[PSUBS-MAILIST] OIL FILLED BATTERIES 101

[SFreihof@aol.com]

Think DEEP-CYCLE lead acid battery.  DEEP CYCLE mainly means that the lead plates in the cells are thicker and the battery can stand cycling from full charge to full dischage repeatedly without damage.  Think old style batteries, with water covering the lead plates, not gel or AGM batteries, which are lead-acid batteries without the free standing water.

Take the caps off.  If you carefully (and slowly) add oil, the oil will float on top of the water in the battery cell, eliminating any air spaces.

If you place your battery in a battery box with a sealed plastic lid shaped kinda-like an inverted funnel, and then fill that with oil also, you have your battery immersed in oil which is non-compressible, and there are no air spaces.  At the top of your funnel shaped lid, you have a one way valve to let off any gas or pressure that may develop. The lid is shaped like an inverted funnel to allow any gases to rise to the valve at the top.

Now you can take your battery to any depth you want without worrying about compensating pressures...

I have a photo I took of Cousteau's soucoup battery.  My scanner isn't cooperating at the moment or I'd send it.  You'd see how simple it is, and yet his subs could go over 1000 feet deep.

The only downside I've heard is that it can be messy, and hard to add water to the battery.

Stan

In a message dated 2/1/2005 10:16:46 AM Eastern Standard Time, Jonathan Wallace <jon@psubs.org> writes:

>
>PSUBS-for-DUMMIES time.
>
>The whole "oil and battery" thing just ain't sinking into this skull
>of mine.  Are we talking about regular old 12 volt lead-acid car
>batteries?  If so, are they the kind with caps or the
>"maintenance-free" type?  If they have caps, are we talking about
>taking the caps off and putting oil inside the cells? Or are talking
>about filling the pod that contains the batteries with oil, therefore
>surrounding them with a protective non-compressible material?  Are
>there ways to protect a "maintenance-free" battery?
>
>What about off-gassing?  I understand that batteries do it, but how
>does that create a vacuum in a containment pod?  
>
>??? in NH
>
>
>>On the oil-filled batteries: There is no mystery . period. They
>>work fine. We've been using oil-filleds for 20 years on 'Deep Rover' -
>>there is no emulsification ( as predicted by critics) the off gassing is
>>easily handled by a soft top plus vent or just a clean venting
>>non-return
>>design.
>
>
>
>
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