Batteries are becoming safer. They wouldn’t be loaded into speeding electric cars and other high-powered machines with a lot of potential hazards if they couldn’t be made safe enough to convince drivers and users of these machines that the danger doesn’t come from the battery.
But we are talking here about the forefront of battery technology. Batteries of today are being developed all the time and there is a compelling case to be made that batteries will be essential for the sustainable energy future of the world.
Back in the household though, old tips about battery storage persist – and they are still best followed. This is not to say that these batteries are antiquated – but they do tend to resemble the old batteries. Just look at the USB C AA and AAA type rechargeable smart batteries currently on the market. These batteries look like old AA and AAA batteries and are used in just the same way.
Pale Blue Earth out of Park City, Utah, producers of these types of batteries, say that the old tips about safe battery storage (out of reach of children, away from heat, etc.) still apply to these new batteries. In other words, they should be stored just like the old ones.
New Battery Storage Needs
Coming back to other batteries, proper storage is particularly important. In the case of electric vehicle batteries, the storage is naturally the vehicle itself. But that also means the car should be parked in a battery-friendly environment. Failure to do so will not cause any major hazard, but it could lead to faster battery degradation and other operational problems.
Some new batteries require completely different storage than any that have gone before. New liquidless batteries are being developed, as well as others that are simply a solid body of material. How these are to be stored is something manufacturers take pains to educate their customer base about. Battery storage therefore is part of battery safety and battery care.
Battery Storage Tips
Nevertheless, moving on from the Avant guard of battery technology, it is worth encouraging responsible battery consumption by setting out general battery storage tips that make for a solid knowledge base. Batteries are complex and potentially hazardous pieces of technology, so this is important. Here follows then some of the time-tested battery storage tips that every consumer should adhere to – some of which are not yet general knowledge:
Collect Batteries Together for Storage
This usually means using a specific container for your batteries and keeping it in an optimal storage space. For household batteries, this usually means a closed box stored in a dry dark area. For larger batteries, this typically means a designated location in a garage or place of work that has similar favorable conditions.
Be Careful About Short Circuits
For the vast majority of batteries, it’s perfectly okay for them to be stored side by side and touching. However, when button cells are added to the mix, some extra care is advised. The small size of these batteries means their poles are very close together and when they touch other batteries – even dead ones – a current can flow and a short circuit can occur.
Don’t Store Batteries in a Device
This doesn’t apply to electric cars, or even any device when it is regularly in operation. Nonetheless, batteries being stored inside a device for a period of time can eventually leak or short circuit. When storing a device for any amount of time, be sure to take out the batteries.
We have avoided the most obvious tips here – but these ones are indeed those that suffer the most neglect.
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