Alum conversion for lead acid batteries

[BroMikey]

I started the conversion with my car battery but I totally forgot it's winter time and 10F outside. Is it safe to use Alum Battery when it's freezing outside in my car?

No, Those things are great for 70F and any lower the saturated solution
begins to separate. I have heard some use a mixture of acid and alum
maybe calling it a Hybrid.

[Almaz]

No, Those things are great for 70F and any lower the saturated solution
begins to separate. I have heard some use a mixture of acid and alum
maybe calling it a Hybrid.

that's bad news for me. I already flushed the battery and now I'm thinking what else to put except lead acid.

[BroMikey]

that's bad news for me. I already flushed the battery and now I'm thinking what else to put except lead acid.

Until you decide you better put some heat tape around that battery
and plug it in over night.

[wsxian2]

My experience

I had a friend that had a battery just sitting to be taken to get another battery - i.e. core charge.
I asked if I could try to rejuvenate it and he said yes, so I took it home.

Prior to the Alum fix, I tried reconditioning the battery with my charger (see below) and discharging the battery with a razor scooter motor. The razor scooter would stop rotating very quickly.

Dumped the acid in a 5 gallon plastic bucket. Rinsed out twice with distilled water putting that stuff in the same bucket. Left battery with as little fluid as possible. A heads up - these things are heavy! Just watch yourself and again, use gloves, wear safety glasses and old clothes and shoes (or put plastic on your shoes) cause trying to get the battery fluid out is both pain-filled and sloppy.

For the mix, I used 2 cups Aluminum sulfate to about a gallon of distilled water heated to about 150 degrees to assist in dissolving. Stainless Steel pot. Stirred it a lot. Put final mixture back in to the gallon container and shook it a lot.

Put the alum mix in the battery -used a funnel. Had about 1/3 gallon left over.

Put on charge, then discharged by razor scooter motor for a while, recharge, discharge and recharge and discharge. 3 times total.
After the Alum fix, the razor scooter would run forever it seemed. At least an hour. And the batter only went down to about 9.6 volts.
It sits about 10.6 volts, but will go up to 13 volts but jumps down to about 10.6.
If you look at what others have said about lower voltage, it makes some sense.
8 cells at 1.5 volts =12 volts.
8 cells at 1.3 volts =10.4 volts.

Well, my battery in my Lumina died so I replace his battery with mine. And it turns over -with a bit of hesitancy but it turns over, starts the car and keeps it running. So there is juice or amps in the battery. Been using it for a few days and it continues to work. With the same hesitancy, but it works.

I took my battery and converted it to alum, but it won't hold a charge at all. It drops to less than 3.5 volts and my charger won't recognize it at all when the voltage is that low. I have a Stanley Battery charger (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Stanley-1...Start/38243759) which has a reconditioning mode (high voltage spikes I am sure). The battery is bulging, so I suspect it's toast.

Anyway, at Rex Research (Alum-Lead Battery Conversion) I found this listing of why convert to Alum:
The battery fluid is non corrosive -
the battery gas is not explosive -
the battery can be discharged more deeply -
the battery can be charged faster -
the battery will last longer -
there is not corrosion of the terminals -
it is extremely cheap -
more power in cold weather

So will it work in Cold Weather? I don't know. It's about 82 degrees here in New Mexico. Won't have cold weather till November.

My cost for conversion?
3 gallons of distilled water = .86*3 =$2.58
2 pairs of Nitrite gloves (wear gloves!) = .10*x2*2=0.40
Total is about $3.00

I already had the Aluminum Sulfate which I was going to use to acidify my soil here in NM which I had bought years ago. You can buy Hi-Yield Aluminum Sulfate at Nurseries and Walmart (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Vpg-Ferti...er-Ea/38091094) for about $5.00 for about 4 lbs. I used two cups of the bag which was about 1 fourth of the bag so my cost would have been about $1.25 if I hadn't already paid for the stuff long ago.

So, if you had to pay for all new stuff you are looking at less than $5.00 (assuming you have nitrite or other gloves on hand - otherwise you would have to factor those in).

I had deep concern was for the acid left over. I had a friend that had a battery just sitting to be taken to get another battery - i.e. core charge.
I asked if I could try to rejuvenate it and he said yes, so I took it home.

Prior to the Alum fix, I tried reconditioning the battery with my charger (see below) and discharging the battery with a razor scooter motor. The razor scooter would stop rotating very quickly. The reconditioning did not work.

I dumped the battery acid into a 5 gallon plastic bucket. Rinsed out twice with distilled water putting that stuff in the same bucket. Left battery with as little fluid as possible. A heads up - these things are heavy! Just watch yourself and again, use gloves, wear safety glasses and old clothes and shoes (or put plastic on your shoes) cause trying to get the battery fluid out is both pain-filled and sloppy.

For the mix, I used 2 cups Aluminum sulfate to about a gallon of distilled water heated to about 150 degrees to assist in dissolving. Stainless Steel pot. Stirred it a lot. Put final mixture back in to the gallon container and shook it a lot.

Put the alum mix in the battery -used a funnel. Had about 1/3 gallon left over.

Put on charge, then discharged by razor scooter motor for a while, recharge, discharge and recharge and discharge. 3 times total.
After the Alum fix, the razor scooter would run forever it seemed. At least an hour. And the batter only went down to about 9.6 volts.
It sits about 10.6 volts, but will go up to 13 volts but jumps down to about 10.6.
If you look at what others have said about lower voltage, it makes some sense.
8 cells at 1.5 volts =12 volts.
8 cells at 1.3 volts =10.4 volts.

Well, my battery in my Lumina died so I replace his battery with mine. And it turns over -with a bit of hesitancy but it turns over, starts the car and keeps it running. So there is juice or amps in the battery. Been using it for a few days and it continues to work. With the same hesitancy, but it works.

I took my dead battery and converted it to alum, but it won't hold a charge at all. It drops to less than 3.5 volts and my charger won't recognize it at all when the voltage is that low. I have a Stanley Battery charger (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Stanley-1...Start/38243759) which has a reconditioning mode (high voltage spikes I am sure). The battery is bulging, so I suspect it's toast.

Anyway, at Rex Research (Alum-Lead Battery Conversion) I found this listing of why convert to Alum:
The battery fluid is non corrosive -
the battery gas is not explosive -
the battery can be discharged more deeply -
the battery can be charged faster -
the battery will last longer -
there is not corrosion of the terminals -
it is extremely cheap -
more power in cold weather

So will it work in Cold Weather? I don't know. It's about 82 degrees here in New Mexico. Won't have cold weather till November.

My cost for conversion?
3 gallons of distilled water = .86*3 =$2.58
2 pairs of Nitrite gloves (wear gloves!) = .10*x2*2=0.40
Total is about $3.00

I already had the Aluminum Sulfate which I was going to use to acidify my soil here in NM which I had bought years ago. You can buy Hi-Yield Aluminum Sulfate at Nurseries and Walmart (https://www.walmart.com/ip/Vpg-Ferti...er-Ea/38091094) for about $5.00 for about 4 lbs. I used two cups of the bag which was about 1 fourth of the bag so my cost would have been about $1.25 if I hadn't already paid for the stuff long ago.

So, if you had to pay for all new stuff you are looking at less than $5.00 (assuming you have nitrite or other gloves on hand - otherwise you would have to factor those in).

A deep concern to me was for the acid left over. http://diy.stackexchange.com/questio...battery-backup

I put some baking soda in the bucket which had the acid and it fizzed a lot! I eventually took it to my local transfer station and they took the acid off my hands, but the bucket still had black stuff in the bottom. Lead most likely. Just reuse the bucket for the next conversion. Cause this is not my last conversion.

I am happy with the results so far! I put some baking soda in the bucket which had the acid and it fizzed a lot! I eventually took it to my local transfer station and they took the acid off my hands, but the bucket still had black stuff in the bottom. Lead most likely. Just reuse the bucket for the next conversion. Cause this is not my last conversion.

I am happy with the results so far!