Absolyte IIP Questions

[JT2222]

Hello all,
I just happened on this site & appreciate all the info. I have a system of Absolyte IIP 100A-99 batteries. These were purchased several years ago & would be very interested in the year of manufacture. The only numbers visible are stamped on the metal case & are: FLZ 537688. Never did pay any attention to the caps on these & had no idea they were so easy to open or that you could add water. Also never knew that they could be equalized. Just added 8 oz. of distilled water to all the cells in one bank of these & did an equalize charge to 2.50 VPC. The rest voltage on that bank came up to 2.14 VPC. Don't know if it was because they never were fully charged or if it was the added water, but before doing this, they were running closer to 2.03 - 2.07.

I do have a couple of questions. These have 3 individual cells in a metal case. They can be either hooked together in parallel so that each group of 3 is a 2 volt - 4800 AH battery, or in series so that each group of 3 is a 6 volt - 1600 AH battery. They can then be series connected for the desired voltage. Is there an advantage or disadvantage to either method?

It appears that individual cells can be removed from the metal case & be replaced. Is there a recommended method of doing this?

I talked to a battery recycler who told me they were not interested in Absolyte batteries. What is in these that would make a recycler shy away?

From the web site, I see that one of the plates is a blend of materials & does contain some amount of silver. Is there enough to try separating the materials from a bad cell?

[Dapdan]

Hey J,

Welcome to the forum. First off let me direct you to my post. Do a search for post done by myself in respect of the absolyte cells and read all of them and then ask me some pointed questions. Basically I was at your stage back in March when i first joined this forum. I had just got some 100A-19 absolyte cells. When I first charged them they were generall around 2.09 per cell. Now having added water and equalised them several times most of them are at 2.15 a some are at 2.16/2.17 rest voltage. In respect of the date of manufacture check on the front of the cell there should be a code on in (letters and numbers) recorded and post it and I will tell when and where they were manufactured.



Cheers...
Damani

[JT2222]

It appears there are several different codes on these. Some of the ones I see are:

FLZ14C100
FLZ14B100
FLZ12B100
FLZ13C100
FKZ28A100

How do you read these codes? Have you figured a way to determine how much water to add, or just an educated guess?

[Dapdan]

Hey J,

For me it was an educated guess based on my research on the IOVR process. I added approx. 8 oz to my cells. The process basically states that you approximated the amount of water based on the ohmic resistance of each cell. The higher the resistance is away from what it should be the more water you put in. I errored on side of caution because adding to much water would cause problems (positive plate corrosion).

In respect of your codes the translation is as follows:

FLZ14C100 Fort Smith plant, November 14th, 1997 3rd shift, 100A Absolyte

FLZ14B100 Fort Smith plant, November 14th, 1997 2nd shift, 100A Absolyte

FLZ12B100 Fort Smith plant, November 12th, 1997 2nd shift, 100A Absolyte

FLZ13C100 Fort Smith plant, November 13th, 1997 3rd shift, 100A Absolyte

FKZ28A100 Fort Smith plant, October 28th, 1997 1st shift, 100A Absolyte


Hope this helps you. Your batteries are basically 12years old. You should check for positive plate growth (bad thing) it looks like this:

Cheers...
Damani

[BB.]

Damani,

Is the positive plate growth evidenced by the positive post being "pressed up" out of the battery vs the position of the negative post?

-Bill

[Dapdan]

Bill,

That is correct. It is also evidence by localised bludging and stress cracks in the cell plastic casing at the base of the positve post. In one of the picture it is shown dramatically where you can see how the top of the positive post has been skewed at angle relative to the level negative post. Basically the plate has grown down to maximum at the base of the plates within the cells and it is now growing in the opposite direction pushing against the top of cells where the connection post is located.

Cheers...
Damani