Paul's how NOT to convert a Metro

[vpoppv]

Originally Posted by watt-a-mezz

Hi Paul. Hope everyone had a good day today. The control board arrived the 21st, and I have spent the last few days puttin the parts on. I had to redo the soldering, and after help from M Paul, it looks presentable. Pics on Photobucket. The Metro is looking good, I would have liked to convert one, but I already had the truck. Maybe if I get this one right, I will find a metro to do next time. Watt.

Wow, I have seen the pics and I thought you were just practicing! That's awesome!

MetroMPG:
I think lead prices have gone up a little, so you might want to see if the forklift place is still up for it and you very well could make a profit.

Christ: I really wish my local guys would work something out with me like that; on the plus side, the battery recycler gave me the name of a spot here in town that does a lot of business with them and said they would have the best prices on "blem" batteries. That's the batteries that have sat on the shelf and have to be traded out. But even those batteries, at about half normal price, is a little more than I am willing to spend.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by vpoppv

Wow, I have seen the pics and I thought you were just practicing! That's awesome!

MetroMPG:
I think lead prices have gone up a little, so you might want to see if the forklift place is still up for it and you very well could make a profit.

Christ: I really wish my local guys would work something out with me like that; on the plus side, the battery recycler gave me the name of a spot here in town that does a lot of business with them and said they would have the best prices on "blem" batteries. That's the batteries that have sat on the shelf and have to be traded out. But even those batteries, at about half normal price, is a little more than I am willing to spend.

I figure it this way - If I ever do an EV and want to take them up on the offer, I'll go through the core pallets and find the ones that have the newest date codes on them. They're the most likely to be still good, usually people notice that they're a few years old or whatever, and buy a new one. Often, people get a flat battery in the winter because they left something on for too long, and swap out for a newer battery. Same with RV/Marine batteries... people change those every season, it seems.

I guess the core charge is the same for all the batteries they sell, regardless of size/weight/capacity, so there are two options afterward - I can either sell the bad ones for lead and make a profit at times, or I can turn them back in and trade them out for another, like I usually do for lawn and garden, ATV/UTV and some car batteries.

[vpoppv]

Originally Posted by Christ

Same with RV/Marine batteries... people change those every season, it seems.

I guess the core charge is the same for all the batteries they sell, regardless of size/weight/capacity

Yes! That's why they said to ask after the holidays. Also, they tend to be in pairs, which is great for my needs.

They get $7 for every core, but the recycler pays $10.50. Win/win for me....

[Christ]

For every $21 you spend, on cores, you get the opportunity to make $31 - extend your expenditures to include another core, and pocket the $3 extra.

Do it often enough, and you'll find that you're able to make a decent recreational paycheck off just the used batteries.

PS - the sulfuric acid in batteries doesn't dissipate... if you can find a use for it, you can usually drain them, boil off the water, and get 80% clean sulfuric. I used to have small drums of it from recycling batteries, and had a company that would buy it from me for $20 per drum. It took forever to fill a drum (they're 7 gallon... more like carboys.), but $20 more was good enough for me when I was using the (wasted) heat from a garbage fire to burn off the water. Lead/acid sludge is really hard to get rid of, though, so I usually just turn them in whole now.

[watt-a-mezz]

We have metal recycler here that sells batteries for .30 a pound.
the way they do it, you would lose money with them. The two floor scrubber batteries I got cost 70.00 for both. When they go bad, they are the
only people in the area to take them. I would get 14.00 for the same two batteries! Wish there were places to get batteries here like you two have.
I need at least six more. Watt.

[Christ]

Originally Posted by watt-a-mezz

We have metal recycler here that sells batteries for .30 a pound.
the way they do it, you would lose money with them. The two floor scrubber batteries I got cost 70.00 for both. When they go bad, they are the
only people in the area to take them. I would get 14.00 for the same two batteries! Wish there were places to get batteries here like you two have.
I need at least six more. Watt.

Check with your local AutoZone, and talk to the guys with the normal shirts... make sure there isn't a gray/black shirt around.

Also, put up an ad in your town that you'll pay ~3-4 dollars per "scrap" battery, depending on size and weight. Pay them a couple cents a pound per battery, and get your money back from the really bad ones.

[vpoppv]

I successfully converted a battery to alum. I took a battery that wasn't able to start a car after a charge. I dumped out the acid and filtered it with a coffee filter. I rinsed the battery out with water. I put the acid back in, gave it a charge, and still didn't get it to start a car. I dumped out the acid again, rinsed it again. I then mixed a 1.9oz container of Alum (aluminum sulfate; spice section of grocery store for $2.97) with 32oz of distilled water. I had to heat the water for 30 seconds in the microwave to dissolve it completely. I put the mixture in the battery. I had to put an additional ~20oz distilled water to fill the battery. After this, it only showed 11.48v. I charged it. After charging it still only showed 12.02v. After sitting overnight, it showed 11.98v. First, I put it on my 84 Dodge van with a 360 V8. It wouldn't turn over, but I kept trying. After that little( uhmmm huge) load, it read 11.54v. I then took it to a Geo Metro, plopped it in, and though it has been sitting for a week, it turned over fairly well and started. This is the original battery from my first Geo (the one I converted) that the owner strongly recommended I replace way back then. It is a 450cca battery (I didn't know they made them that small!) that is dated '04. While it can now be used to start a car, I wonder about the efficiency. I imagine the alternator would keep trying to charge it since it registers lower voltage. Mileage would probably suffer....

[Christ]

I had no idea you could do that... I might try it.

[MetroMPG]

Originally Posted by watt-a-mezz

The two floor scrubber batteries I got cost 70.00 for both. When they go bad, they are the
only people in the area to take them. I would get 14.00 for the same two batteries! Wish there were places to get batteries here like you two have.

Think about who's bringing the floor scrubber batteries to the recycler. You need to cut out the middle man!

[thatguitarguy]

And if you spend much time moving all that lead around, you could grow up to be the governor of California (if you have an accent)