Super corroded batteries

[bigrockcandymountain]

I thought i would share a picture of the batteries on the 1979 mack tandem grain truck.  They are probably the worst i have ever seen that were still in use.

I will clean them up and equalize them individually.  Hopefully that will get a few more years out of them.  They were still kind of working, just not much capacity.  They are from 2011 . 

[Scruff]

That' some prize neglect alright...I think that's the worst I've seen too.

Nothing terminal. Totally fixable with a die grinder, wire wheel and a good bath.

It's all electrolysis related.

[Mary B]

baking soda bath... rinse with distilled... a little elbow grease and sandpaper/wire wheel/whatever you choose(battery terminal cleaners are pretty dang effective!) and good as new! I helped a friend swap batteries in his semi, they were way worse! So far gone the acid had ate half the stands in the cables so it turned into a rewire job with new jumper cables between batteries, new ground, and new positive to the charging system. Peeled back the jacket on the positive wire and the acid had eaten strands back 4 feet!

[DamonHD]

Pretty blue CuSO4 in the remains of the cables (assuming that they were copper) or messier than that?

Rgds

Damon

[Mary B]

Pretty blue CuSO4 in the remains of the cables (assuming that they were copper) or messier than that?

Rgds

Damon

Jackets were old and cracking and the copper was literally missing... it was half the size it should have been and the rest was that nasty blue acid attacked copper color. I was amazed the truck even started to bring it into the shop!

[SparWeb]

...Nothing terminal...

Pun of the day.   

[Scruff]

...the shop was outta tumbleweeds..

[bigrockcandymountain]

They are all cleaned up.  Took over a gallon of soda water.  The date stickers actually say 2007 so they are 14 years old.  They are on the charger now but not showing great signs of life.  We will see what happens. 

[Scruff]

Give them 15.5V on a CC PSU, <1A until the tail current zeros. That'll take days. Top off the water when yer done then try 'em.

[kitestrings]

Boy I dunno... 14-yo, and clearly no maintenance.  I'll be surprised if there is more to be had.  May be time to move on...

[bigrockcandymountain]

I have 2 on charge.  One charger is 15.4v and one is 15.6v.  I'll hold that for a few days, and then do the other 2. 

I don't have a huge amount of hope either.