Out of curiosity, do those battery terminal pads actually work at preventing or minimizing the crusty stuff from forming? Or are they a waste of money.
Same for the anti-corrosion spray, on the terminal and the terminal connectors. Does it actually work? Or is it also a waste of money.
I've always coated the outside of battery terminals with wheel bearing grease and not had any corrosion problems.
@chucktobias interesting. Thanks!
Battery corrosion is caused by hydrogen gas and sulfuric acid in the electrolyte solution coming into contact with the battery terminals. Salt and water from the road also causes corrosion since it's an electrolyte solution that can conduct electricity.
Preventing these conductive liquids from coming into contact with the battery terminals will prevent battery corrosion.
One of the most effective ways to protect the terminals from liquid is to coat them with dielectric grease, which is nonconductive and won't wash off easily. Make sure to apply some grease around the bottom of the terminals since most of the water will pool up on top of the battery and touch the bottom of the terminals and battery posts. If both battery posts come into contact with that pool of water, then electricity will conduct through the water between both battery posts. Draining the battery and cause corrosion.
The trick with dielectric grease is to not apply it between the battery post and the cable terminal. Connect the battery cable before coating everything with dielectric grease. Dielectric grease is nonconductive and will cause a bad connection between the battery post and the cable terminal. The grease is only supposed to be applied on the outside of everything as a protective coating to keep water out.
https://www.continentalbattery.com/blog/how-to-clean-battery-corrosion-and-what-causes-it
If there's no corrosion then I wouldn't bother with dielectric grease because it's messy. Fortunately none of my batteries corrode so there must not be much salt water or sulfuric acid coming into contact with the terminals.
Overfilling batteries with distilled water also causes a lot of corrosion because the water overflows out the top while charging. Only fill until water barely covers the top of the metal lead plates inside the battery then stop. Never fill until water is coming up the plastic round fill tubes. There's actually a notch cut into the bottom of the plastic tube. That notch is there to allow hydrogen gas to vent out. If the notch is covered with water then the gases can't vent.
@oskool thanks for the detailed info. I recently changed out a battery that had those felt pads, and didn’t notice any corrosion. So I assumed it did the trick. But not sure.