What surface is a good place to set a car battery to charge it and store it and after it is charged Ive heard that you should not do it on cement?

Answer 1

Answer 1If the surface may have iron in it, it isn't good for a battery. That is any surface with dirt. If there is any doubt, use wood. It doesn't conduct electricity and won't drain the battery. Do not leave it on a metal surface Answer 2I have heard for some 50 years that leaving a good automotive battery sitting on a concrete slab would eventually ruin it. A few times I have had it happen to me, and for years since, I always store a battery on a wooden shelf or if on the garage floor, on a piece of 2x10 wood which is larger than the battery's "footprint." When I observed this question here, I called a friend [an expert Forensic Chemist] and discussed this issue.

He said that there was no question that leaving a battery sitting on concrete will eventually ruin it. I asked if it had something to do with the "heat sink" effect of the concrete and he said no, that temperature had nothing to do with it. Here is how he explained the phenomenon which damages the battery.

Although the rubber or plastic battery case is liquid tight, and the liquid cannot penetrate it, components of the electrolyte molecules CAN migrate through the case, and penetrate into the concrete. Then, changes in the concrete release compounds which can also migrate upwards through the battery case, into the electrolyte. It is these compounds which contaminate and degrade the electrolyte, and eventually contaminate the lead plates in the battery. He says this is a long, slow process and will not be great enough to damage a battery during a storage period a few weeks or less. Storage periods of a couple of months, while not destroying the battery, will none the less degrade the battery's power output somewhat, and can shorten it's lifespan. Long storage periods, even if the battery is kept charged, will eventually lead to premature failure.

Answer 3Not anymore. Used to be true when battery cases were made from hard rubber, as they were somewhat porous and had a high-carbon content. An electrical current could be conducted through it when placed on a concrete floor, causing a weak short circuit.

But today's batteries cases are ABS plastic and can sit on concrete indefinitely.

Batteries discharge slowly all the time. . . so regardless of where you leave one, if it sits long enough without being recharged, it will go dead.

Batteries are shipped in trucks and stored on shelves made of steel. So if it was a conductivity issue, all new batteries would be ruined.