Fully serviceable batteries you can open? & Li-ion

[jago25_98]

I got fed up with my deep cycle battery today and drilled it apart. This confirmed that the fins inside the cells were very rusted and the electrolyte in the bottom very dirty. This surprised me because the battery was supposed to be new and only had I gone away for a couple of months with it left plugged into a solar panel with regular.

This got me thinking. It would be a lot nicer if the whole assembly could be disassembled so I can lift out the fins and inspect them. Has anyone tried doing this? Maybe I should attempt to make my own battery like this... wouldn't be easy though!

Alternatively,
I'm actually hoping to sell the van at some point and noticed Lithium Ion batteries. These are lighter and about 2.5x more expensive. It would be nice to get some weight out of the van but also I can then lift the battery out of the van and use elsewhere, like on a bike. So it has dual uses and I can keep the battery with me if I sell the vehicle it goes with.
If this was the case I'd get one or 2x 18000mah Li-ion battery, (only 18ah each).

Now my question is, how do this batteries handle charging and discharging? I'm swapping a lead based battery for a the sort of thing used in a laptop computer.

I also notice that the batteries used on electric motorbikes are in single cell format, something like 2.5v each. That might be a better format but where to get them?

Overall how much extra am I spending going with Li-ion? It looks like ~2.5x but that's only according to amp hours. It could cost more because they die more quickly? Remeber this is a leisure battery replacement.

There are other things to think about. For example, maybe I might want an open lead acid battery in order to try different electrolytes.

edit:
Perhaps I made a mistake because this thread:
http://ecomodder.com/forum/showthrea...tery-5007.html

Comes out at ~$20 per 4ah cell

[jago25_98]

Sorry to reply to my own thread but you might like this.

Prices for A123 batteries are such that they seem cheaper than lead acid now (?).

So I'm thinking of putting them in banks of 4 in series (=12v) and then wiring in parallel (=mA).

The only thing is, will I still be able to charge like a normal 12v battery?

Because I don't fancy soldering batteries as they can explode I am on the lookout now for prebuilt holders of 4. Best price so far, £2.15; will have to get that down if I want to house 100.