Retrieved sunken battery off slip bottom

My previous slip neighbor was trashy and threw his battery over the side, or dropped it accidentally, it is extremely heavy. That was 3 years ago.

We had an extreme low tide and I saw it sitting there and though maybe I can hook it using my boat pole. I got it up, and it was so heavy I dropped it again. Then I determined to get it and set it on land.
Rinsed off the muck took it home, volts reading 4.
Popped the caps and it is not overflowing with sea water, so they must have kept out the sea.
Charged it and it immediately jumped to 8. Then after overnight it has come up to 12.3 v.
So what do you think, will it work again?

sides not popped out




cant quite make out the label
DC31DT ? with a US flag type background
7250 M ?
205 RV ?

 

I think I found it at Lowes

http://www.lowes.com/pd_599945-5065...937-3a67-4164-9235-81cb2ffebbe7&kpid=50183761

anyhow, it might be dead. The bat volts just dropped to 9.5

ok, more info, the battery was made in April 2012, so it is only 2.5 years old.
I do seem to remember the guy who lost it said it was new.



So I decided to try something. I dumped the electrolyte into a container.
I rinsed the battery with our garden hose, some small fine bits of shiny dust like came out.
I rinsed the battery very well, shook and dumped and rinsed about 10 times.
Then I filled and dumped and rinsed with rain water about 3 times.
Then I poured the electrolyte back in.
Battery was reading 7.5v.
I put on the charger got 9.5v, charger breaker kept clicking off.
So it has shorted two cell, but I think since it is newer, maybe the short is small.
So I hooked up to car and charged it with engine running, rev few times and battery is almost 12v now.
Maybe the higher amps from alternator blew open the internal short.
So it is back on the charger.

I was thinking maybe to blow open a shorted cell you could put multiple car batteries in series and up the volts to 24 or 36, connect to the battery with a shorted cell (with the cell tops off).
If the cell short was minor, it could dissolve the short.

 

Can you return it to Lowes,tell them you lost the receipt? Quack!

 

I have not had good experiences returning used batteries for full credit.
they want you to buy a new one and prorate based on the age.

 

over charging the battery will almost certainly blow out some more cells. I think it is a goner. for it to be fully chargned it needs to show 13.2 volts (6 cells x 2.2 volts each). if it does not hold a charge overnight internal leakage is too high.

Not likely it would be good, even if it was not on the bottom for 2.5 years. letting a battery sit unused for 2 plus years on your garage shelf usually means it is scrap. I know, I have done it lots of times with older cars I am restoring. you have to charge it every 30 days to 2 weeks to keep it good.

you might get $10 for as scrap, or use it for a trade in when buying a new one.

 

Yep, Petros has it. It's a nice paper weight. I have killed or permitted to die countless batteries over the years. They'll never come back and hold. Use it as a door stop or maybe to power a hot wire, to carve some foam.

 

Jeez I heard things were tough in the u s but I didn't realize you had to find your batteries on the bottom of the harbor.

 

The battery probably was toast before it disappeared under water!
When you retrieve a good, charged battery after just a few days, the whole negative pole has dissolved from electrolysis. Even the small gel battery I recently dropped and fished out within 10 minutes had one pole so thin it broke off when I put an alligator clip on.

 

It is only good for a core.
I let it sit after charging and it fell to 8.5v, so has 2 dead cells.
A core here is worth about $10.

 

Someone stole this dead battery from me. I had left it sit outside on the driveway for months and months in plain site from the road and it is gone. Maybe someone thinking they got a great deal on a battery, saw the recent date, thinking oh what a bargain! Kinda shocking to come home and realize it was gone. Sort of felt like they might come back for other things, been a while though and nothing else is taken yet.

 

You might want to let your neighbor know that a person can get a huge fine from the feds for disposing of batteries by dumping them in the drink. They are considered hazardous waste. I know this from personal experience.

 

In my younger days I did marine salvage. I raised a number of boats where the batteries were flooded. In fresh water and a short soaking, I could usually get the battery going. In salt water I was never successful even with batteries under for just a few hours.