I need help finding a car enclosure that will still allow me to keep my trickle charge on my battery, any suggestions

 

Just buy an extension for the battery tender. Run it under the cover.

 

It's called a garage - trust me I'm from Canada. Your asking for paint damage if you store out side in the winter under a car cover.

 

It's a long story, but the "Cliff Notes" version is that my 'Vette was outside for 4-5 weeks under a cover. Weather got kinda' windy a few times, paint got burnished in a couple of spots. It's not the best situation.


My suggestion...Run the battery charger cables up from the underside of the car, then you can keep the hood down.

 

Some food for thought --- a charging lead acid battery gives off hydrogen which is EXPLOSIVE and CORROSIVE as it carrys a small amount of sulfuric acid along as it outgasses during the charge cycle. With no air circulation under a cover and the hood closed, it will collect as its lighter than air in the battery area and we all know the results of corroded grounds there.

 

Would this be a problem with a breathable cover such as the Wolf Noah? Is a gel battery (Optima) considered a lead acid battery? Just thoughts for all of us....

 

With a breathable cover or a Maintenance Free battery I would think not much of a problem.

Gell cell batteries have a gelling agent added to the electrolyte and all of them that I'm aware of are sealed to prevent outgassing. Maint Free batteries are designed to allow the gas to recombine in the battery and not vent to the outside. We don't all have those tho.

I'm putting mine up with the hood cracked and the hood light disconnected. The charger is on a timer so it keeps the battery topped once a week but isn't on and possibly overheating while its unattended 24/7. Plus I'm adding some plastic grommets to the cover in the battery area to insure some ventilation. I'm using a timer because I don't trust the literature that tells me its safe to leave those float chargers on all of the time. They can overheat if they malfunction and I'm not taking any chances.

Check out this site --- http://www.madelectrical.com/electri...charging.shtml

 

First of all the engine is not sealed it is open on the bottom plenty of air comes throught the bottom of the car i dont think anything is going to explode or catch on fire with the hood closed and the cables connected up through the bottom of the car many of the people on the forum store their cars like this year after year i am one of them.

 

my husband who is i a chemist told me no problems storing the car the way i said this will never happen the car can be covered up and hood down battery tender hooked up with no problems just like i said in my last message but i wanted to make sure i was right in my answer so i asked him

 

As I originally said " Food for thought". Its YOUR car, do whatever YOU want, anyway YOU want! Sorry, I'm not a chemist, I just work with aircraft batteries EVERYDAY.

Here's another site to view - http://www.lectriclimited.com/battery_faq.htm

 

In the page you sent me ,you and the article are talking about acid battery's not the sealed ones is that correct?My older vettes had the acid batteries.What do they use in the planes acid or sealed ones or both?Sounds like you have an intresting job working with planes and a job where you really have to be careful because one mistake and you could be hurt.Please have a good weekend. GOD BLESS Charlene

 

They're ALL lead acid batteries, some are sealed lead acid and some aren't, some are gelled lead acid, most aren't. Aircraft use all of them plus one called Nickle-Cadmium. Most battery cases will allow some venting to the outside to relieve internal pressure and that keeps the case from fracturing. Granted, a float type charger won't cause a battery to boil the electrolyte and actually pressurize the case during the charge like hi amp chargers or a defective alternator/regulator can, but it still gives off some hydrogen gas as it charges.

The battery well seal in a C5 is nearly totally isolating the battery from any air circulation when the hood is down and latched while the car parked inside of a garage or shop and covered.

What comes out of the battery stays in the well for the most part and eventually will put a coating of electrolyte on everything in the compartment including the ECU. That coating is conductive/corrosive because of the sulphuric acid component of electrolyte and may cause the starter ground point immediately below the compartment to begin corroding too. The most common way to neutralize that is a wash with baking soda and water.

There are a couple of pretty important components in that battery well and my only intention was to point out the possibility of some bad things happening. In Aviation we call it "Murphy's Law". If ANYTHING can go wrong, it WILL, and at the most inopportune time. I seem to remember an old saying about " an ounce of prevention being worth a pound of cure".

Have you ever seen the video clip of the HINDENBURGH airship burning in Lakehurst, New Jersey? (caused by Hydrogen and static electricity) The Vette as it sits with the plastic body we all love has a static field around it at all times on the order of 300-500 volts (as do our own bodies) and that is enough to create a spark just like when we get shocked as we walk across carpret or pet the cat, that COULD ignite gas fumes.

All the best to you.