BB> I am running into an occasional battery that has been filled up 
 BB> with some kind of dark colored little greyish-black balls about 
 BB> the size of a round pinhead. 
They're *styrofoam*!  The color is white to start with,  but...
Ever see how the inside of a battery cap which is white plastic can become 
discolored and dark?
 BB> The little balls seem to kill the battery completely. 
I'd bet that the discoloration suggests that the battery was run pretty dry 
and charged at too high a rate,  that's probably what killed it...
 BB> I've sucked them out with a squeeze bulb and fill back up with 
 BB> water but all to no avail. It just won't charge at all.
Sounds like a battery that's been "cooked" already,  not much you can do with 
those...
 BB> I haven't seen the product in any of the auto parts stores yet  
 BB> and I sure wouldn't buy it if I did see it but curiousity makes 
 BB> me wonder what the heck they are. You know anything about those?
Sure.  I ran across a couple or three batteries one time that came out of a 
motor home that had been sitting for a while.  Like we usually did,  when I 
saw that they had been run down I offered the guy to try and charge them 
first,  before he spent the money on a new set.  Two out of the three did 
take a charge,  but didn't have the kick that they were supposed to have and 
the other one didn't take a charge (in some cells) at all,  so he ended up 
buying new anyhow.
What the stickers said was that the batteries were "high temp" types,  and 
had been filled with this stuff in an effort to control water usage.  They 
were pretty low on water,  too.
The customer said that they'd purchased them in Arizona,  I believe.
That stuff sure did make using a hydrometer a bit of a pain,  since it would 
tend to clog it up and not let me get enough fluid in it to get a reading...
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