RE: Mineral Oil for the batteries

[Civil_War_Buff]

 
I was doing a little surfing and came across this on an RV mods site.  I wonder if anyone has tried this?  It does seem to have some merit, but I was wondering if any chemists on here can help out?
 
 ADDED MINERAL OIL TO BATTERIES
 I had read about the oil that they sell to add to your batteries to stop or minimize the corrosion around them.  I did some research and it seems that Edison used this stuff in his original batteries that were used along the railroads.  In fact, they say you can still find the bottles along the tracks some places.  Anyway, I did some research on the stuff that is being sold today and found the patents for it.  Turns out that it is primarily mineral oil with a few other additives, primarily for color.  A call to a chemist friend who disclosed that not only is mineral oil just fine in a battery, HE had used it for just that many years ago while working as a mechanic in his Dad s truck shop.  He said that it worked great to stop the corrosion so I added 4 oz of USP grade Mineral Oil (intestinal lubricant!) to each cell in my 6 volt, deep cycle cells.
 
 If you take the cell cover off now while the batteries are charging, there are little tiny bubbles on the top of the oil.  No more big popping bubbles to carry sulfuric acid out of the cells.  
 
 
 Thanks and
 
 Happy Campin  <><

[Y-Guy]

 Civil_War_Buff
Humm almost sounds like Snake Oil my friend!  [8D]
 I ve never heard of doing that, which site did you pick up on this?  I don t recall reading about this on the two battery sites I ve read, Bill Darden Deep Cycle Battery FAQ and Mark Nemeth s - The 12volt Side of Life but maybe I missed it. You might drop either of these folks a message too and see what they have to say.

[BaysideBruce]

 Civil_War_Buff
In the " old day"  battery oil was in batteries to help slow down the evaporation of water from the battery.  This was very helpful in batteries that were out in the hot sun, especially the ones used by the railroads.  The thin layer of mineral oil made these batteries more " maintenance free"  and they lasted longer because of that.  The oil also helped to slow down the corrosion at the electrolyte/air interface where the plates would corride.  Modern battery manufacturers have eliminated most of these problems by better choices in materials and manufacturing techinques.  Would a good quality mineral oil hurt a modern day battery?  Probably not.  (If cheap oil is used and it oxidizes, it could become a stick mess inside of the battery.  The oxidized oil could coat a portion of the plates and that would cut down the performance of the battery.)  Would the mineral oil help modern day batteries?  I think it would be such a small difference that it would be difficult to determine.