Yay for R.E Roadkill !

[DigitalMind]

Although I'm not sure if i'll be able to do anything with it, I found a Car Battery on the side of the road yesterday.  I picked it up, to see if I will be able to bring it back to life.  

It's currently at 7 volts.  I have it plugged into a computer power supply, supplying 11.6 volts - 10 amps, we'll find out later if it keeps a charge at all !

If it does, i'll switch it over to a real charger to get it past the 11 volts that my mod'd PC power supply will get it at. (hopefully)

I have no clue what i'll do with it if I get it back to life, but it could work as an emergency ham radio power supply or something for an occasional emergency here and there... Obviously I won't put it in with my battery bank, since the 2 batteries in my battery bank are new Deep Cycle batteries.. don't wanna mess with what's working.

Just wanted to share !

[claude]

I too found one! My dad works near a car shop and saw some lady a few months ago having problems with her car. Turned yup the battery was dead so she just went inside, buyed a new one and left the discharged one on the side of the road. My dad took it and put it somewhere in the back of the building.

A few months later I told him I'm looking for a dead battery and he told me about that battery. I went there, took it home and measured it. 11V !!! Yey...

A few charge/discharge sessions (and a thorough cleaning on the outside, it was full of dirt) the battery is like new. The plates look perfect, I suspect his battery is no more than a year old. I was lucky. 12V/65 Amps in perfect condition, for free, this was an unexpected gift.

Claude

[asheets]

Don't ya just love this stuff?  I live near the end of a dead-end street, and I'm always finding batteries and used motor oil.  At first, I collected the stuff just so the local kids wouldn't get into it, but now I've got lots of batteries for my solar panels, and I've got a buddy who burns the waste oil.

[SparWeb]

Lucky you!

But you'll have to do better than that if you're going to beat my ultimate "dumpster dive".

Aw, I just have to brag.   ;^P

[DigitalMind]

Wow, Steven, that is roadkill gold !

The battery I found had a leak in it, so I had to through it back to the garbage... I labelled it so someone else like me doesn't waste their time trying to charge a battery that is at the same time slowly leaking onto the floor !!

[finnsawyer]

Around here those dead lead acid batteries are worth 5 bucks a piece.  Couldn't you dispose of it in a better fashion?