Rebuilding a truck battery

This is absolutely fascinating. Necessity is the mother of invention and these blokes have it down pat. I particularly like the electric "soldering" iron.

Quite remarkable.

Not sure I would take the health risks of a job in the factory.

Used to be a battery repairer in Ipswich ,Qld .....he used to make and repair the old fashioned batteries that had hard rubber cases and were sealed at the top with poured in bitumen.....if a battery started leaking ,all you needed to do was to run a blowtorch over the top to melt the bitumen.......probably best to vent the hydrogen first.

Last time I rang he had retired, as he no longer had the strength to lift them. (Progress batteries).

He was still going until maybe 10 - 15 years ago.

Jarrod.

There was a guy in Kirrawee in Sydney know as CODA, (Cash on Delivery Arthur ), Batteries, who I believe started in the early 50s reconditioning and selling batteries. The business later just sold new batteries and electrical stuff. Great to do business with, very fair and cheap. Haven't dealt with them for some years but believe they are still in business.

JOHN.K. wrote: Used to be a battery repairer in Ipswich ,Qld .....he used to make and repair the old fashioned batteries that had hard rubber cases and were sealed at the top with poured in bitumen...

There used to be a Battery manufacturer in the a small country town near where I grew Up who did the same. Dad or My Grandfather would take the Old battery Down to Him & he'd swap the Old Internals for new Ones...

Not sure if it is right but I thought it was 'pitch' used on the tops of the old batteries and not bitumen. I remember we had a blob of it in the corner of the back yard and on a cool day if you hit it wih a hamme it would shatter a piece off and the freshly broken surface would be glistening shiney where the outside was a dull flat appearance. In heat it became soft and spongy and you could shape it into differnet things.

Pitch is derived from petroleum, coal tar, or plants. Various forms of pitch may also be called tar, bitumen, or asphalt.

Probably something special for batteries......I recall the electric power system used to use a stuff just like the batteries to seal water out of mains power connections in substations and on poles....I believe sulfur will dissolve in either tar or bitumen when hot and set hard.

JOHN.K. wrote: Probably something special for batteries......I recall the electric power system used to use a stuff just like the batteries to seal water out of mains power connections in substations and on poles....I believe sulfur will dissolve in either tar or bitumen when hot and set hard.

Sulphur is a cross linking agent and will harden products like rubber and bitumen.