Door Won’t Close after removing battery

[koplebob]

Minus the outlet convenience, what’s your definition of cold? I’m in upstate NY without a heated garage as well and have zero issues hooking my tender up right to the battery during the winter. I have a thermometer to keep track of temps and even when the nights get down into the low 10’s in January/February, the garage still stays around 30 and doesn’t cause any issues.

IL cold, so pretty similar. i might be able to solve the outlet problem if i flipped the car around 180 degrees, but even then im uncertain.

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[KingKona]

source for the cold part? i’ve heard they discharge faster, recharge slower, and are much weaker in the cold as well. unless i’ve been told wrong, i always thought it was better to take them to a warm spot for the winter

Cold temporarily weakens their performance, yes. That does not DAMAGE the battery. In fact if anything, it extends their life, slowing the corrosion that ruins batteries.

 

[m3incorp]

I lived in Europe for over 20 years in an area that saw temps in the teens (F) and never had a battery problem because of the cold.

 

[ORRadtech]

source for the cold part? i’ve heard they discharge faster, recharge slower, and are much weaker in the cold as well. unless i’ve been told wrong, i always thought it was better to take them to a warm spot for the winter

Cold by itself is not harmful to a lead acid battery. To a point, a very cold point. Negative 40(oddly f&c are the same) degrees cold.
Cold slows every thing about the battery though. It's self discharge rate drops, as does its charge rate and, to some degree, it's effective capacity. The problem comes in using a cold battery. A cold battery, as I said above, has a lower effective capacity and is trying to turn a cold engine with cold oil so it's more of a struggle. Combine that with a slower charging rate and you can see how it might be rough on even a healthy battery. Unfortunately most batteries over a year or so old aren't all that healthy, thus people saying that cold is bad for batteries.
But storing a battery in any cold any of us is likely to experience will not harm it.

 

[jpalmerino]

IL cold, so pretty similar. i might be able to solve the outlet problem if i flipped the car around 180 degrees, but even then im uncertain.

OK, I have to ask….. what do you mean by 180°? Do you mean the literal difference between pulling your car in vs backing it in? If it’s not backed in, why not? Do we all not unnecessarily back our cars into our garage as well?

 

[koplebob]

OK, I have to ask….. what do you mean by 180°? Do you mean the literal difference between pulling your car in or backing it in?

please use ur brain homie, there is only one logical meaning to that

 

[jpalmerino]

please use ur brain homie, there is only one logical meaning to that

lol know that, but the way it reads, it sounds like the only thing preventing you from having the battery in the car is changing the way you park, seems like a pretty low barrier to get over

 

[koplebob]

lol know that, but the way it reads, it sounds like the only thing preventing you from having the battery in the car is changing the way you park, seems like a pretty low barrier to get over

cable on my tender isn’t very long and even if the car were pulled in vs backed in i’m still fairly certain it wouldn’t reach since the battery is towards the back of the bay and the outlet is a decent ways away against the wall. i’d also have to plug out and relocate the security camera in there

 

[wazslow]

cable on my tender isn’t very long and even if the car were pulled in vs backed in i’m still fairly certain it wouldn’t reach since the battery is towards the back of the bay and the outlet is a decent ways away against the wall. i’d also have to plug out and relocate the security camera in there

Leave the battery in car, run an extention cord to the battery tender.

 

[koplebob]

Leave the battery in car, run an extention cord to the battery tender.

this is an option, yeah, would it be worth hooking everything back up to do this though? what benefit would it bring now that the battery’s already been out

 

[wazslow]

this is an option, yeah, would it be worth hooking everything back up to do this though? what benefit would it bring now that the battery’s already been out

I wouldn't worry about it at this point. But that's what I would do next winter.

 

[koplebob]

I wouldn't worry about it at this point. But that's what I would do next winter.

yeah, seems much easier. hopefully i can get out of here and to somewhere where winter storage isn’t even on my mind.

 

[Postal Bob]

source for the cold part? i’ve heard they discharge faster, recharge slower, and are much weaker in the cold as well. unless i’ve been told wrong, i always thought it was better to take them to a warm spot for the winter

That's the point of a battery tender, keeping the battery at peak charge so it never discharges.
My car is stored outside in the cold all Winter for 3 months. Never had a problem with the battery as it's hooked up to a battery tender the whole time.

 

[MAGS1]

OK, I have to ask….. what do you mean by 180°? Do you mean the literal difference between pulling your car in vs backing it in? If it’s not backed in, why not? Do we all not unnecessarily back our cars into our garage as well?

Is there any other way to park anywhere? I can’t remember the last time I parked pulling in forward…

 

[Garfy]

source for the cold part? i’ve heard they discharge faster, recharge slower, and are much weaker in the cold as well. unless i’ve been told wrong, i always thought it was better to take them to a warm spot for the winter

It's true that batteries have a lower CCA reserve when very cold but they won't get damaged by the cold UNLESS it's not fully charged. If you have a discharged battery, most of the acid from the electrolyte is in the plates leaving a much lower concentration of acid in the electrolyte so it will freeze at a higher temperature than a fully charged battery. Remember back in the old days when we used a hydrometer to measure the state of charge of lead-acid batteries? Fully charged was around 1.260 and half charge was around 1.225. a reading of 1.000 is pure water so the lower the charge, the less acid in the electrolyte and the acid lowers the freeze point just like the way your antifreeze does in the cooling system. Keep the battery fully charged with a tender and it'll be fine.

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