RE: I got an idea, Lets talk about subs now.

["asmyth" <asmyth@hsomail.com>]

I went through the archives and found that the same exact question regarding
battery squeeze was posted many months ago. Ken Martindale provided a great
answer, which I'll try to summarize (or butcher?)

- According to manufacturer's specs, sealed batteries are good only to 3-4
atm
- Oil-filled conventional batteries should not be inverted (the oil floats
up and contaminates the plates)
- Open-cell batteries with caps still spill if inverted.

Still, some methods come to mind that could conceivably work. Of course they
all would require some experimentation to make sure.

1) Drill a small hole in the top of a sealed battery. If the electrolyte is
indeed immobilized, it should not leak out. The batteries would have to be
in a separate compartment with NO switches, motors, etc. because there could
be some H2 around. Catylators would presumably not work on an "un-sealed"
battery because it would have no use for their reconstituted water, hence
the isolated compartment.

2) Use oil-filling ON A GEL BATTERY. Maybe in a gel (as opposed to liquid)
the oil would not float up and contaminate the plates.

3) Use a conventional battery, but fill the air spaces above the cells
completely with electrolite. Only problem is, you'd have to drain some out
before every charge, otherwise the electrolite would over-expand due to the
creation of bubbles. Its not only messy, its a hassle.

Options 2 and 3 sound very messy. Busby's book in particular has some very
negative comments about oil-filling ("a review of the literature makes one
wonder that the system works at all", "messy, generally difficult to
maintain", "destined to get salt water in them at one time or another").

So for now, I am still leaning towards drilling little holes. Please, any
other ideas? I hate to ruin a good, $138 battery. If anyone has a SPENT gel
or AGM battery, you could contribute to the knowledge of humankind by
drilling a hole in the top and leaving it upside-down!!!

-Alec
PS: From the length of this message, you may deduce that the motor on my
milling machine burned out so I can't do anything in the garage tonight!



> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org
> [mailto:owner-personal_submersibles@psubs.org]On Behalf Of Jonathan
> Shawl
> What about the sealed battery question posted by another member?
> I think he is still waiting for an answer if anybody has one.