Reparing Melted Battery Terminals / Posts

[ice]

Originally i wrote this on another forum, being a long time lurker here i thought some of you guys may be able to benifit from it ill have to post it in 2 parts due to pic limitations

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



end part 1

[ice]

Part 2


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.

[Shifty]

My life and complexion are worth more than a few hundred bucks... I'd just have replaced the battery but good on you for a successful ghetto fix!

[andrew_mx83]

you're a fruitcake for oxy welding to a battery

but nice work good to hear it is working fine

[thechuckster]

am impressed you didn't end up separating the post from the top of the plate grid ... or setting fire to the top of the battery.

+ve for the ghetto fix (and for not blowing yourself up)

[PlacentaJuan]

nice work, i dont know why you are worried so much about the battery though.

the gasses will only be explosive in a sealed environment, there is no way you will get a explosive mix with good ventilation.

i would still seal the vents and put a towel over it, but i dont think i would be worrying as much as everyone else about doing this trick.

this will also work when you get a new battery or new expensive gold battery terminal clamo and the terminal is too small.

[WDE_BDY]

this will also work when you get a new battery or new expensive gold battery terminal clamo and the terminal is too small.

But easier just to get the little spacers to convert small terminal to large.

Callum

[PlacentaJuan]

But easier just to get the little spacers to convert small terminal to large.

Callum

oh you mean folded up pieces of random metal you found on the floor?

or is this something that you can buy now?

[Mr.Phreak]

Most Auto Sparkies/Repco/Battery guys over this side of the ditch have em.....

And a lot of them can't be bothered with the extra work selling them so just hand em over the counter

[takai]

Folded piece of gal strip ftw.

[ice]

The terminal problem here started out from a previous owner of the truck and poor fitting terminals, he had a couple of nails wedged into it, started out as one blown terminal and then ended up being two,

managed to get the thing started once for a quick trip with the terminals like this but that was enough drama in itself which warrented the fix

[ice]

am impressed you didn't end up separating the post from the top of the plate grid ... or setting fire to the top of the battery.

+ve for the ghetto fix (and for not blowing yourself up)

thats kinda where the stiring wire comes in you can feel how far down the lead has melted

go to far and melted plastic or the insides drop off...

i used the oxy for the quick application of direct heat. lpg would have taken a lot longer and been a lot harder to control

[thechuckster]

now that i think more about this, it would have been better to deliberately overfill the first and last cells so the fluid level came right up to the underside of the post. This would have helped reduce risk of over-heating the post-to-grid connection.