Best way to store C2016 batteries?

I have about 40 C2016 batteries kicking around. I want to store them, but someone told me if they are touching each other in a bag they might lose the charge...what is the best method (besides selling them on Ebay to get rid of them!)

Reply to
daviddschool
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I keep my battery stock in plastic zip bags in the fridge. They will keep for years if kept cool.

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Best Regards:
                     Baron.
Reply to
Baron

They will short out if there is a metallic path from one end of a battery to the other, which could be thru 6 other batteries if they happened to be arranged in such a manner that there is continuity. Put some masking tape over one of the two contacts and put them all in the refrigerator as the previous poster suggested.

Reply to
hrhofmann

I dunno know about the fridge thing but seems my devices that run on batteries the batteries don't hold up well in the cold weather...always carry cameras recorders in the jeep year round....just my thought

They will short out if there is a metallic path from one end of a battery to the other, which could be thru 6 other batteries if they happened to be arranged in such a manner that there is continuity. Put some masking tape over one of the two contacts and put them all in the refrigerator as the previous poster suggested.

Reply to
lurk

Well the idea was for long term storage of batteries ! As you have discovered the chemical reactions that produce the electricity slow right down in cold conditions. Hence storing them in the fridge.

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Best Regards:
                     Baron.
Reply to
Baron

It is not generally considered a good idea to store batteries in a refrigerator, unless they are sealed in moisture-tight wrapping. The low relative humidity tends to cause them to dry out otherwise.

Reply to
William Sommerwerck

Keeping them in their original packaging (showing their expiration dates) would be the gold standard.

This would be a *specific* kind of "touching" (aka "short circuit"). If they are just loose to touch each other any way they might, there is no guarantee some won't align that way.

To store them, get a tubular pill bottle that is just big enough for them to fit and stack them in the bottle. Fill any extra space (with packets of silica gel) so the cells don't change position.

...and putting masking tape on a battery would leave residue. I wouldn't do that.

To dispose of chemical waste (e.g. batteries), put them aside until the next Toxics Roundup in your locale then find someone who has stuff and give them to him to take.

Reply to
JeffM

"I read it somewhere." It's almost common sense.

Reply to
William Sommerwerck

"lurk" wrote in news:5lU2k.1996$L snipped-for-privacy@flpi150.ffdc.sbc.com:

they are lithium cells and don't need refrigeration for a long shelf life.

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Jim Yanik
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Reply to
Jim Yanik

It would make common sense to me to believe that the relative humidity in a refrigerator would be pretty high.

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                Britney Spears\' Guide to Semiconductor Physics
Reply to
clifto

It is, put a hygrometer in there sometime.

Reply to
James Sweet

James Sweet wrote in news:pfe3k.3088$1x.2913@trndny06:

every time you open the door,moist room air enters and condenses on the cold walls and items inside. that's why the freezer has to have a defrost cycle or be defrosted periodically,and there's a drip pan underneath the fridge.

My folks used to yell at us kids for having the fridge door open too long.

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Jim Yanik
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Reply to
Jim Yanik

It condenses on the walls because the relative humidity is high. The total amount of moisture in the air is lower as the temperature drops, but relative humidity takes this into account.

Reply to
James Sweet

Its low. All the moisture is frozen to the boy of the freezer. Thats why you have to defrost them on occasion.

Reply to
Sjouke Burry

Someone remind me.

What's the reaction between Lithium and Water?

These are Lithium CR2016 cells? Wouldn't having one of them short out inside a wet refrigerator be the first step to buying a new house in a different town?

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Adrian C
Reply to
Adrian C

To be fair, there isn't much lithium in on of those, it's not like it would blow up the refrigerator.

Batteries are sealed anyway, unless the seal fails and they leak, moisture should not get in any more than electrolyte gets out.

Reply to
James Sweet

I'd suggest you read a book on physics.

Reply to
William Sommerwerck

It condenses because it's cold.

The air in a refrigerator is very dry. This is one of the reasons vegetables wilt -- they lose the moisture that "props up" the cell walls.

Reply to
William Sommerwerck

"William Sommerwerck" wrote in news:sdmdnTT9_cBM8NPVnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@comcast.com:

Actually, both of you were right, in a way. The relative humidity in a refrigerator IS generally very high. But the absolute humidity in a refrigerator is generally very LOW.

Relative humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air divided by the amount of water vapor the air CAN hold at that temperature when it is totally saturated with water vapor. Cold air holds less water vapor when saturated than warm air.

Opening the door brings in air that contains more water vapor than the air in the refrigerator can hold (the dew point of the incoming air is above the temperature of the refrigerator) so water condenses on surfaces. Most of the water condenses on the coldest surface which is the evaporator coil of the refrigerator (the coil where the compressed freon evaporates, cooling the coil).

As for batteries, I would expect that some kinds of batteries [Gel cells, for example] would lose moisture in a refrigerator. I would NOT expect sealed cells to lose moisture at a significant rate, when stored in the lower part of the refrigerator, where fruits and veggies are usually stored.

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bz

please pardon my infinite ignorance, the set-of-things-I-do-not-know is an
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Reply to
bz

I'd suggest you find out what RELATIVE humidity is.

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                Britney Spears\' Guide to Semiconductor Physics
Reply to
clifto

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