Battery Score!!!

Today's big news is that I had to go to the city for some business, and took along some Trojan T-105 deep cycle batteries to have the "combination" screw terminals cut off and "automotive" round posts cast in their place.

When I dropped off the batteries at the warehouse, I noticed a stack of Alcad brand Nickel-Cadmium batteries by the roll up door. I asked the guy who was working there what the story was with them and he told me that their employees are idiots. Apparently, when new batteries are delivered, they are supposed to pick up any old cells that they see, and these had been collected some time in the past. I asked him what they were going to do with them, and he indicated that they were "just old, dead batteries", and that they were a problem for them, because of the toxic pollution potential of the cells. The business didn't have any way to get rid of the batteries, so they had just left them to sit by the door.

I asked if they wanted me to take them away. Of course they did!

So, when I went back to pick up my Trojans, I loaded 25 Alcad UHP65 Nicads cells, 24 military issue 25 ampere hour cells, and five Alcad VB4 cells. Here's the stack after I unloaded them from my truck and stored them in the wood shed:

I don't really need any more projects, but over the next few weeks, I'll carefully clean the tops of the batteries individually, top up the electrolyte with distilled water, and give them each a controlled charge. I'll then build a battery of ten cells, and discharge it fully, then recharge. This will condition the cells and determine the overall health of the batteries.

My hunch is that they are fine, at the worst, they might have some loss of capacity due to needing the electrolyte changed.

Last time I got a load of free UHP65 cells, I let them lay around dead for six or eight years, then finally got around to adding water and charging them just before I moved. Those batteries are now installed in a bank of two paralleled sets of ten series cells, and are running the lights and electronics on the Housetruck, recharged by some PV cells on the garage roof. If the new cells are in similar condition, I'll add them to the existing bank, and at least double my storage capacity.

Here's the first set of 20 sitting exposed under the Housetruck. They need to be re-cleaned after sitting out for a year, but they are electrically healthy Guess I'll have to build some kind of a battery room before this winter.

Not sure what I'll do with the military cells. They look to be in the roughest shape. The VB4 cells only add up to 6 volts, but they look to be fully charged. Wish there were more of them.

Anyhow, when someone offers me $7,500+ worth of indestructible rechargeable cells, I usually take them up on the offer...