I've finally got hold on some old forklift batteries, but i'm in doubt on the useability of them.
There is a total of 36 cells in 3 banks at 24v. Two of the banks are rated 330A/5h and the third are rated 240A/5h.
One of the 330A/5h banks have little or no water in the cells, and measures only 0.1v-0.3v/cell. I have very little hope for these.
The other one was a bit low on water, but not too bad. Each cell measured around 0.6v
I'm more optimistic about the 'small' bank at 240A/5h. Only a little water was missing; the level was just at the top edge og the plates, and each cell measured around 0.9v-1.1v. So far i've lent my efforts on this one.
Also, i got a 24v/40A charger with the bargain. I'm a bit dubious about the intelligence of the charger, for so far, it seems it's timer-based, and have no maintenace charge.
Back to the smaller bank.
I've run 3 charging-cycles so far, and started the 4'th just a couple of hours ago. The first lasted 4hrs, and had a charging amp that gradually raised from 1A to 6A.
The second lasted only 2hrs, but charged steady at 9A.
The third lasted 8hrs, and charged steady at 18A. After this, the cells had a voltage at 2.0v-2.1v, and the gravity had just raised from 'nothing' to 1.110-1.115.
As said, i started a fourth charging cycle a couple of hours ago, and the charging amp started at 15A, and the cells started to gas immediately.
On the positive side; all cells come with Aquamatic caps, so all i need to do, is to attach a container with water, and the cells will never run dry again.
Images of batteries here.