Here are the results so far:
Friday night, I took the battery out of the MG 1100 that lives in the back
yard (their natural habitat). Since it was stone dead after sitting six
months on stainless steel two feet above dry dirt and tennis balls covered
with dog slobber (any theories, Will?), I charged it until 8AM Saturday
morning when I put it on the concrete floor in my garage. Another battery
is acting as the control by continuing to sit in the MG 1100 that lives in
the street (the Batmobile). This battery has retained its charge even after
sitting for three months without being used. Both batteries are comparable
models of Sears Die Hards and the one still in the car is five years old
while the one on concrete is two years old.
As of 8AM Monday, November 6, 24 hours into the experiment, the battery on
concrete still showed 12 1/2 volts. As of 8AM today, Thursday, November 9,
the battery showed 13 volts. Maybe concrete recharges batteries. If and
when the battery goes dead, I'll let everyone know. Then I'll repeat the
experiment with the batteries switched. If anyone has any suggestions for
other tests to perform with batteries once this one is done let me know.
Denise Thorpe, who's still not going to sit on concrete
thorpe@kegs.saic.com
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