FINALLY, We can repair our old lead acid batteries.

[Alien]

As an apprentice mechanic back in 1965 one of my jobs was cleaning the split tops on batteries and boiling up a pot of pitch and resealing them. Quite enjoyed the job. Had to gently blow the gas out of the cells with air first otherwise... boom.

 

[fried1765]

Maybe the man sees no humour in it, but I think it would have been funny if he wore clothing full of holes for the video.

I find, despite some of the rags I wear around here, I always ruin my best clothes.

Imagine going through all that work and then the battery doesn't perform as expected. I cringe when I saw him pour the acid out of a battery into a glass baking pan. Then, magically cut to new frame of acid safely in a glass bottle.

"I always ruin my best clothes"

So true!
I can put on a brand new pair of jeans, intending to do no dirty work.
I then gently put one knee down to look at something.....and presto: grease all over that knee!
Why ?????

 

[ultrarunner]

I walked past a battery rebuilder on the way to school as a kid.

It was a small shop with wood floors. The old guy said he started after WWI.

The last few years he mostly did rebuilds for the old car hobby... those wanting 100 point restorations using OEM battery cases and these were all tar sealed. Looked like roofing tar to me.

He also modified batteries so you could start on 8 or 12 volts and run on 6.

After he died the place was shuttered for years... later learned it was a Superfund Site...

 

[MossRoad]

I walked past a battery rebuilder on the way to school as a kid.

It was a small shop with wood floors. The old guy said he started after WWI.

The last few years he mostly did rebuilds for the old car hobby... those wanting 100 point restorations using OEM battery cases and these were all tar sealed. Looked like roofing tar to me.

He also modified batteries so you could start on 8 or 12 volts and run on 6.

After he died the place was shuttered for years... later learned it was a Superfund Site...

YIKES!

Reminds me of my dad. He had a bunch of Japanese hand grenades and mortar shells in his garage. They were all safe, defused, empty, whatever you call it. But you could just imagine if they'd have been left in the house when it was sold and new owners find boxes of grenades and such. :laughing:

 

[rScotty]

It used to be quite common, back when the batteries had tar sealed tops.
A lot of places would offer rebuilt batteries for about 1/4 of what new ones cost.
It all depended on the shop and rebuilder as to the quality of the rebuilt one.

That's exactly right. remove the tar, pull the plates and continue. Usually if you just empty out the sulfated crud in the bottom of the cell, scrape the last inch or so of the plates to expose new lead, check for breaks in continuity, solder if necessary, and then refill with new acid it will work fine again. Maybe a two hour job plus acid. As a repair job, it actually pays pretty well by the hour. It's just acid... normal safety precautions will suffice.
BTW, most auto parts stores sell gallons of battery acid...or at least they did 30 years ago.

I learned while watching my father rebuild the battery in our family car. He learned in in the 1930s depression era and so he taught me. He figured that since we were headed to a mechanical world, learning basic mechanical skills would keep a fellow out of debt and associated troubles. I wish I could tell him he got that one right.

I haven't done much of it... the last job I did was to rebuild some 2 volt lead acid cells for some mining safety lamps. Those batteries are made to be worn on your belt for underground mining in explosive atmospheres and are very expensive. But also easy to rebuild. The batteies come apart & tops lift right out; no tar.... just screws and gaskets.
rScotty

 

[ultrarunner]

Verdese Carter municipal park is another built on the site of a battery recycler operating from 1912-1975 has been repeatedly a problem...

Rebuilding/Recycling are age old industries...

The public park had lead levels over 100,000 ppm.

A yellow-white substance oozed from cracks in the basketball courts... with post remediation 6700 ppm lead and 7500 zinc in the playgrounds

 

[Alien]

I always drip superglue on my new jeans or drop a stanley knife and put a cut in them. True.