fridging lithiums?

[Midget]

for some reason i keep all of my batteries in the fridge. i seem to remember someone a while back telling me keeping batterys cool will increase their shelf life. seeing as i don't use batteries much in the first place, i always just stick them in the butter compartment of the house refridgerator for long term storage.



my question is, assuming cooling batteries is not a myth, should i refridgerate my 123A's too? i know they already have like a 5 year shelf life, but i don't use my flashlight too often anyhow, and my surefire(s) are LED ones. in fact, i've never had to change batteries on any of my flashlights yet-- so my 123A's could be sitting around for quite some time.

 

[mete]

In the old days ,~50 years ago, batteries didn't have a long shelf life so they were stored in the fridge. Today's batteries are much better so that isn't necessary.

 

[Cougar Allen]

Lithiums have a nominal 10 year shelf life, and they're not dead at the end of 10 years; in fact they still have most of their power left. Alkalines have a nominal shelf life of 7 years.

But you have to keep them somewhere. If it's convenient to keep them in the fridge, it does help preserve them a little.... I've been keeping my batteries in one of the hydrator drawers at the bottom of the fridge since I was a kid and it was really necessary, and even though it isn't necessary any more I can't see any reason to change.

 

[Gollnick]

Keep in mind that when a battery comes out of the fridge, it may be initially a bit "weak" while it's cold (and cold all the way to the core). So, if you take some new batteries out of the fridge and put 'em into your flashlight, and it seems dim, don't say, "oh, these batteries have gone bad." No, give 'em a hour or two to warm up.

 

[balrog]

Another thing to remember is that the cold battery may form condensation inside the device causing problems later on.

 

[grommit]

Assuming that the normal storage place for batteries is room temp, refrigeration will save about 1% of their storage life. In marginal applications this may be well worth the effort. If the alternative is storing at 140 in the attic, then the fridge could save a considerable amount.

When the battery of the land was copper and carbon instead of alkaline, then saving them in the fridge would more than double the lifespan. Unfortunately, as has been said, there are problems with refrigeration.

If the batteries are used before they are raised back to ambient temperature, then the current can be depleted before the voltage rises to maximum, meaning almost half of the batteries stored energy will never be seen.

Also, if the cold batteries sweat in the equipment it can be destroyed. If the batteries sweat enough they may short in thier own sweat.