The aircraft NiCad cells were place in a very tight fitting aluminum battery box. These boxes had liquid neoprene rubber that coat the entire surfaces inside in out. Look like the whole box was submersed into this compound.
Then there was a layer of about 1/8 inch neoprene rubber sheets that adhered to the liquid coating. The bottom of the top cover press against the cell caps to keep them in place. Then we coated this neoprene rubber with a GE Dielectric grease which is like the compound use on spark plug boots except we got it in large tubes that cost us about $10.00 back in 1955. Before inserting the cells into the battery box, we coat the cells with a lot of this dielectric compound which ease the insertion into the battery box. After installing the links and buss connections to the exterior 28 volt receptacle that was mounted on the outside surface of this box, we completely cover all the links and connections with this dielectric compound. Today I used a acid resistance rubber compound on all my battery connections. After making up these links with the heat shrink not install yet, I insert a small cork in the battery clamp contact area and dip it into this compound. Leave 24 hours to dry and than install the heat shrinks. Install one of those red and black battery felt pads over the battery post and install the battery clamps with a stainless steel bolt. Applied another coating with this acid resistance compound with one of those small flux compound brushes. Let set for another 24 hours and than applied the dielectric compound over the entire link, top of post and the buss link if you have one. Did this method on Sept 4 2009 and the batteries still look like the day I install them. Roland ----- Original Message ----- From: "Cor van de Water" <[email protected]> To: "Electric Vehicle Discussion List" <[email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2013 2:01 AM Subject: Re: [EVDL] Have LOTS of Saft aircraft nicads > Chris (and others) have also used these cells in their US Electricar > truck. > The take away: do *not* use flooded NiCD cells in an aluminum battery > box. > The KOH will eat the alu - even when coated several times in advance. > The NiCD work very well in cold weather if that is where you live... > > Cor van de Water > Chief Scientist > Proxim Wireless Corporation http://www.proxim.com > Email: [email protected] Private: http://www.cvandewater.info > Skype: cor_van_de_water Tel: +1 408 383 7626 > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On > Behalf Of EVDL Administrator > Sent: Tuesday, April 02, 2013 12:56 AM > To: Electric Vehicle Discussion List > Subject: Re: [EVDL] Have LOTS of Saft aircraft nicads > > On 1 Apr 2013 at 15:25, Danny Miller wrote: > > > I know that CO2 from the air reacts with the potassium hydroxide and > > forms carbonate. If this happens, does this poison the plates for > good, or > > simply weaken the electrolyte? > > I'm not an expert on these matters, but from what I've read (in Home > Power), > I don't think it does any permanent damage. > > According to the HP guide I have, you're supposed to check the > concentration > of K2CO3 every year or so. You replace the electrolyte if it goes over > 15%, > or every 5 years just to be sure. I have the HP instructions for > titrating > the electrolyte to determine K2CO3 concentration if you're interested, > or > you can do it the easy way just change it now and every 5 years. > > To change the electrolyte, you will probably want to have something on > hand > to neutralize the KOH in the old stuff. I'm not sure, but you may need > to > make arrangements with some kind of hazardous waste disposal facility, > since > your waste electrolyte will contain lithium. > > Have the new electrolyte ready before you start; you're not supposed to > let > the cell sit empty more than 5 minutes. It's KOH and distilled water. > It > should have an SG of 1.190 and should be doped with about 12g of LiOH > per > liter. > > Remove the caps (if your cell or monoblock has them) and invert the > cell/block over a plastic tub. The instructions I have don't mention > using > Roland's distilled water rinse. Refill with fresh electrolyte. > > Stationary cells normally get a 1/8" to 1/4" layer of mineral oil > (Chevron > #22 Utility Oil only) atop the electrolyte to protect is from CO2 in the > air > and thus carbonation, but I don't think that would work so well for > mobile > cells. AFAIK none of the Saft EV cells or modules has ever used oil. > > What you really need here is sage counsel from folks who used these > specific > cells. I thought there used to be a Yahoo group of BB600 users, but I > can't > find it now. > > There's also at least one person on the Elec-trak mailing list > (Christopher > Zach) using BB600 NiCds in his ET, though he seems pretty cavalier about > > caring for them. I don't know whether he's a member of this list. > > From what he says, mostly he just hammers them with the Elec-trak's > blunderbuss charger, and waters them every now and again. I think he's > been > running them a good 8-10 years and doesn't seem to have any problems, so > > they must be pretty durable. However, you should probably ask him about > the > particulars. You can subscribe to the ET mailing list here: > > http://cosmos.phy.tufts.edu/mailman/listinfo.cgi/elec-trak > > Hope this helps. > > David Roden - Akron, Ohio, USA > EVDL Administrator > > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > EVDL Information: http://www.evdl.org/help/ > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > Note: mail sent to "evpost" and "etpost" addresses will not > reach me. To send a private message, please obtain my > email address from the webpage http://www.evdl.org/help/ . > = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = > > > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA > (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA > (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
