NiCd Mud

[clflyguy]

Yesterday afternoon I cut the bottom out of one of my flooded NiCd cells that wouldn't hold a charge (a reject from project cherry picker) and lo and behold, there was about 1" of a firm black sludge settled onto the bottom of the cell. I was sort of expecting to see some dendritic type of crystalization or whitish build-up of some kind between plates, but was unprepared for mud... Anyway, the cell was rinsed out and the mud cleaned from the bottom plate. I will TIG the bottom back on it in the next day or two, refill with electrolyte, charge and observe. My "good cell" number continues to hover around 30% for those two pallets of NiCd's that came from Idaho. If anyone has a clue as to what this stuff is, please let me know...

   -Gus

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

VERY toxic waste.

[clflyguy]

I surmise that means cadmium paste that has leached from the plates?

[etownlax]

It CANT be good for you.lol

-Randy

[disaray1]

I think you just located George Bush's brain. Congrads.

David

[Ungrounded Lightning Rod]

Don't know for sure but I'd bet it has a bunch of cadmium in it.  Cadmium is a very toxic substance.

(I understand that, back in the '60s, the tiny bit of cadmium impurity in the zinc coating of galvanized water pipe, leached off by the acidity of chlorinated water, was a primary suspect for increased poultry death in chicken farms when water was chlorinated - though I'm not sure whether that suspicion was borne out with further research.)

More at wikipedia.

[DamonHD]

Heavy metals are in general fairly unpleasant both short term and long term, eg up yo kidney and brain damage.

You're not allowed to throw NiCads in a dump here in Europe at least, so I hope you disposed of the sludge carefully and didn't get any on yourself or anywhere that they'd soak into the water supply.  Indeed you'd probably need a licence to handle these for disposal at all.

Rgds

Damon

[spinningmagnets]

NiCD sludge? hell, we used to spread it on our crackers for lunch when I was a kid, AND WE WERE GLAD TO HAVE IT!

To get to school, we had to walk ten miles through the snow uphill,...both ways.

If we wanted a large NiCD battery pack, we had to make our own from coal, vinegar, and a paperclip! Damn kids today, they want everything handed to 'em!

Americans are getting stronger. Twenty years ago, it took two people to carry ten dollars worth of groceries. Today, a five-year-old can do it. -Henny Youngman

[Bruce S]

Gus;

 Wish I'd had time to answer this sooner.

Listen to what others have said here. PLEASE make sure not to handle the stuff with bare hands. That is the very stuff they use for the small NiCds too. and it will soak into your system right through your skin!!!

Also for heavens sake do not put battery acid in those cells, it's not the same stuff!!

One really good idea would be to get intouch with a manufacture of these batts and let them know one has to bottom off and that there's Cd out of it. They'll be able to tell you where to take that POISON so it can be safely handled. Porbably will handle it for free too.

IF it's anywhere near or inside your home get it out ASAP!! Cd can become airborne at temps above 80F and then it's even more deadly!!

Plus if your insruance agent finds out they may look again at your policy or cancel.

I handle 100s of NiCd of varying sizes and even I don't handle leaking ones without someone HazMat person knowing.

Please becareful !!

Bruce S

 

[nothing to lose]

Ya, what BruceS said!

If you can't find a place to take that stuff safely you could send it to me, I am making up a package to ship to  Osama Laden and would be happy to send it along to him also.

Maybe while they hide out in caves it would come in handy, they could spread it on toast and eat it with eggs

 I would be happy to do my part in feeding such hungry people

[clflyguy]

Thank you one and all for your comments, warnings and humor-

I have been in touch (finally) with a SafT rep and learned that the mud was graphite, and was present due to over charging. I have found a battery recycler locally that is more than happy to take my toxic stainless steel cells. As far as the mud I cleaned out of the bottom of that one cell, it was rolled up in a plastic garbage bag, put in a snap lid cool-whip container and will go to the recycler when I make a dead cell run over there. And.. yes, I did get a little on my fingers of one hand. Said hand was washed forthwith.   -Gus