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     Date: 04-19*94    Time: 11:26a     Number: 1214  
     From: DON KULHA                     Refer: 0      
       To: ALL                        Board ID: FAMILY          Recvd: No
  Subject: EDTA 3 OF 5                      47: Home Power     Status: Public
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1. We drained the old electrolyte from all six of the cells.  Now
this reads easier than it does.  An L-16W battery weighs 125 pounds
and contains 9 quarts of sulfuric acid in its three cells.  Be careful
not to drop the battery or spill the acid electrolyte.  Reserve the
old electrolyte in secure containers and dispose of it properly through
your local battery shop.
2. We rinsed all the cells with water and drained them.
3. We added 2 Tablespoons of EDTA to each cell and refilled each cell
with hot tap (=120oF.) water.
4. We let the cells to merrily bubble (the EDTA/lead sulfate reaction
is exothermic- it gives off heat) for about two hours.
5. We then drained the cells and repeated steps 2, 3, and 4 once again.
We could see the sulphation disappearing, but one treatment had not
got it all.  Actually, two treatments didn't either because there
was still some sulphation there after the second go round.
6. We rinsed each cell with distilled water and drained it.
7. We refilled each cell with new (sulphuric acid in solution with
distilled water- specific gravity 1.260) lead-acid electrolyte.
The Operation was a success?
After spending all day lifting and draining L-16Ws, George and I
were sore and ready for a few beers.  This technique is not recommended
to the frail.  If I were to do it again, I would build a cradle to
hold and invert these heavy batteries.  Doing it by hand is tiresome,
risky, and invites injury.  Neither of us was convinced that we had
accomplished much beside some heavy sweating dressed in kinky moon
suits.  We left the L-16Ws, disconnected and unused, in the basement
battery area.  Every time I passed by, I would wire the pack of two
rejuvenated batteries into the PV array for some quickie recharging. 
I had no time to run any sustained recharging or testing at that
point because we had another issue of Home Power going to press.
It was not until six weeks later that Scott Hening, our summer intern,
hooked up the EDTA treated L-16Ws into a working system.  This system
is sourced by two ancient, anemic SolaVolt PV modules.  The system
is simple: the PVs and the two L-16Ws.  This system provides power
for lighting in Bob-O's spare trailer which houses dignitaries and
heads of state visiting HP Central.  Here the EDTA treated batteries
received about 3 to 4 amps as long as the sun was shining.  Since
this system is seldom used, the batteries received a constant daily
overcharge for about eight weeks.  Bob-O kept on top of the cells'
water levels and refilled them as needed with distilled water.
Since the trailer was seldom used, and no one staying there complained
of dead batteries, we just left the L-16Ws alone.  Since the system
had no instrumentation, it was hard to tell how much improvement
the EDTA treatment did.
(continued)
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