BIG! Telephone CO Batteries

[Tritium]

Joy of Joys,  I finally convinced my General Manager after 3 years of hounding to let me have a set of 24 wet cell Central Office batteries. These things look like 20 or 30 gallon aquariums. Many to choose from and since they are in clear cases I can inspect plates and connections for problems. They will weigh in at 400 to 700 lbs each. I will probably grab a few extras as well as a set of sealed (AGM) CO batteries.

Thurmond

[Bruce S]

T;

 What a score!!! I wonder if these are the newer NiCd ones still made by Saft. If so MAN did you really score. Those bad boys have a 20 year rating on them.

Cheers to you!!

Bruce S

[drdongle]

I remember the cells that were use in a CO that I did some subcontract work in in the late 70's. They were submarine batteries that stood 12 ft high and were 24 inches on each side.

[Volvo farmer]

<jealous>

They pulled out all these batteries from the Qwest CO right next to my shop a couple years ago and I could not in any way cajole them into selling them to me. They were big round clear things, probably 24 inches in diameter or so, dozens of them.

Oh well.. Glad you were able to get some for yourself!

[ghurd]

Cool!

Stupid question...

WHERE do they keep these things?

Meaning who would see if they were being changed?

I never saw them being changed while sitting on my front porch in a residential neighborhood.  I know where the T-1 lines and grid breakers are located, because I have seen the guys working.

[Tritium]

They are generally located in a Central Switching Office as part of a type of BIG always on 48V input UPS system.

Thurmond

[Bruce S]

T;

 Could you send up a pic so we can oggle at them :_D.

Cheers

Bruce S

[Tritium]

I will post some pics early next week. I plan to go to the storage warehouse this weekend (I told the boss I would do this on my time). You will be sick when you see how many batteries are sitting there. I'm guessing well over 100.

Thurmond

[marvin]

If these are the big round cells, I've seen them on 48v (24 cell) CO systems and in 360v - 480v (180-240 cell) UPS aplications. One set I have been doing maintenance on was installed in 1979 and still had very good internal impedance and SG although the post to plate connections were beginning to deteriorate.

Some of these have ATT labels others have Tyco and Lucent. All have a model number KS-20472 and are rated at 1600+ AHr @ 8hr iirc. The older ones (List 1) had problems with the post to plate connections but they solved this with the later versions (list 2, 3, 4)

The Lucent owners manual mandates a float voltage of 2.17VPC but didn't specify an equalize value. The old ones ('79) have been kept around 65 - 68 deg for as long as I can remember. Some folks speculate these batteries could last 50+yrs due to the plate thickness and the stacked design of the plates that allows for expansion.

These would be my choice if money/space were not an issue as they are most definitely the best batteries I've seen in my 27yrs of UPS experience. Getting some for free would be like winning the lottery.

As with any flooded cell battery don't let them sit around uncharged for any extended period and check for sulfation (brown crystals) on the positive (black) plates. Sulfation can be reversed with equaliztion if it's not too severe.

Good find and good luck.

marv

[karavan]

Hey' Is there a way I can get telephone company Scrap Batteries. Am ready to buy them per lb. I have no limit on the amount of lbs I'll need. please hit back 214.477.2522

[Tritium]

It has been a while since I posted this thread I started last year but I finally brought home a set (24) C&D LCT-1008 batteries today. They were not as heavy as anticipated since they only weigh about 200 lbs each. Roughly 120 lbs of lead each and 6 gallons of electrolyte each. The entire trailer load including battery racks and connecting hardware / cables was about 5000 lbs. The batteries are about 10 years old, well cared for and were only removed from float a few days ago. I have also scored a 50 amp rectifier assembly (that is what the Telco industry calls a battery charger) used for charging these cells. I will post some pictures in a few days as soon as I get the rectifier home.

Thurmond