"recharge" old Deep Cycle Batteries

jake2250 wrote:
I emptied it and tore it apart, added the lead to my lead collection and will make my own bullets!

Careful! When melting that battery lead, it will spit acid! BTDT! For me, the extra work and risk is not worth it.

(I have found a local nuclear pharmacy that will give me scrap lead from the shielding of its old discarded nuclear pharmaceuticals. Check with places that do radiology.)

HuckFinn410 wrote:
I see some of these battery places that advertise wanting to buy old batteries. I suppose that they have figured out a way to "re-energize" them and resell them.

There are battery rebuilders.. I do not know what all they do but I know they drain the batteries, and possibly disassamble them (cut them open)(clean the plates with a chemical bath, Restoring near new condition to the plates.. Then re-assemble and refill and recharge.

I've seen their products, Talked to their workers, and mention one such company often when folks say "Which is better two 12 volt batteries or two sixes) (Answere is that it depends on the rest of the battery specs)

The 12 volt Deep Cycle battery I borrowed from the rebuilder was strapped to a pallet, it was loaded on a U-Haul trailer by a fork lift, It weighted close to 1,000 pounds and I might add a twin to it POWEREED said fork lift. I never took it off the trailer. Just dropped trailer at use site,, Hooked up again when done and towed it back to rebuilder who Hydrometered it and said we had used only 10% running our Amateur Radio Field day. Multiple transmitter operation)

But there are places that also do Automotive/Golf car battery rebuild.

Use the battery so you don't have to pay a core charge on the new one. You might consider going AGM, just so you don't have to worry about watering them.

Those places that want to buy old batteries want the lead and maybe a few other parts.

Only real value isto reclaim the led. Never heard of a successful battery that worked.

what these places do
is test them for shorts
remove the acid, flush with water, test again
the ones that didn't have half the lead and dividers wash out as debris
are filled with new acid and charged and sold

I tried once, had a dead cell, watched a video on the internet that showed how to do it with Epsom salts,,didn't work, I emptied it and tore it apart, added the lead to my lead collection and will make my own bullets!

Oh yeah,, when I tore the battery apart I found out that the dead cell had started to deteriorate and crumble causing a dead short in the cell,, No magic fix for that...

Yes, you trade it in on a new one :)