Industrial Battery Info and Questions.

[Cyric30]

Hello All,
long time member, but i usually just lurk, and sadly for me not in the storage section
please bare with me i am a novice to battery's and was not expecting to need this advice quite so soon.

Ive had my eye out for a used forklift battery at the local battery recycling center (i had several old battery's i could use as trad-ins, i got for free, so the cost to me was very low), they called me earlier in the week and said they had something for me too look at.

so they had a 12-85-11, 24,v 6hr. rates 425 amp Interstate  Powervolt Battery with a small 10 Amp (i believe) charger that bolts onto the side of the battery box, the owner told me to take the battery and charger and see if it charged (the charger didnt have the cord to the wall outlet, so they couldn't check it easy. was a very strange plug type, none of use had seen before.)
what info i have so far.

1: battery came from a plant that closed and everything was auctioned off.
2: has set unused for an undetermined length of time.
3: battery fluid was full, no plates showing, acid was clear.
4: hydrometer reading was low on all cells before charging.
5: volts before charging was 18.4
6: did not check volts in individual cells before charging.

7: i charged the battery for +8hrs (the chargers is supposed to auto shut off, but dosent seem to work or is an indication of something worse.)
8: battery volts right after after charge was 24.2
9: battery charge after setting 9hours (in the sun 90Degrees today. ive got to move it soon) was 23.3
10: 11 cells where in the 1.9 to 2.0 v range
11: 1 cell registered a 1.79
12: do not have a hydrometer where im at, and cant get to ones until Monday.

my questions are:

1: what else do i need to do to check this battery out?
2: where can i find a mfr date on a battery like this.?
3: i plan on using this for an off grid residence with both both Solar and micro Hydro, and possibly wind later. will this battery provide the amps for a conservative 1 person residence
4: before you tell me to measure what i use, i cant really judge by that cause i will be using new appliances and such for new residence and am not sure what i will get as of yet. also gas and wood for heat and cooking
5: how much energy should i ideally have to charge this battery well?
6: what can i do to recondition the low cell, or the whole battery for that matter?

i know, i would like to buy new batteries, everyone would, but the money isnt there right now and i can get this battery for about $125.00 once i trade the other stuff in i had given to me. i cant even buy a good golf cart battery for that right now.

So what can the battery Gurus tell me to help me with this little 1000ib project.?
ask me anything you need to know and i'll do my best to answer

Thank you for your time and attention

Cyric30

[bob g]

with a charger of only about 10amps capacity, it is likely going to take a very long time to recharge that battery... it might be used to float an otherwise charged battery? i don't know.

for me i would be looking for a charger that is capable of at least 40amps if not twice that, something that can charge at 28.8vdc continuous and upwards of maybe 32volts for an equalization which the battery likely will need badly once it has been recharged.

if i were to attack this problem i would get a much larger capacity charger or setup an engine driven alternator capable of pumping the amps into this battery... you really need to get it up to gassing and warm it up a bit... generally this sort of battery is quite tall and the electrolyte will stratify leaving very strong acid on the bottom of the cells to erode the crap out of the bottom of the plates.

not knowing how long this thing has been sitting around, would indicate to me some very aggressive charging/recovery techniques are called for... and no that does not mean adding anything like edta or a desulfator until such time  that conventional methods have been exhausted and there is no other way to get the cell back into shape.

bottom line do not add any chemical treatments, or put a desulfator on the battery until you have secured a means of charging this battery with at least 28.8vdc for a protracted period of time... maybe as much as a week will be needed depending on the ampacity of the charger.

it appears the price was right for what it is, requiring no out of pocket money, just your labor... i value my time pretty high these days, but i too would give it a try and spend several hours on this battery to see how it turns out.

the upside is this, the battery being a forklift unit, has some very thick plates, and can take some abuse that would destroy golf cart batteries and marine batteries, let alone car batteries.   

as long as the battery came from somewhere that it was not subject to freezing temperatures it is likely that it can be recovered into something useful unless it was already at its end of life.

fwiw, end of life has a variety of meanings.  one definition would dictate the battery has expired when it no longer can provide one shift of operations on the forklift it was put in... while another might define it as when the capacity degrades to 80% of new value... while an experimenter might see it as something dramatically less than either.

that will be decided by you and your intended use.

bob g

[Cyric30]

Hello Bob G
thank you for the reply
i went out and checked the charger a few min ago.
i dont know if it help, but the charger is an Ametek Prestolite Power PM500, it looks simaler to this charger (this one is only 12V thought, there isent any pics or information i have found yet regarding my specific model) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ametek-Prestolite-Power-500704-002-PM500-Battery-Charge-/120744620456?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item1c1cf0b1a8&vxp=mtr
the charger has an Equalize option as well, and when the LED next to where it says Amps DC  is lite up during charging it says 10, i asume that means 10 Amps charging, im not sure if it can be change as i can find no owners manual yet, anyone know anything about this.?

Again thank you for your time

Cyric

[dnix71]

If the battery is sulfated, it might only be take ten amps. It sounds like you have one bad cell. I have recovered 24v flooded forklift batteries at work using two common car chargers. Just charge 1/2 of the 24v stack with each car charger.

It didn't take long for the voltage to pop right back up to 25+

If one cell is bad the stack can be repaired. Transportation cost is what will make or break the deal.

http://www.dekabatteries.com/ We use DEKA at work. They have local dealers/shops all over.

You need to charge the 1/2 with the weak cell for a day and see what happens. If it stays weak, it needs to be replaced. You could charge one cell less than half (5 in a row) with a car charger to force the charger put out full amps.

[Cyric30]

Dnix
could you describe how you used the car chargers in more detail.? such as how you hooked the chargers up and what settings on the charger was used and such.? im in a very rural area so taking the battery anywhere is going to be interesting, but i can load and transport it my self though.

[dnix71]

There are lead bus bars connecting each 2v brick to the next. Just get a volt meter and make sure you have the polarity right, then clip the battery charger clamps to two bus bars 12v apart. The black plastic bus bar covers pry off with a screwdriver.

[Cyric30]

Dnix
Thanks for the extra info i'll see what i can do with this before i get to into it, like i posted i havent got much in the whole thing to begin with