Battery containment

[w9kh]

In trying to decide what type of batteries to start out with, I am hit with the question of where to put them around the house and what type to get.  If I get agm, I can put them inside.  If I get "deep cycle" type batteries, they have to be in a vented space.  Of which I have none inside the house.

Do I use agm and keep them inside, or do I use something else?  If something else, where do I put them?

Kevin

[DamonHD]

I'm using a small gel SLA and keeping it in the house but right next to an air vent (needed because we have a natural gas appliance).

I'm also being reasonably careful not to charge the battery too fast which would cause it to vent and be damaged.

Rgds

Damon

[wooferhound]

I keep mine in an Ice Cooler out in my shed

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2008/3/4/6303/63451

You could build a battery compartment outside against the house.

[dlenox]

k9kh,

I went with a bank of eight AGM batteries for my application.

I made an elevated wood box and pexiglass cover, along with some large battery trays that were made by PS Composites. You also have to be sure to vent the enclosure to get rid of hydrogen gas!

Here is the chest:

Here is one of the fiberglass trays:

Dan Lenox

[thirteen]

I would suggest building a elevated box with a vent going outside inside the box. A solid cover to protect the batteries from haveing something dropped on them. Just a little safty for those that may stop bye and do not understand batteries. For looks you could put the vent under steps or flower boxes. Just be sure and cover it with screen so you do not have small visiters. I caught one last week and helped it make a new friend with my sons snake.

[w9kh]

My dog doesn't seem to care about little visitors.  He only goes after small bugs.

If they are housed in a box outside, under the raised deck, what about keeping them warm in the winter so they don't freeze, or keeping them cool on the hot days (90F)?

kevin

[SparWeb]

Hi,

I just posted, in my diary, some experience with my set of Absolyte AGM batteries, including comments about corrosion:

http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2008/6/7/64539/70835

Maybe it's best to build a vented space indoors, no matter what type you get.  You will maintain more capacity while they stay inside.  Cold batteries don't hold nor give as much charge as warm ones.  Usually one's loads are greater in the winter, because the lights stay on much more.

[Simple serf]

I generally think that people overworry batteries being inside, but this may be due to the fact that I work with both large (forklift) and small batteries (floor scrubber l16's)indoors every day as part of my job. I used to use a group 29 battery inside my house, in a plastic battery box on my small system. When I went to a larger battery bank, I installed 4 of the same type battery (They are the large group 29's you get at wally world...the last one lasted for 4 years and is still kicking as my shop battery) two in plastic boxes on a rack I built, and 2 more in an old battery box that I built awhile back. To combat the temperature issue, I installed a Trace C-35 charge controller with a temp sensor to adjust the rate of charge. Seems to work well.

[random]

Even though "sealed" batteries are "sealed" there has to be a pressure popoff to keep them from exploding under a fierce charge.  I would never count on zero hydrogen emission.  I would absolutely vent any type of battery bank.

Cold batteries drain quickly.  You want them to stay above freezing if possible.  What I've noticed is that below 20F the charge drains off a lot faster.

[RandomJoe]

I've wondered / thought this myself from time to time.

It's kind of like gasoline storage.  To read the warning labels and some of the comments people have made in various forums I read, you'd think having any gas in any container in the garage is a recipe for disaster.  Yet I remember having a gallon can of gas for the mower sitting in my parents' garage all the time, usually with the spout still in place and no cover on it.  Sure, if you were right next to it you smelled something, but that was about it.  And the mower was even sitting there, with gas in it.  The cap on those old mowers we had never did seal terribly well.  And don't forget the 10, 20 or 30 gallon fuel tanks on cars that get parked in garages.  New cars are great at containing the fumes, but my old VW sure wasn't...!

Sure, storing a huge quantity would raise the risks, nor would I store gas right next to a water heater or furnace, or refill a mower inside the garage.  In all the gas-started garage fires I'd ever heard of the one common factor was someone playing with or being stupid with gas.  Spilling it, or something, to cause a large vapor cloud in a confined space.

I start wondering if that's the same issue with batteries.  Heck, I had a deep-cycle marine battery for many years inside my apartment.  Didn't treat it very well, either, now that I know how I should have been treating it.  But it lasted a long time and never gave me any problems.  I can see the issue if someone is (say) trying to house a bank large enough to take a suburban house off-grid inside an enclosed closet, but it does seem many go overboard with the concern.

Batteries gas while charging, especially equalizing.  That's a given.  But to have a fire / explosion risk with hydrogen gas is going to require a certain concentration of the gas.  Hydrogen being so light, it's going to disperse pretty readily into the available space.  Thus the question I wind up with is, what concentration is required for ignition, and just how likely is that concentration given X batteries in Y square feet?  Add in other factors, like my garage is (most unfortunately, especially in winter) fairly well ventilated anyway, and it's even less likely.

This isn't to wave off the potential hazards - they do exist.  I just frequently start wondering where the protections from real hazards end and the overbearing "we must protect the stupid from themselves" type regulations begin...