Battery

Problem "lead sulfate plate bridging"

Problem: I have had one go bad before, a T105, but not like this. here is the symptom, it is a 6 Volt, 430 amp hr battery, at rest, 5.5 volt, flat dead, under charge, 7.5 volt while its neighbors are 6.45...

Solution: Your battery has lead sulfate plate bridging...shorted. Dump out the electrolyte. Take a Dremel tool with a cutting wheel (wear your goggles!) and de-cap the battery by going around the top seal bead. Then you can lift the top with the plates intact out of the case.

Buy some Sodium Hydroxide (Red Devil Lye) and mix up a slurry of half sodium hydroxide and half distilled water. Use a squeeze bottle and wash down the plates, and plate interconnects. In a plastic pan (about 6 or 8 inches deep) fill half way with the sodium hydroxide and distilled water and slowly immerse the plates in the solution. It will boil and froth, that is to be expected. But, you do this slowly and carefully because the solution, while cleaning the lead sulphate and lead oxide from the plates and interconnects, will get hot...hot enough to melt your plastic pan if you are not careful. Keep soaking and rinsing the plates off periodically in distilled water until the plates are clean and the foaming has stopped.

Now, after a final distilled water rinse, you can put the plate/interconnect assembly back into the battery case, seal the saw cut with epoxy, and refill the cells with fresh electrolyte you can buy at the automotive parts store.

VOILA! You have just refurbished your battery and it will now accept and hold a charge. You should get several more years of service from it. You can repeat this process periodically when sulfation occurs until you plates become to eroded to yield good voltage anymore.