Battery Woas

[Pete7]

Originally Posted by a64pilot

Decades ago I would take a dead battery drain it and put it on a expanded metal table I had upside down and flush it out with water attempting to flush the mud out, I’d then fill it with fresh acid and charge it.
I’d often get another year or two out of it in a tractor etc.
But that’s junk yard maintenance and I was doing it more just to see if it would work.

Standard practise in the British Army in the 1980s. The Vehicle Electricians would receive big industrial batteries in to the shop. Turn the upside down to drain then flush them out with an ordinary hose. The old acid was normally black and full of gunk. Once drained the acid would be replaced and the batteries given a slow charge for a few days, dozens of them lined up fed by huge bus bars. A final discharge check with a huge spring like device with an ammeter and if they passed back out on the tank park and into service.

So if your after a science project have a go and see what happens. Do a discharge test before you begin and another afterwards to see if there a big difference.

A interesting bit of recycling, perhaps the West should do more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afwO_MZjRjA