Battery Question; Removing acid before storage?

BRENT in 10-uh-C

BRENT in 10-uh-C

Well-known member
If a battery was used just one week a year, then during that time until the next year the acid was drained/removed from the cells and the cells flushed with water and blown dry while the battery was inverted, would this do anything to prolong the life of the battery?

The reason I ask is I have a "stupid amount" of time invested in taking a reproduction battery and machining the ribs and case in the Bridgeport to look aesthetically like an original. Fortunately it worked as the battery scored the max points at Lexington. With the expense of these batteries and the time to detail it, I would like to make it last as many years as possible. If draining, flushing and drying of the plates will work, I am willing to do so.

TIA
 
I would think that it would Brent, but I am no battery ex-spert. :) I would think that prepping the cells so that they don't oxidize when dry would do the trick.
 
ctlikon0712 said:
I would think that it would Brent, but I am no battery ex-spert. :) I would think that prepping the cells so that they don't oxidize when dry would do the trick.
Click to expand...

Ok, then what kind of 'liquid' could be placed inside that would stop any oxidation? Penetrating oil or ??? What does the lead have on it from the factory that keeps oxidation from forming?
 
BRENT in 10-uh-C said:
... I have a "stupid amount" of time invested in taking a reproduction battery and machining the ribs and case in the Bridgeport to look aesthetically like an original. Fortunately it worked as the battery scored the max points at Lexington...
Click to expand...
Hope you saved your cnc tape! :)
 
Shipping batteries "dry" was very common with the acid to be added when needed.

It's important to have the lead in the proper condition and the acid at the correct specific density.

I would call a battery company to answer the needed questions.

Marc
 
i would just put it on an automatic trickle now and then.. i am not sure if your plan is good,bad or equal. it's called job security if you made enough money for your time invested.... maybe you can rent it out for shows.....JMO
 
Mitch//pa said:
i would just put it on an automatic trickle now and then.. i am not sure if your plan is good,bad or equal. it's called job security if you made enough money for your time invested.... maybe you can rent it out for shows.....JMO
Click to expand...

My experience has been that 2-3 years with the TurboStart Ford script battery is an average life expectancy --even when kept on a battery tender.

I have about 4 hours of milling, polishing, then detailing on this case so 2- 3 good years and then "chance" does not warrant the effort that went into this. I am not so sure the battery manufacturer would be that forthcoming with that info but it never hurts to ask I suppose. One other option is just to wait until the new run of AGM batteries are available do all this work to one of those. Those when on a 'float' charger should last a fair amount of time.
 
My understanding is that oxidation is not the concern. The problem comes from Sulfation, which is a hard white crystalen deposit that builds up on the plates from the sulfuric acid when charge levels fall. If the acid could be removed, neutralized, and the plates properly dried you should be able to suspend any degradation of the battery. Now if that is practical to do, it's your decision. I would have taken a different approach, using a Optima in the case. It can be done to perfection for judging standards, but takes quite a bit more effort than what the kits available accomplish.
 
Once it is started with acid you won't get it all back out ----years ago I tried it with motorcycle batterys, of the 2 I tried one didn't recover,the other went 1 more year, then the next experiment I made sure they were fully charged before putting into service and without doing anything more some got 4 years, most got 3 years ---a battery that was filled and put into service without charging would go 1-2 years.

The battery I am using now is a "AGM", it was about 6 years old when I made it into a 6V battery (cut it in 1/2) ----there is no liquid in the cells but they are constructed much the same --perhaps the innerds of a agm battery can be put in the case
 
I had a battery that was made here in Portland Or and sold dry. There was a notice in the box that is should only be stored that way for as I recall for ether 90 days or a year, I think it was 90 days. (I know big time difference, but it was one of those). Call someone like Interstate battery's and talk to one of their tech's.
 
I seem to recall an article years ago on battery care that talked about draining old batteries and flushing them with some solution, and refilling them with fresh acid solution. This was an attempt to salvage surplus or old batteries. The pitfall as I recall was that you had to reintroduce the solution at the same electrolyte level as the current state of charge. But I might be remembering it wrong, or it might have been so long ago that I am making it up.
 
After poking around the internet I found;


Storing a fully charged lead-acid battery at -10 degrees C is absolutely perfect. The acid will not freeze. You can go down to - 20 but don’t go too far down. Self discharge is a chemical process. It speeds up with increase in temperature, slows down with decrease. It is not linear. Lowering temp. dramatically reduces self discharge.
Dry charged batteries were made decades ago when the industry had difficulty keeping the self discharge of batteries down. Simply charge to 100%, drain out all the acid, wash out residual acid, dry. Then seal the vents air tight. The negatives will discharge spontaneously in contact with air. When the battery is needed, refill with acid, charge. Very cumbersome. Easier to put the battery in the fridge!
 
I vote for Russ

additional:
Lead-acid batteries are made up of plates of lead.
This plates are like a grate and the “active material” is pressed into this grate.
as long as the batterie is new and not filled, everything is ok
Once you filled acid, its aging (more or less: whatever you do)

If you cut a batterie you will find that under the plates there is some free (empty) space.
Building a batterie, you would prefer to have no free space there
(The smaller this space is, the more power you are able to put into this size of batterie) BUT …
This space is to collect particles falling off the grate (by chemical reactions and by vibrations of your car).
Once there are enough particles to connect both plates in one chamber, this chamber of the batterie IS DEAD.
If you drain your batterie you have risk to get this particles to connect the plates and if you do not
manage to flush this deposits away, you ruin this batterie instantly

If I had your skills, id built a nice casing for my optima.

BTW
maintenance-free batteries are not really maintenance-free.
The housings are intransparent as “they” don’t want you to see how the batterie is losing acid….
 
I get 5 years out most of my Batterys. If a battery is going to sit for 2-3 months I place it in the garage and put it on a 2amp charge for a day every month then pick the batt up and thump it on the floor a couple of times to shake loose deposits on the plates. I might even walk by and kick it now and then. Ive been doing this for 20 years or so...I get a good 5 years out of them. When I buy a used battery I do the same thing to "wake up" the battery.
Wick
 
I second Mikes statement about "cold storage", toss it in the freezer---it has to be fully charged ---as low as-30 if you keep it above 75% charge,the 0 to -10 or so of a regular frige freezer is good, check the voltasge to get an idea if it is needing charge, but at cold temp the battery discharges much slower, it could keep 90% of it's charge for 6 months.

when I was working on golf carts the people that kept their carts in heated storage got at least a year less use than ones that sat out in the cold ---I liked checking batterys in the coldest part of winter, it was much quicker, any frozen cells were bad, no need for any other test---a fleet of 100 carts has 600 batterys ---when you were checking 10+ fleets you needed something to speed up the process

I tried the reproduction "script' batterys twice, 2-3 years and I took care of them, every other battery I got 7-9 years out of and abused them ---If they would fit a quality AGM battery inside I wouldn't think it would cost much more to make --then it should have a 10 year life ---I still got the cases from the repro batt, I will measure to see if my AGM 1/2 battery will fit inside ---
 
I talked to the guys from Interstate about 5 years ago and they said that even a new battery that has never had acid added still has a limited shelf life.

I have a Ford script battery that has had the acid removed and dried when I bought it. Someday I'll refill it and see if it's any good.

Being it's a tar top, it should be easy to replace the plates when it wear out.
 
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