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· 2 min read

Refilling lead acid batteries

tinkering

A portable emergency lamp stopped working and naturally, all things that stop working end up in my room - for me to relish.😛

It had a big lead-acid battery that was almost dead. It was just reading 1.3V. Anything below 4V for such a battery was a warning sign. I tried conditioning the battery with a small constant current for a day in hopes of recovering it. That didn’t work.

Giving a constant voltage supply for a couple of hours too didn’t help. Then on some online forum, I found people suggesting to refill lead-acid batteries. I bought a bottle of distilled water from a nearby gas station. Removed the plastic panel on the top to expose the battery covers.

Removed the battery covers with a needle-nose plier

I could see inside with a flashlight and yeah, it was very dry inside

Looked like all the electrolyte somehow vanished

Had this disposable eye dropper at home

Each cell was guzzling water like anything

All cells full

Then I put it up for charging again. I waited 12 hours to see any change.

That too failed. 😐

So the battery is DEAD and is only as good as a massive paperweight.

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