When deciding where to place your solar battery bank, you’ve probably heard that it should not be stored directly on concrete flooring. Setting a battery on concrete can discharge it more quickly, according to many. But is this true, or is it just a rumor? What other factors might influence the discharge rate of your solar batteries? Keep reading to find out.
Outdated Advice
Once upon a time, the advice to never store batteries on concrete was actually quite sound. But that was in the early 1900s when battery cases were made of porous materials. With these cases, storing batteries on a concrete floor could accelerate the discharge rate due to external leakage.
Nowadays, battery cases are made of much tougher stuff, like polypropylene and hard rubber. They’re also better sealed and insulated, and storing them on concrete floors isn’t a problem. The concrete will not accelerate the rate of discharge or cause external leakage.
What Impacts Discharge Rate?
So if concrete flooring doesn’t impact how quickly your battery self-discharges, what does? The primary influencing factor in this matter is temperature. The hotter your batteries are, the faster they’ll self-discharge. Higher temperatures in the battery’s electrolytes cause faster chemical reactions in the plates, which leads to these higher discharge rates. So, more than the surface you store them on, the temperature of the room where you store your batteries is incredibly important.
In fact, a concrete floor may actually help slow self-discharge rates in a warm room. The concrete beneath your battery can act as a heat sink, keeping the battery slightly cooler.
Proper Battery Storage Tips
As mentioned, the temperature is the most important factor for protecting your batteries. You want to protect them from both very high and below-freezing temperatures to preserve their charge and prolong their lifespan. You also want to ensure that the area is well-ventilated. This will help with maintaining temperature, as well as with any gases the batteries may emit.
The battery bank should also be accessible but protected from any vermin and the elements. Encasing your batteries in a cabinet, or purchasing batteries in protective shells, such as the BYD battery, makes this easy and opens up more installation locations for your battery bank. Above all, it’s crucial that you properly maintain and regularly inspect your batteries for any issues. Though rare, issues such as short circuits in a battery can be quite dangerous. With proper maintenance, you can reduce the likelihood of having these issues while also prolonging the life and optimum efficiency of your battery bank.
