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nickle cadmium edison batteries
By renegade renewables, Section Storage Posted on Tue Jan 8th, 2008 at 09:18:53 PM MST
Looking for battery advice

Hi there, I'm new to the site and had some questions regarding Edison nickle cadmium batteries. I acquired a good number of Edison 160 batteries that I thought were nickle iron but have been told by the folks at beutiliy free.that they are actually NiCads. Although, I had hoped for the NiFe, I am trying to determine if it is worth while to renew or send them off to be recycled. Does anyone know the electrolyte solution? Dry potassium hydroxide,lithium hydroxide,to distilled water ratio. It appears that the premixed electrolyte is very expensive and ridiculous to think about shipping. I plan to assemble a 12volt bank and do a battery load test to determine the health of the batteries first,as do not know how they have been treated. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks,Grant

nickle cadmium edison batteries | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 editorial)

Re: nickle cadmium edison batteries (3.00 / 0) (#1)
by jacobs on Tue Jan 8th, 2008 at 09:50:27 PM MST
(User Info)

I believe there was an article in Home Power magazine discussing this very thing. I would guess maybe somewhere around issue #20 to #30? Years ago I checked out a very good book from the local library discussing only alkaline batteries and I'm sure it had formulas in it. It's now out of print but the title is "Alkaline Storage Batteries" by S.U. Falk. You can purchase it from $46.50 to $223 at http://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&qi=iZL,PUCS7MuLQJokviNoxDN7YHc_6758588492_1:10 :36

Re: nickle cadmium edison batteries (3.00 / 0) (#2)
by clflyguy (sidney.raiford@gmail.com) on Wed Jan 9th, 2008 at 08:32:54 AM MST
(User Info)

RR, 30% is the number you're looking for. Some janitorial supply places sell KOH
in a 45% liquid form, dilute as necessary. Rinse them out with distilled water, then
fill with electrolyte to the fill point, this varies on different models of cell.
Pour about 5/8" of pure mineral oil on top of the electrolyte immediately after
filling. This keeps atmospheric CO2 from ruining the electrolyte. Charge and heavily
discharge them 5 or 6 times, while observing their cycling ability. Now charge and
let sit for 2 weeks no load. If you have the nominal 6v/5 cell@1.2v per cell wood
crate style like mine then your cells can actually go as high as 1.7v per cell.
After 2 weeks sitting untouched, choose the cells that still show at least 1.0v per
cell. Pull these out to make new batteries from. Among the cells that you save, try
to match as closely as possible the individual cell voltages for each new battery.
In my conversations with a rep at Nife, he told me that you can usually revitalize
old flooded cell nicads with this procedure. If it doesn't work, then they are well
and truly shot. Battery recyclers love old nicads- they get more for them. -Gus

Re: nickle cadmium edison batteries (3.00 / 0) (#4)
by stasis on Mon Jan 14th, 2008 at 06:17:27 PM MST
(User Info)

Here's a little bit more on recycling nicads at home in your spare time.

Whatever the percentage of flake KOH to distilled - or reverse osmosis filtered with a de-ionizing cartridge chaser - water, the goal is to reach a specific gravity of 1.19 to 1.22 at 60 deg. F. The higher s.g. is for very cold weather, the lower - normal - for greater cycle life. Patterson's article in HP #15 covers this and more.

Here are some nominal figures for S.G @ Deg. F:
1.182 90
1.185 80
1.187 70
1.190 60
1.192 50

About 0.01 of S.G decrease per 4 deg.F temp. increase. Another "Gotcha" is the state of charge and the electrolyte level in the cell; check out the HP article.

Chevron utility oil 22 can be hard to find in less than 55 gal. drum lots. Y'r local friendly distributor can tell you what they can come up with. The critical factor here is that the oil is what's called a "Wax Free" oil. The likeliest source I've found so far is an old fashioned (?) meat locker refrigeration plant, they use the wax free oil as lube for their compressors, and get their oil in five gallon pails, sometimes. Talk to the guy who maintains the machinery, may be willing to part with a gallon or so for $20; good to bring your own container. The "22" designation refers to the viscosity, and I wasn't able to find that, but did get a heavier viscosity of utility oil "68". It seems to be working. . . .

The oil layer should be 1/8 inch to 3/16 inch thick; about 4 millimeters.

On calibrating the hydrometer, I can't find my notes; they were just a bunch of arithmetic anyway, and if you google sodium chloride and specific gravity you should come up with the same stuff I did. Since I was aiming for 1.20 for my S.G. and the salt trick, as I vaguely remember gave me a figure of 1.2004 to calibrate to, it was a pretty good fit, but check it out for yourself.
Hope this helps, take care,

[ Parent ]

Re: nickle cadmium edison batteries (3.00 / 0) (#3)
by stasis on Sat Jan 12th, 2008 at 11:46:04 PM MST
(User Info)

Hi rr, I've fooled with these myself and can share what I've done so far. Technical grade flake KOH is often available from custom (hobby) leather-hide tanning equipment suppliers. I'm pretty sure this is pure enough for the job, check it out for your self if you have doubts. I got mine from braintan in southern Oregon but you could find a closer 'hobby' supplier.
The article was in Homepower # 15 and you can download the issue from their website for a few bucks. The electrolyte concentration is listed in the homepower article; I'd give you a table from Utility Free, but right now my paperwork is totally scrambled, I'll try to get it to you later.
You can use a typical battery hydrometer, the kind with a scale, to measure your solution's concentration, but you will be urged by all concerned to go get a BRAND NEW ONE! They are pretty cheap from the local auto parts store, it's hardly worth it to poison your electrolyte or risk having the thing blow up in your hand. There's a way to calibrate your new hydrometer by making a saturated solution of salt - plain ol' sodium chloride, but no "iodized" or alumina for "easy pour" additives. Basically a saturated sodium chloride solution varies very little in specific gravity over a 5 degree celsius range, < 0.001. Again I'll have to resurrect my paperwork to give the details, and you'll have to very thoroughly dismantle and rinse the hydrometer after this procedure.
LiOH is getting expensive but can be found on the web, I got mine from Kyantec, good folks, Hazmat shipping on all these chemicals, BTW. And that brings up the points of safety and disposal. When you are mixing these things up into your distilled water, wear protective clothing like you had to in chem lab and for Pete's sake wear safety glasses, a respirator and do your mixing outside with the wind blowing any fumes away from you; the LiOH is particularly nasty. Wear nitrile gloves or go without fingerprints for a while. I kept a gallon of vinegar and another of lemon juice right there so I could take a sour shower if I needed to. This stuff is mean and it keeps on eatin'.
When I dumped my old cells, I made a rack that would hold them in place while I sloshed them back and forth to loosen the mud on the bottom, then tipped them upside down and drained the stuff into a plastic barrel, rinsed them with distilled and dumped that into the same, let it settle, then after a few weeks decanted the clear fluid off the solids. This is pretty much straight KOH in solution, and if you can test it you can titrate it with plain old sulfuric acid - lead-acid battery acid - and make potassium sulfate, a common fertilizer; the rest of the stuff, the mud, is definitely evil, and you'll have to talk to the hazardous waste people of your area about that.
What you do though is entirely up to your own good judgement so you will have to figure out for yourself what is prudent and lawful. Take care,

Re: nickle cadmium edison batteries (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by RedLance on Wed Jan 23rd, 2008 at 12:52:21 AM MST
(User Info)

High purity (90-93% pure) KOH is also available from biodiesel suppliers. I recommend this one: http://www.utahbiodieselsupply.com/chemicals.php#KOH as I have had good luck with them.

[ Parent ]

nickle cadmium edison batteries | 5 comments (5 topical, 0 editorial)

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