[Elecraft] (no subject)

[wa2dkg@juno.com]

Sulphation is often referred to as a hard-plate condition...The following
is from the "Storage Battery Technical Service Manual" published by the
Association of American Battery Manufacturers (AABM)...

"HARD PLATES

When the material in the plate is hard when scratched, like the surface
of an unglazed tile, it is indicative of heavy sulphation. It may be
corrected by a long slow charge, from 60 to 100 hours at half the normal
rate unless the sulphate has become too extensive and coarsely
crystalline"...

There was a time when storage batteries could be disassembled and
repaired, and that's why they refer to the appearance of the plates...I
remember putting sulphated batteries on charge and it would be 24 to 36
hours or so before the ammeter would register a flow...Thereafter the
current would gradually rise as the battery charged, then taper off. as
the voltage came up..Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn't...