Repairing Melted Battery Terminals (pics)
Posted: Mon Apr 27, 2009 1:10 pm
Due to a bad connection i was faced with replacing 2 batteries on my truck or repairing them and saving a few hundred $$$
after a visit to the battery shop i couldnt get anyone to fix the terminals so set about having a go at doing it myself i did a bit of digging around and found an obsure old document on repairing melted terminals
This is extreamly dangerous i might add due to the possibility for built up explosive gas in the batteries
first i made up a mold for the melted terminals out of some scrap ally
whilst i was doing this i had the batteries venting with the caps off for around an hour to remove as much gas as possible
i also melted some lead in a piece of angle iron to make a filler rod to use
i then replaced the caps on the batteries , taped them up to try and get some sort of seal and placed a wet rag over the vents, time to act fast here before any gas builds up the mold was taped into postion on the melted terminal
i then melted the damaged terminal with an oxy torch directly into the mold was a bit hard to take pics of this whilst working by myself
applied some of my lead filler rod till the mold was full then gave it a good stir with a piece of stiff fencing wire to make sure it had bonded, you can feel how far down the terminal has melted by doing this too
a quick spray with a spray bottle filled with water to cool it down and the mold was removed
a quick clean up with battery terminal post cleaner and they're good to go
6 months down the track and no problems to report.
This is potentially dangerous batteries can give of explosive gas so this is just for your information anything you do is at your own risk! the usual disclaimer etc.
after a visit to the battery shop i couldnt get anyone to fix the terminals so set about having a go at doing it myself i did a bit of digging around and found an obsure old document on repairing melted terminals
This is extreamly dangerous i might add due to the possibility for built up explosive gas in the batteries
first i made up a mold for the melted terminals out of some scrap ally
whilst i was doing this i had the batteries venting with the caps off for around an hour to remove as much gas as possible
i also melted some lead in a piece of angle iron to make a filler rod to use
i then replaced the caps on the batteries , taped them up to try and get some sort of seal and placed a wet rag over the vents, time to act fast here before any gas builds up the mold was taped into postion on the melted terminal
i then melted the damaged terminal with an oxy torch directly into the mold was a bit hard to take pics of this whilst working by myself
applied some of my lead filler rod till the mold was full then gave it a good stir with a piece of stiff fencing wire to make sure it had bonded, you can feel how far down the terminal has melted by doing this too
a quick spray with a spray bottle filled with water to cool it down and the mold was removed
a quick clean up with battery terminal post cleaner and they're good to go
6 months down the track and no problems to report.
This is potentially dangerous batteries can give of explosive gas so this is just for your information anything you do is at your own risk! the usual disclaimer etc.
