I read about a guy in Idaho or Utah who used wind power to make a lot of electricity. He got a bunch of either submarine batteries or railroad car batteries (2 volts each). These can be taken apart to actually clean the plates and empty out the stuff that flaked off the plates so the cells don’t short. He had been doing this for many years by the time I heard about it.
BTW, he used electrolysis of water to make H2 and O2, which he stored in used B707 inner tubes.
People flamed him for safety reasons, so he disappeared from the “net”. Too bad.
I use a different type of “load tester” but it works the same. I use it to check my wires and connections on the equipment. You know how those cables can get build up under the insolation that “stops” the flow or slows it down so the starter is not cranking fast enough. I do a load test on the battery ( even in the equipment ). Then I take the ground leg off and hook it to a "good ground’ on the equip. The reading should be the same. If less, you have a bad connection on the equip. or on the battery post or in the cable. Disconnect the ground cable from the frame and put the ground test leg on the far end of the cable. If the reading now equals the battery reading, clean the ground connection. If not the same as battery, you have a bad cable or connection on the post. Hook the meter up to the batter and using the other leg of the meter go down to the starter, if it is the same as the battery, all is good. If not then remove the cable from the relay and connect the leg to the far end of that cable. You will very often find the drop right there. If not hook cable to relay and remove the other cable on the relay. Put the meter on the second post of the relay and energize the relay ( possibly using a jumper wire if the switch is out of the circuit ) We very seldom put a new relay on but over years the contact points get arced to the point they don’t make a good contact. It will show here if you compare. Then the final cable the same TomC
Hi Tom, i just want to make sure, before giving advice, that i fully understand the battery you’r mentioning. might be a gel battery ? if you has to take the cap of as it was a kind of maintenance free battery
Yes Koen it is a standard lead acid battery. It is about 10x10x12 inches. It was kind of a maintenance free batter in that it had one cap that cover the entire top of the battery. I had to pry it off in one piece and it had six plugs built in the single cap.to seal each cell. I purchased two batteries and put them both in the same piece of equipment and connected them in parallel. When the tractor was hard to start, I removed the batteries and found one was rechargeable and the other was not, and as I said at least five of the cells I could see no liquid. I don’t see any cracks in the case and with the plugs so tight in place I don’t see where the acid went. I do not use this tractor very often and it does not have a working alternator, so even when it is not in use, I put the battery charger on "low’ TomC
Well I have myself a battery, a store brand RV/deep-cycle from the local Napa. No battery refurbishment folks around here and the buyer (my mom) wanted a guarantee and a narrow price range, so that’s what I got.
The pellet stove is being run off my cheap inverter (confirmed as a straight 750W HF special) and new battery. Auto-ignition takes the most power (about 500W, vs 250W for stable running) and it handled it just fine.
Now I just need a decent charger method. Short term price range of 50-60$.
Don’t deep-cycle batteries like a fairly slow charge compared to automotive batteries? Wouldn’t that mean I could easily over-charge it by putting it in my truck and going for a drive?
Glad to see you have something going, but you may want to put the batt. in a plastic container for saftey. if it leaks will make a mess of that nice floor.
Hi Brian,
Glad you got it up and running. Is the wattage continuous? I would probably source out a trolling motor deep cycle charger. Finding one that can take that amperage continuously might be tricky. If you are feeling brave I have salvaged 12 volt chargers out of older camper trailers or rvs. The usually had a big 12 power supply before the Era or inverters to keep the old incandescent 12 volt bulbs and water pump going when plugged in… Best I got for you…
I don’t want to calculate my juvenile poultry before they are totally incubated, BUT, I think I saved that dead battery I was talking about. I put quart jars of distilled water in the micro wave ( total of 3 qts) and heated them up and added almost a pound of Epson Salts to them. Stirred until perfectly clear. Added the solution to the cells of the batter. Put it on a 27 volt charge. It blew the fuse out shortly after I left the garage. I put the charger on 12 volt BOOST ( about 18 volts) over night. This morning I put the load cell on it and it held for over 20 seconds with out dropping hardly at all on the volt meter. I’m a happy camperTomC
The proof of the poultry pudding will have to be the profundity of eggs not the prize winning premier one…
Would be great if it works out. Did you add acid to make up for the sulphur bonded out?
I’m not sure we’re on the same page here. Just about the only time I’d be using the battery/inverter was during power outages or out in the woods camping/shooting.
If I have grid power available for charging, I’d just use that for anything else I’d need power for.
As a result, my charger only needs to put out enough/proper power to charge/maintain the battery while sitting.
No, it’s just going to sit on a shelf in the garage 99% of the time and get hauled inside/to my truck as needed. I will find a small tote that can fit it for protecting my floor though.
I guess part of my question was directed more at the full charging. I heard somewhere that for optimal battery lifespan, that something like the 0-80% “bulk charge” should be faster, 80-95% should be much slower (or maybe lower voltage), and 95%-storage should be a trickle.
Would a constant trickle from drained hurt the battery over a tiered smart charge?
I can honestly say I don’t know… I would probably have a trickle charger and a 4 amp charger myself. 3 or 4 times a year I would give it a full cycle 50% discharge then charge her back up. Rest of the time trickle charger on a certain schedule… lots of forums out there to read up on.
I have a (Wal-Mart branded) Schumacher MC-1 battery charger / maintainer that I have had for years. It has (with patience) coaxed many marginal 6 or 12 Volt auto, cycle, lawnmower,and deep cycle batteries back to life. If you forget and leave it on, no worries! that is what it is made for. Less than $20.00 if you shop around.
Well BrianHWA
As I had said on my grid gone down topic I’ve been trying to recover a group 30H battery been in the John Deere tractor.
The group 30H’s are a ~78 pound diesel starting battery. Lead post terminals. Work good for banks too. The group 31’s truck/deisel battries are a bit better with threaded stud terminals.
This group 30H of mine is ~11 years old. I’ve let it this tractor sit now un-needed and unused for about 16 months.
I cannot get this battry to now take in any chrging amps even voltage boosted to 16.5 volts. The normal lead sulfate that has formed as a normal part of a discharge cycle has now barnacle-like solidified and will not now convert back releasing the sulfur molecules back into the electrolyte.
Those high-frequency battery restorers are suppose to micro fracture this up to (way-over-hopefully go back into solution) and/or settle into the bottom of the cell.
As has been pointed out you Will have a plate loss of material then.
You Will have the electrolytic weaken from the sulfur tied up loss.
For mine now I will remove it and use the slamming technique. You carefully raise the battry up an slam it down flat onto a concrete slab. This fractires the sulphate criust. Shakes it down below the plates.
Hey! This works about 50% of the time.
Not works. You over-slammed too hard and cracked the case. Leaks then. Fractured a cell to cell plate connector/strap - Open circuit. Or just got unlucky and the sulfate chunks collect and wedges between plates causing then plate shorting. You will know this from that cell overheating boiling on recharging. The battery from then on self discharging internally.
A “re-covered” battery will NEVER have close to it’s rated design capacity ever again.
My tractor’s now going to need a new repacement battery.
Undercharging. Leaving in state of discharge can be just as battry damaging as over-charging.
Lead-acid batteries start to age as soon ans the electrolyte is put in.
Just like your body. Your use of it will determine its ultimate service life.
I decided a while ago that the cost of a battery was keeping it under warranty. Quality or no, they all live or die by the treatment they get. I’ll buy the Walmart brand ones with a now 5 year warranty… if it dies after that it’s just the cost of doing business.
Only time I went the other way was on our main ultra-reliable vehicle, when the key decided to no longer come out of the ignition - meaning a couple relays and other micro-current drains began to drag down the battery. This vehicle received a red-top Optima, as an experiment. Yes they’re pricey. But supposedly they come back from the dead more times and last longer under distress. A knife switch in line stops the drain, so with some driver training, we’ve ended our battery woes. I have great confidence in the Optima, and should the vehicle die (or be totaled) a cheap replacement will be swapped in.
Good tip on the slamming Steve, learned that one as a kid in high school. Another kid I went to school with turned me on to rolling them down a hill. Thought he was crazy but hey, you cant wreck junk. Nothing to loose so why not. Has bought me some time more than once. down the line to lawn mowers and such till sold by the pound. It aint over till it’s over.
Yes! on the “down the line”.
Back in the 80’s one branch of the Rural family used Diehards exclusivly. And they were Ford lovers.
I’d fit into the JD tractors paralleled highest amp group 24F’s. Couple of three years there. Then a couple of three years into the V-8 vehicles. Then a couple/three years into the six and four cylinder vehicles.
Yes, ending in a rider lawn mower.
Ha! I’ve been trying to do this now with the Optima’s.
Use it up. Wear it out. Make do. Or do without.
Steve Unruh
