Wet leaf cells?

evblazer

1 kW
Joined
Aug 23, 2009
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329
Does water destroy them permanently?
I have 12 cans of leaf cells in my hustler zeon mower in a 48v (12s) configuration.

There were great for a couple years and then I had lots of problems. Rats eating wires and it seems clogging drain holes which caused standing water. I’m not sure which caused my bms to go nuts but I have since replaced it and during a recent storm found water was getting in and staying. I pulled the batteries and found the attached.
Do I just recycle them somehow or after drying them out could they work? The last cell in series was only giving me 30-40 amps max out of possibly 120. I could also just use the non green 6 and make a 60 amp pack?
 
I would drain them and send to recycle...

Edit: I dont know if the top pic is the cell group that is in better shape than the cells in the second pic.

Dont risk a lithium fire from the bad cells. As far as the cells that are in better shape, clean them up. Charge them outdoors and allow them to fully balance. Wait two days to see if they bleed down or hold a charge.

If they seem to work well and aren't getting hot during charge and discharge, perhaps try them out carefully. Dont park them in a garage or any structure that could catch fire.

I much prefer 13S or 14S for 48V nominal applications. Large packs like this can power an inverter to give your home 120V AC during a power outage. Because of this, I prefer all the cells in a pack to be the same age and condition.

Seven Leaf modules is 14S, and that's a pretty sweet pack.
 
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