12v sealed batteries. Are these likely to of any use?

[davidpbo]

Just checked a couple of Yuasa Cyclic battieries 12V 36Ah sealed lead acid I have in the garage. They were used as standby mains failure batteries for a public address system and are 16 years old. Removed from service 5 or 6 years ago.

Last charged 2 years ago and. Voltage reading before charging attempted 11.7 and 12.25 volts. Charger defaulted to ready and maintaining within a few seconds of being conected.

In this mode I believe the (Halfords) charger pulses a low current through the battery. I will try leaving them on charge for a few hours and see what happens.

They are not used for anything mission critical (Occasional jump start etc.)

Are they likely to worth keeping given their age? I will try putting a bulb on and seeing how they fair.

 

[Sailingsaves]

I never throw anything away until it breaks.

Then I fix it.

When I can no longer fix it it gets thrown away.

Family members hate me for this; only bought a new tv when last one actually emitted smoke.

Smart chargers such as Sterling and Ctek do clever things such as high voltage low current and vice verse maybe to get gassing going and mix up all the substances in the battery and 'rejuvenate' them.

Without special chargers, best you can do is charge them for 5 days maybe (keep an eye on temp of charger etc) and rest for 24 hours and see if you have 12.7V or more.

If you can unseal them and check electrolyte level you will also be able to measure the specific gravity after 5 days of charge and one of rest and that will give better idea of health than a simple reading of 12.7V

The idea of placing a load and seeing how long that load will last is also a good idea to indicate if they are of any use still

Hope they are. You can do all sorts of things with old 12V batteries and Christmas coming up, have some lovely free electricity (solar panel) or wind turbine from boat? charging batteries and powering colourful lights around house / garden?

 

[Beamishken]

If all else fails they make good money at the scrap yard I recently took 3 small & 2 large batteries & nearly fell over when the guy handed me £70 quid for them
I half expected them saying "we'll have to charge you for environmental disposal of these"

 

[VicMallows]

I never throw anything away until it breaks.

Then I fix it.

When I can no longer fix it it gets thrown away.

You've missed out a stage!:

'When you can no longer fix it, keep it so that you can snip useful components out of it as needed'.

(You don't want to see my shed or my garage )

 

[Hadenough]

I have two 110ah Yuasa sealed batteries which were from a massive laboratory UPS. The UPS was decommissioned after four years because it was no longer required. I obtained my two which went on the boat. They were in weekend use and charged with a wind generator when we weren't aboard, for four years. The boat has been laid up for the last two years (long story) with the two batteries being charged with the windy. They are still perfect, I tested them on load just last week. So that is ten years so far.

 

[charles_reed]

Excellent batteries Yuasa - well worth attempting a resustication. Sounds as though one is perfectly OK.

 

[Mrnotming]

Some say (not the Stig) turn them upside down relative to the position in which they were stored to help redistribute the muck inside? Could be a load of collops!

 

[Plevier]

If all else fails they make good money at the scrap yard I recently took 3 small & 2 large batteries & nearly fell over when the guy handed me £70 quid for them
I half expected them saying "we'll have to charge you for environmental disposal of these"

Amazing. Wonder if he absent mindedly priced them as lead? Clean scrap lead usually 80-90p/kg; batteries about a third of that.

 

[Plevier]

To the OP's question - you might get enough kick out of the old batteries for a quick jump start of something, but I'd be very surprised if they show much Ah capacity if you test at their 10 or 20 hour rate with e.g. a 21W car bulb.
All you can do is try it!

 

[Plevier]

Some say (not the Stig) turn them upside down relative to the position in which they were stored to help redistribute the muck inside? Could be a load of collops!

I don't think there is anything in that unless they have been stored on end i.e. with plates horizontal in which case the stack of plates can sag and squeeze the mat or gel at the bottom.

 

[coopec]

I'm like Sailgsaves in that I never toss anything out and consequently my shed is full of junk. I was trying to revive a "sealed battery" so left it on charge overnight. When I checked it next morning I disconnected one of the battery connections which cause a spark and the battery exploded. So much for the battery being sealed! My hand took the full force of the explosion and was quite numb for several hours. I guess I was just plain lucky.

 

[JumbleDuck]

If all else fails they make good money at the scrap yard I recently took 3 small & 2 large batteries & nearly fell over when the guy handed me £70 quid for them
I half expected them saying "we'll have to charge you for environmental disposal of these"

I'm really puzzled at why the price of lead-acid batteries has fallen so much recently. I delayed a year in buying new batteries for my boat and when I finally coughed up in April 2013 they were 30% less than in April 2012. Same with car batteries ... I'm about to buy an 038 for my Herald and they have come down almost 50% in three years. Most odd.