battery storage advice
- Thread starter bigwave
- Start date
Help Support Candle Power Flashlight Forum
45/70
Flashlight Enthusiast
Hi bigwave, and welcome to CPF!:thumbsup:
The storage method you suggest would no doubt help the cells to last a bit longer. As with most any chemical reaction, the cooler the ambient temperature, the slower the reaction . Therefore the reactions/degradation of the chemical compounds within the cells would be slower.
Storing cells as you suggest, as opposed to just storing them in a cool dry place, would probably not really make that big a difference though. As long as alkaline cells are not permitted to get "hot", they seem to last a long while. Still, if you have definite plans to store your cells for a long time (years), it sure won't hurt anything.
Take my advise for what it's worth, as I don't really use alkaline cells anymore, with the exception of a few button cell sizes, and a few leftovers that I still have. I started phasing out alkalines in the early 80's due to their generally poor performance and the ability to leak, as compared to NiCd, and now LSD NiMH cells. I also use a few lithium primary AAA, AA, CR123A cells and also, to a much greater extent, many sizes of Li-Ion cells, so for the most part, I'm alkaline free.
Dave
The storage method you suggest would no doubt help the cells to last a bit longer. As with most any chemical reaction, the cooler the ambient temperature, the slower the reaction . Therefore the reactions/degradation of the chemical compounds within the cells would be slower.
Storing cells as you suggest, as opposed to just storing them in a cool dry place, would probably not really make that big a difference though. As long as alkaline cells are not permitted to get "hot", they seem to last a long while. Still, if you have definite plans to store your cells for a long time (years), it sure won't hurt anything.
Take my advise for what it's worth, as I don't really use alkaline cells anymore, with the exception of a few button cell sizes, and a few leftovers that I still have. I started phasing out alkalines in the early 80's due to their generally poor performance and the ability to leak, as compared to NiCd, and now LSD NiMH cells. I also use a few lithium primary AAA, AA, CR123A cells and also, to a much greater extent, many sizes of Li-Ion cells, so for the most part, I'm alkaline free.
Dave
I store alkalines in a plastic fishing tackle box. As long as the temperature doesn't get hot where you store them it should not affect the longevity. If you store them in a fridge or cold temps you may need to thaw them out before using as they would perform poorly and attract moisture that could rust them and parts of devices they are put in. Vacuum sealing them is probably not a good idea at the least it accomplishes nothing, but if there is a vacuum it could possibly encourage the seals to leak more. I use a plastic box for several reasons.
1)It is clear so I can see what I have in the box.
2)It allows me to sort and arrange cells.
3)It confines any leaks to the box itself instead of leaking all over the place.
4)I can grab my box and get batteries quickly for use vs having to unwrap/unpack cells from individual packages.
5)It gets all my batteries in one place.
6)It makes it easier and quicker to inspect for leakage.
I have a separate plastic box I got at walmart for my rechargeable and lithium primary cells because they don't need to be checked and never leak.
1)It is clear so I can see what I have in the box.
2)It allows me to sort and arrange cells.
3)It confines any leaks to the box itself instead of leaking all over the place.
4)I can grab my box and get batteries quickly for use vs having to unwrap/unpack cells from individual packages.
5)It gets all my batteries in one place.
6)It makes it easier and quicker to inspect for leakage.
I have a separate plastic box I got at walmart for my rechargeable and lithium primary cells because they don't need to be checked and never leak.
Robin24k
Flashlight Enthusiast
I'm wondering...how would defrosting/warming affect them? I'm tempted to say it might increase the chance of leaking with rapid temperature change...
I guess it would depend on how rapid they were warmed up and the method used to do so. I would say refrigerating them and allowing them to warm up normally at room temp should probably be a non issue but if you used a heater or torch to warm them faster it could have hot spots in the cells that could weaken the seals some. IMO unless you live in a hot climate and have nowhere under 85 degrees to store batteries I wouldn't bother with refrigerating alkalines at all.
Mr Happy
Flashlight Enthusiast
With all perishable items (food items, water, alkaline batteries, ...) the best storage plan is scheduled usage and rotation.
In other words, what you do is build up a store of X items which you use on a first in, first out basis. You periodically use the oldest items from the front of the store and replace them with new items at the back. The key thing is to keep the rotation going (a notebook or calendar is good for this), so that no item in the store is more than, say, a year old.
Once you have this set up you can store your alkaline batteries in a cool, dry place and there is no need to do anything exotic like refrigeration.
Furthermore, once you have your rotation system in place you may also consider rechargeable batteries like Eneloops and simply recharge them each time you use them. They will stay charged for a year in storage.
GrnXnham
Enlightened
Deleted
Last edited:
