I drained the acid out of an old battery to try and get the lead out of it. I was not worth the effort in my book. Acid seemed to get on everything very messy and probly not very good to breathe. If I were you and you can afford a new battery I would go that route.

 

It's not about the money. I enjoy tinkering, and I suspect in the future this might be a needed skill.

 

I've read where sometimes it buys you a little more time but the battery no longer has the reserves, performance, and especially the reliability it did.
Never done it myself however. Not interested in farting around with acid, fumes, and the mess to save a hundred or two. I have averaged about 7-8 years on batteries in my vehicles just by proper maintanence. I'm okay with that.

 

how do you de-sulfate the plates? that is what ruins the batteries.

some people claim to have luck using high voltage shock to de-sulfate them, but I have read just as much that say the lead sulfate chemical process doesn't work that way, so YMMV.

never seen broken plates, and not sure you can even solder that type of lead.

 

It can be done. I'd rather make new batteries. Cast a grid, trowel in the lead oxide, cover/wrap with teflon mesh, then roll up, insert in a 5 gallon plastic bucket of acid - very big 2V cell.

I wanted to make Edison batteries Nickel Iron chemistry. About that time the price of Canadian nickels skyrocketed.

I'm looking at buying some lithium iron phosphate batteries. Might consider building the packs, just cause I like doing things.

 

What's the reason for the covering up with teflon mesh?

 

I knew a guy years ago who bought and rebuilt crashed Harley Davidson motorcycles. Very often, the batteries would be dead. He would dispose of the acid and fill the battery with a baking soda mix. It would foam like crazy. When it stopped, he'd dump it out and do it several more times. Then, after a good rinse out, he'd refill them with new acid and use them. They'd start the bike but had no real reserves.

 

My grandfather taught me how to do this. Only we drained the acid into a 5 gallon bucket. Once the acid was drained he would use a suction device similar to a turkey baster and slowly suctioned the acid, so as not to get any of the sediment and put it back into each individual cell. When he got as much as he could without the sediment he would finish filling the battery with new acid he bought from the auto parts store and then place the battery on the charger. He usually got about 3 more years out of a battery when he did this.

 

I watched my grandpa do this (he did it for the place he worked for). MOST of the issue is the junk that builds up at the bottom and shorts out the plates... Dump, wash plates, new acid. I have never done the full take apart, but have just dumped, rinsed with distilled water, and new acid a few times).

NOTE: I use EDTA to strip the plates clean IN the battery, has always added a year or more of life to a battery that will no longer start a car (a few years ago, I grabbed a battery my step son had pulled from his car no longer working and sat by my barn 5 or more years before, EDTA in each cell (dissolved in distilled water / heated) and slow charged, got 2 years of use in my tractor). It will either WORK, or KILL the battery by dropping too much sediment to the bottom and shorting it out = time to 'rebuild'.

 

I ran the battery shop for 2 RLC regiments back in the mid 90s for a while, take it from me it's not worth it.

 

It is the separator to help keep the oxide in place and allow the acid room to "flow" around the plate. Cypress wood was used in the old days.

 

The acid is a pain to work around, breathing fumes, destroying clothes, danger to eyes. Be careful.
Lead is so heavy and weak it has to be alloyed to make thin plates stiff enough to not sag.

 

This just came up on my YouTube feed.

Opening up a gel cell battery.

Manufacture and assembly, animated view.

 

Restoration of a battery to zero time.

 

By the time a lead acid battery fails there isn't usually anything left of the plate for you to fix. They tend to crumble when you take them out. Unless you plan to replace the plates it won't work too well.

 

While acid is no fun to work with, don't forget lead danger. There was a Boeing worker who got sick because he had a lead hammer he would clean up the peened edges with a grinder.

 

I once worked several months on a cooling tower. They added sulphuric acid to water to control pH and scaling. A tiny bit that didn't burn you or clothes. But it permanently fogged my polycarbonate eyeglasses over time so they were unusable.

 

If there comes a time when new batteries just aren't available then I would consider re building my batteries. But by casting entirely new plates. If you make your own with lead plates the capacity starts off very low but the more cycles you put on it the more lead oxide or dioxide forms on the plates and the higher the capacity gets.

 

Has anyone attempted this? Thoughts?

I've done basic battery reconditioning and complete reconstruction. Unless you're literally at a level where you only have this one battery and it's the only battery and it's refurbish or have no battery, then I wouldn't recommend doing this.

 

If you look up cody's lab on youtube he has a few videos from a couple years ago on building a lead acid battery using only lead plates( no oxides) and charges/conditions it using solar panels.

 

Lye is normally sodium hydroxide but I'm sure it could be regional like Petrol. Muriatic acid is weak hydrochloric acid, not same as near full strength sulfuric acid used in lead acid batteries.

Nickel Cadmium batteries use potassium hydroxide as the electrolyte. Small planes and helicopters used these batteries back in the 70's - 80's, they might still

Edison batteries (Nickel Iron) use a mix of lithium and potassium hydroxide as the electrolyte.

If you can supply shaft work, generators will charge dead batteries. One wire (marine) alternators will also self excite and charge dead batteries, regular alternators not so much.