their battery lifespan.
For Vehicles and Car Batteries:
The best practice to keep your car battery in good working condition that will preserve it is by using it on your vehicle.
However, when you consider storing it temporarily in your garage, it would be best before you remove it from the car to take the vehicle for a ride for a few weeks before removing it so that it may be charged.
If you want to store your car for a few months before driving it, please remove the battery completely and store it.
Before you remove the battery from the car, ensure that you have turned the vehicle off and then disconnected the battery by removing the black cable first and then followed by the red cable.
Remember to clean your car battery to get rid of any corrosion on its surface.
After, find a suitable dry point in your garage that will not experience any freezing temperature and keep your battery.
Consider also hooking the car battery to a trickle charger.
This will help in ensuring that its life is preserved while it remains in storage. Refer to the battery manual to take note of any specific instructions from the manufacturer.
Should You Keep Batteries Inside A Garage Refrigerator?
You don’t have to keep batteries inside a freezer or fridge when you want to store them because a cool temperature is good for them.
In fact, when you do so, it will lead to condensation of the battery’s various components, which will damage the battery and affect its lifespan.
How Long Will Your Unused Batteries Last In Storage?
Before storing your batteries, it is worth knowing how long you can keep them safe in store so as not to waste them entirely.
When you consider storing your unused alkaline types of batteries, this type can last for about five to ten years in storage.
The Ni-MH batteries at home you can keep in store for long as they have a shelf life of between three and five years.
On the other hand, the Lithium-ion types which are used on cell phones have a low period of self-discharge rate.
Therefore, they will hold a partial charge to store them for four years before they get depleted entirely.
Take Valuables Into Account Before Storing Your Batteries
In regards to all the types of batteries found in your home that you want to store, it is crucial that you know that storing them can harm other items around your garage space.
For instance, if your car battery begins to leak the acid inside it, the leakage substance can damage chairs or any other new items around the place.
Therefore, you need to ensure that you create enough space to keep them away from valuables.
This could be important if you intend to store the battery for a lengthy period of time before using it again.
Final Verdict
Batteries are always unsung heroes in our lives.
Normally, we turn to them whenever we need to power everything at home, from flashlights to cars to remove controls.
You may remember them only when they need to be replaced.
Storing them in good working condition safely in your garage at a good temperature can prolong their lives to help you in emergency cases.
