auxiliary battery bad

[tim.moore]

I just changed out the aux. battery with another because the the battery I stored in the freezer for a year did not hold a charge.  The debate goes on as to whether or not refrigerating a battery is a good idea or not.  Several years  ago Kevin Zak told me to put batteries in the refrig but I recently read and experienced that this is not the best idea.  Any opinions???

[ted.lowe]

It depends on the battery type.  Alkaline batteries can be stored in the cold to extend their usability.  For a rechargable lead acid battery, no.  Just keep it trickle charged indefinitely. 

The space shuttles have 64,000 NiCad batteries on board and after each launch, they remove every one, discharge them to 0v using a specific procedure, wrap them in plastic and store them in cold storage until the next usage.  Geesh... and i thought i had some battery maintenance to do 

What did you buy for your replacement aux battery ?  Type/size/vendor/price?  i'm thinking i may be about ready for a new aux battery myself.

[tim.moore]

Very interesting, another thing I did not know--space shuttle and alkaline.  I just bought a battery at AutoZone for $26 because I needed one and figured Battery Service would not give a credit since I damaged the battery in the freezer.  I believe I have gone through four aux. batteries in six years.

[rich.rezny]

Your aux battery should be a "deep cycle" battery.  An ICE vehicle needs a "starting type" battery that can output large amount of current for a short period of time (starting) and then relies on the altenator to replenish the power used as well as supply power to run aux. electrical loads (lights, fans, ect). The DC/DC convertor is supplying power like an altenator-topping up the aux battery and supplying power for lights, ect. Regular starting batteries do not like to be deep cycled at all.  When an altenator is replaced we have to make sure the battery is fully charged first.  If the altenator is asked to supply huge amounts of power for a long period of time it will fail rather quickly. A DC/DC convertor may suffer the same fate so I would be sure to fully charge an aux battery before putting it into service.   Rich