Battery Reconditioning

[randydupree]

OK<just watched the pakis again,no way i'm going to do all of that.
i may wash out and refill,but...

[Tim KS]

Originally Posted by randydupree

OK<just watched the pakis again,no way i'm going to do all of that.
i may wash out and refill,but...

I think that's the same video that I watched.....several times. I've never convinced myself, or been poor enough, to go through all that work & trouble save me the cost of a new battery. ....besides the mishaps & burns from getting too close to hot lead, etc.

I have done lots of trivial crap jobs to save money, but not THAT trivial.

[Ironman]

Originally Posted by randydupree

just last week i sold 30 batteries for scrap.
L-16's,31's and GC6
Motorhomes have a shit load of batteries.
I have 6 L16s in my bus,born in may 2018,they are going bad.
Of course i neglected them,forgot to check fluid levels.

But,i was wondering about reconing them.
I have watched the pakis do it and the other youtubes,but i worry about fumes and all that.

running them low or dry is a guaranteed sulfation problem. I believe I have fixed my 8D and dissolved the sulfide. I used a charger on the 200 amp engine start position and gave it an hour at 19 volts and pinned ammeter, and it finally dropped down to 40 amps. I did this in 1.5 hr jolts, and then when it would hold a load of 500 amps for 15 seconds and stay in the green zone, I put it on a charge of 2 amps for 24hrs.
The jury is out, it has sat on the floor for 3 days and is at 12.74 volts, when it would have gone dead before.

I was talking to a guy about this and he said it is much more effective to use a stick welder at about 100 amps for 15 minute shots.
Common sense safety needs to apply here or leave it alone.

[mccutter]

Originally Posted by Ironman

The jury is out, it has sat on the floor for 3 days and is at 12.74 volts, when it would have gone dead before.

I was talking to a guy about this and he said it is much more effective to use a stick welder at about 100 amps for 15 minute shots.
Common sense safety needs to apply here or leave it alone.

Just reading your procedure was inducing quite the pucker! Where are you doing this recon? Do you have a sheltered, hoseable place in case the battery pops? How are the fumes?

[Whitetrash]

I've seen 2 Batteries explode over the years. The first that sticks with me was an old guy that worked for the township trying to help out a friend. When he tried to attach the jumper cables the entire top of the battery blew out sounded like a 30-06. He, got very lucky ended up with a chunk of the top of the battery in his thumb on the hand hooking up the jumpers. I'm ok with trying to revive lead/acid wet-cells. Trying to wake up Lithium battery packs is the shit that scares me.

[Ironman]

Originally Posted by mccutter

Just reading your procedure was inducing quite the pucker! Where are you doing this recon? Do you have a sheltered, hoseable place in case the battery pops? How are the fumes?

Battery fumes are non existent with a battery that size as is heating issues. They are 2.5 times the size of a car battery. I did it outside as hydrogen gas is explosive. I have had a battery explode in my face before I learned to shut off the charger before removing the clamps.
The same applies to load testing. Some people pull a 500 amp load test, forget to spin the dial down to zero and then yank the clamps when the 15 second buzzer goes off. The whole exercise is make no sparks.

Originally Posted by Whitetrash

I've seen 2 Batteries explode over the years. The first that sticks with me was an old guy that worked for the township trying to help out a friend. When he tried to attach the jumper cables the entire top of the battery blew out sounded like a 30-06. He, got very lucky ended up with a chunk of the top of the battery in his thumb on the hand hooking up the jumpers. I'm ok with trying to revive lead/acid wet-cells. Trying to wake up Lithium battery packs is the shit that scares me.

I don't think you can recondition a lithium battery after they have lit up They truly are the poster child of the throw-away society.

[Ironman]

Bit of an update here. The 8D battery which would drop it 1 volt overnight is still holding 12.74 volts. I put it on the carbon pile load tester and wound it up to 500 amps. It held the voltage just above 10 volts for 15 seconds and the tester was radiating heat by then. And bounced up to 12.5v when I dropped the load off.
So this was sort of a success. I would have felt better if it had stayed up around 11.5 volts but I definitely knocked off some of the sulfate.

Lithium battery...uh, well...hmm

[mccutter]

About 21"x11"x10", ~125lbs, ~1500CCA--that's a biggun! Saved yourself $300+US!

[Ironman]

Originally Posted by mccutter

About 21"x11"x10", ~125lbs, ~1500CCA--that's a biggun! Saved yourself $300+US!

Yes. Actually I was told by the recon guy it is 175lb. But you got me curious so I looked it up and it varies from 125 to 160lb. for flooded cells. I do not know why the difference is but it is heavy.

[Whitetrash]

Especially when someone at CAT thought under the seat in a battery well was a good spot for 2 of those Bastards with rotten rope handles Don't remember what model anymore