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New ...Old Batteries

John F Dean

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posted 4 years ago

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I am being given some (10) several years old (3?) deep cell batteries that have never been used. They are out of an old hardware store. Are they worth t.he effort? What do I need to check for?

At my age, Happy Hour is a nap.

jordan barton

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posted 4 years ago

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first things that come to mind are to check the voltage of the batteries.
second i would ask the person you are getting them from, how have they been stored? Were the batteries stored properly and charged up when needed? How much water is in the batteries?

are the batteries bulging?

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Pearl Sutton

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posted 4 years ago

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I'd definitely consider them worth the effort! I'd love to get handed them :D
I have car batteries, it's what I can get right now.

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Castles in the air never have a wet basement
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John F Dean

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Location: southern Illinois, USA

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posted 4 years ago

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The batteries appear to be new. They were in a dry basement of an old country hardware store that went out of business.

At my age, Happy Hour is a nap.

thomas rubino

rocket scientist

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Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 4 years ago

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Hi John;
Good score! A photo would be nice.
Voltage check , water check, If you have a hydrometer a specific gravity test.

I'm guessing they are 12 volt? Marine size battery's?
The number of water fill holes will tell you the voltage. A 6 volt has 3 and a 12 vt has 6.

All Jordan's questions are spot on.

However, free is free you know... if only 2 out of the ten are good then you have 2 good battery's and 8 good cores.
Maybe if nearby, Pearl would battery's for trade vegetables!

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John F Dean

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posted 4 years ago

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The batteries were never charged. They are unused batteries.

At my age, Happy Hour is a nap.

John F Dean

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posted 4 years ago

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6 volt batteries. Deep cell. Not sure of the intended use. Given the region, I would suspect for a trolling motor or golf cart. I don't ask a lot of questions when something is free.

At my age, Happy Hour is a nap.

John F Dean

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posted 4 years ago

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I suspect Pearl is close by in my way of counting. I regularly travel on rt 60 through southerN MO. However, I have an ample garden.

At my age, Happy Hour is a nap.

Douglas Alpenstock

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Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b

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posted 4 years ago

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Nice scrounge! Definitely worth your time.

Good advice above. In addition: use distilled water for topping up.

David Baillie

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Location: Central Ontario

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if they are 6 volt deepcycle wet batteries then they are most likely good. They probably wont last as long as they could have but water them, then give them 3 or 4 charged to 50 percent discharged cycles and they should bounce back. If not still worth $15 a core...
Good find! David

Eric Hanson

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posted 4 years ago

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John,

What a find! Are these SLA or “wet” type of batteries? SLA batteries are virtually free of maintenance. “Wet” batteries are almost maintenance free. In either case, lead based batteries have a pretty good lifespan.

I say go for it and again, congrats on the great find!

Eric

Some places need to be wild

John F Dean

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Hi Eric

They are not sla.

At my age, Happy Hour is a nap.

Ben House

Posts: 198

Location: East Tennessee

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posted 4 years ago

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If they are the big heavy 6v batteries, they are most likely Golf Cart batteries. I have several in my solar setup, if you run them in sets of two. -+-+ That's in series, and it makes 12v per pair. Then run the pairs in parallel ++/-- for added capacity at 12v. Most deep cycle golf cart batteries will last in excess of 10 years in use. If not abused.

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John F Dean

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Hi Ben

That was my plan.

Thomas, What should the specific gravity be?

Any way, they are now in the back of my truck. My intention is to hook them up to a battery charger and then hook them up to my solar. This should bring me up to over 20 batteries.

At my age, Happy Hour is a nap.

thomas rubino

rocket scientist

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Location: latitude 47 N.W. montana zone 6A

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posted 4 years ago

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Hi John; 1.25-1.3 specific gravity is fully charged.

EDIT) Just wanted to add that reading is with the battery's resting(off charger).

For all your Montana Masonry Heater parts (also known as) Rocket Mass heater parts.
Visit me at
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John F Dean

master steward

Posts: 6968

Location: southern Illinois, USA

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posted 4 years ago

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Hi Thomas

Thanks

At my age, Happy Hour is a nap.

Johan Thorbecke

Posts: 81

Location: The Netherlands

posted 4 years ago

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What kind of battery charger are you planning to use? Some have a desulphate/recondition mode, it's quite a technical thing but they more or less 'shock' the internal plating to get settled yuk off them, this way you can squeeze some extra life out of old and neglected batteries.

John F Dean

master steward

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Hi Johan,

THANKS!!! Of course I knew about the potential issue of a sulphate...which was one of the underlying reasons for my post. I did not know some chargers were able to address it to any degree.

At my age, Happy Hour is a nap.

Jeremy Baker

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Location: Nomadic

posted 4 years ago

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if they were stored in the basement of a hardware store they may not have any electrolyte in them yet. Be sure to check that before you charge. They would be like new if they were stored dry. That would truly be a great score!
What capacity do they have? Have you tested them yet?
This brings up a subject for another thread about batteries and Permaculture. They are expensive but what about stashing extra dry batteries for the future?. People store food, water, fuel, gold, wine, silver, cheese, medicine,.....why not dry batteries? I imagine a few Prepper’s are storing some in their bug out kit.

Rufus Laggren

pollinator

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Location: Chicago/San Francisco

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posted 4 years ago

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This site has served me well.

https://batteryuniversity.com/learn/

Regards,
Rufus

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