<VV> 1960 battery

[Tony Underwood]

At 02:33 hours 05/29/2006, Rad Davis wrote:
>There's no mechanical magic inside a battery.  There is, however, 
>lots of electrochemical magic.  The good news is that it's 
>portable.  You might be able to move the plates and separators into 
>a tar-top rubber case, but it would depend on the measurements, as 
>you might expect.


This is how the aftermarket rebuilds vintage batteries for those 
folks who will pay whatever it takes to have an original appearing 
long out of production battery for that vintage restoration.


>2) lead is bad for you.  Sulfuric acid is bad for you.  lead sulfate 
>and sulfide are very, very bad for you.  Cadmium salts are very, 
>very bad for you.  All of these fun things can be found in car batteries.


This is why battery restoration is expensive.   It's dangerous.


>Buy the heaviest industrial-grade nitrile gloves you can find for 
>handling this stuff, don't get it on your skin, keep plenty of 
>baking soda around, etc.


Battery electrolyte itself is not extremely dangerous.   However, 99% 
pure H2SO4 is another matter, oxidizes flesh and most other organic 
stuff.   Do not drink.


>If you inert the tar-top with baking soda before dismantling it you 
>won't get an acid burn, but this doesn't address the many problems 
>with getting heavy metal salts into your body, and yes - it can go 
>through your skin to get there.

Lead salts can indeed be absorbed through the skin.   Another reason 
to not play with such.


>Likewise, lead and cadmum poisoning through vapor is well 
>documented.  Plenty of fresh air is your friend if you need to 
>solder bus bars together.  Just remember that a lump of lead isn't 
>very dangerous because it's not bio-available.  If you atomize and 
>inhale it (as with soldering or casting), or make it into a salt 
>(which is what makes a lead-acid battery work), you've made it 
>available to your body and it can do a real number on you.


Neurological damage... one becomes a little bit loony as well as 
physically debilitated.    I'm loony enough as it is; I'd be damned 
careful fooling with lead-acid storage batteries.


>I'm sure somebody will jump in and say "Oh, I've done it x times and 
>it never hurt me."

This is the argument I've heard from body shop guys who insisted on 
painting epoxy paints (catalytic urethanes) without a space suit.


>My reply:  you have one body.  You get to decide what you want to do 
>in excess that will use it up and kill you.   I prefer a more fun 
>means of death (and a less nasty mode of death) than progressive 
>nerve system damage from heavy metals.  They don't let pregnant 
>women work in battery factories anymore for a reason.

They don't let pregnant women work in *lots* of places these days.


>---- ex-environmental chemist Rad Davis, who prefers to buy his car 
>batteries pre-assembled and uses a Honda battery in his Greenbrier.


It's a *Subaru* battery...  ;)


As I'd mentioned, I gave it some fleeting thought to rebuilding an 
old 53 with 51 innards.    The later vintage batteries are a daunting 
process should you want to open one up.   They are indeed 
tough.    I've overcome a few such obstacles in my day with similar 
goofy projects but after experimenting on a few worn out core 
batteries I gave up the notion of rebuilding an old one.   If a guy 
had access to new plate assemblies etc it may not be such a problem 
but taking a new battery apart to use its parts to rebuild an old one 
has got to be a labor of love as well as dangerous... not just from 
lead poisoning but from lacerating yourself while attempting to carve 
open the new battery...  which also exposes you to additional toxic 
effects from lead salts finding their way into the wounds.


I just use the 51 and be done with it.   Nothing here is a show car 
in the first place; point is moot, re battery originality.


tony..