question Battery Removal from a Battery Box

I have acquired a battery box complete with battery for my trailer, unfortunately the old lead acid battery is not holding charge. I want to remove it from the metal battery box so that I can put a newer battery in. The idea is to use the top of the old battery as a cover to hide a newer battery. Has anyone got any tips for removing the old battery without too much damage, or how these are actually constructed. The six individual cells are potted in what appears to be bitumen and the only way I see of getting them out is to slowly dig out the bitumen.

Richard

Right, however you do this, there is an element of risk. Wear appropriate PPE at all times and have copious amounts of water on hand to flush any residual acid away.

I would say, caps off and drain the old battery of electrolyte. Drill a hole in the bottom of each cell and then get the hose into each cell and flush the remainder of electrolyte/gunge out as much as possible.

Using power tools to cut the battery would be too risky (flying crap, potentially acid wetted), I would use a damned good handsaw, perhaps one of those eclipse bimetal jobs that happily cuts metal/plastic/wood, and carefully slice the top of the battery off.

Remove any of the residual items on the underside of the top-plate and wash thoroughly again.

Bob's your uncle!

You could actually tap the inside of the terminal posts, insert stainless studs and use these studs to connect the modern battery to underneath

Happy chopping......... wear goggles!!

Alec.

Rather than just water, have a weak mixture of washing soda/water standing by, it is an alkaline.

Have you tried using a desulpherator to revive the battery? It would be nice to get it running again without drastic works.

I have a Ring smart charger with a reconditioning setting. Works well, but depends on the state of the battery. Good genral purpose charger though.

You can get different desulferation kits to attach to the battery but they use the battery's power so you need to attach a trickle charger at the same time.

There's a primer here -

http://leadacidbatterydesulfation.yuku.com/topic/379/Battery-and-Pulse-Conditioning-Primer

I couldn't find anywhere doing a 6 volt all-in-one unit, and I'm guessing the trailer battery is probably 6 volts if it's one of the metal box ones. There are 6 volt desulferator kits around but when I looked at the more intelligent desulpherators the advice I got was that it was just as well to pop two batteries together and make 12 volts.

You can get different desulferation kits to attach to the battery but they use the battery's power so you need to attach a trickle charger at the same time.

 

There's a primer here -

http://leadacidbatterydesulfation.yuku.com/topic/379/Battery-and-Pulse-Conditioning-Primer

 

I couldn't find anywhere doing a 6 volt all-in-one unit, and I'm guessing the trailer battery is probably 6 volts if it's one of the metal box ones. There are 6 volt desulferator kits around but when I looked at the more intelligent desulpherators the advice I got was that it was just as well to pop two batteries together and make 12 volts.

That's what I do with my 6 volt battries, series them and stick a 12 volt charger on at an intial 8 amps. Modern 6 volt chargers just don't seem able to cope with a lead acid big 6 volt. Once you have the whole system warmed up it will drop back to 2 amp charging though. Get a Hygometer, much more use than a meter to give you a true idea of the battries state, and only a couple of quid.

Thanks for the suggestions

I agree it would be better to resurect them. A bit of clarrification, I have two 12V 75Ah batteries that are potted into metal containers each of which have NIPHAN battery connectors on them. These are connected in series to give a 24V DC supply in my Radio Repiar Trailer. The batteries are NSN 6140-99-500-5599 and are described in DefStan 69-1 (Part1)/3 Supplement No.3 ftp://ftp.iks-jena.de/mitarb/lutz/standards/dstan/61/009/01000203.pdf. I have not come across a desulferation method before and this looks like a good way start along with getting a hydrometer. Fortunately I have access to some battery acid so I can get the specific gravity correct. Has anyone used this type of desulferation http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24V-High-Power-Battery-Charger-Desulphator-Desulfator-/190558357153?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Battery_Chargers&hash=item2c5e29c6a1 or http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-High-Power-Battery-Desulphator-Desulfator-/200699274367?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Battery_Chargers&hash=item2eba9be47f or got one I could borrow in the Portsmouth//Fareham area (for Beer tokens of course)

Thanks

Richard

Thanks for the suggestions

 

I agree it would be better to resurect them. A bit of clarrification, I have two 12V 75Ah batteries that are potted into metal containers each of which have NIPHAN battery connectors on them. These are connected in series to give a 24V DC supply in my Radio Repiar Trailer. The batteries are NSN 6140-99-500-5599 and are described in DefStan 69-1 (Part1)/3 Supplement No.3 ftp://ftp.iks-jena.de/mitarb/lutz/standards/dstan/61/009/01000203.pdf. I have not come across a desulferation method before and this looks like a good way start along with getting a hydrometer. Fortunately I have access to some battery acid so I can get the specific gravity correct. Has anyone used this type of desulferation http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/24V-High-Power-Battery-Charger-Desulphator-Desulfator-/190558357153?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Battery_Chargers&hash=item2c5e29c6a1 or http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-High-Power-Battery-Desulphator-Desulfator-/200699274367?pt=UK_Sound_Vision_Battery_Chargers&hash=item2eba9be47f or got one I could borrow in the Portsmouth//Fareham area (for Beer tokens of course)

 

Thanks

Richard

12/24Volts makes it a lot easier It looks like they got an award from one of the magazines so it's probably a low risk option - http://www.courtiestown.co.uk/battery-sulphation/

I have acquired a battery box complete with battery for my trailer, unfortunately the old lead acid battery is not holding charge. I want to remove it from the metal battery box so that I can put a newer battery in. The idea is to use the top of the old battery as a cover to hide a newer battery. Has anyone got any tips for removing the old battery without too much damage, or how these are actually constructed. The six individual cells are potted in what appears to be bitumen and the only way I see of getting them out is to slowly dig out the bitumen.

 

Richard

Ah, it's nowhere near as simple as it appears. The metal cased batteries have an internal plastic/composition case that (i think) is moulded to fit the ribbed metal skin. This case is a single piece with the cell compartments moulded into it. The plate assemblies then fit into the compartments, the lids are sealed in with hot bitumen, after which the connecting bars are dropped over the terminal posts and molten lead poured in to link the cells together into the completed battery, The top is not a single unit in other words.

This method of construction allowed individual cells to be replaced if faulty, or the plate assemblies to be salvaged if the battery itself is dropped/cracked.

If you're really determined to salvage the top as a "dummy" cover it will take a lot of work and some risk, since you will need to dismantle the battery (remove the plate assemblies) to reclaim the cell lids and connector bars, then either cut the top section of the moulded cell compartment off to use as a "lid" or fabricate a replacement. Given the presence of lead compounds, sulphuric acid, etc, plus the involvement of hot pitch and molten lead during the reconstruction, I'm not sure it's worth the effort. (The old wooden batteries had a vulcanised rubber or glass cell unit that was readily removable, which is why some of them survived.)

For the truly determined, there are REME battery shop manuals and EMERs on the WS19 group website:

http://www.royalsignals.org.uk/refEMERs/PwrJ330.pdf

There's also Doc 5222 "Maintenance, Testing & Repair of Lead Acid Batteries, 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th Line REME Workshops, August 1944" but that requires a password in the usual way.

Chris.

Chris

Thanks for the advice and links, I missed these on the WS19 site (I have asked the gnomes to send me a link and password in the normal way). For those not aware of WS19 site and forum has loads of useful information relating to military radios as well as a wealth of manuals on these and other topics. Like this forum, the members are very knowledgeable and helpful.

If I decide to go down the deconstruction/reconstruction route, I will post photos of how successful or not it was. Just to put your mind at rest, I am very conscious of the materials within a lead/acid battery and how they should be handled.

Richard