Headway Battery Rust Issue

EVDL] Headway Battery Rust Issue
Sunday, February 21, 2010 9:59 AM
From: "Matrixel" <matrixel@comcast.net>
To: "Electric Vehicle Discussion List" <ev@lists.sjsu.edu>
I just want to let everyone know about an issue I'm having with my Headway Batteries. After 6 months of storage here in my South Florida garage, most of the cells are showing an alarming amount of rust on the positive terminals. The cells still have a good charge and spot testing has shown them to meet discharge specifications, unfortunatley the rust is now making
it's way to the contact area and will need to be remedied before they can be used in a vehical.

Any idea's for would be appreciated.

Here are some pictures:
http://vintage-voltage.com/240sx/

I'll post more if there is any interest.

Charlie

Awaiting responses with interest.

Fellow Headway screwtop owner, 4 months in califronia only a few miles form the salty ocean, no rust as of last month.

d

I'd say about 5 of my 125 cells had rust spots when they arrived. I've had them in a car in Houston TX for the last 2 months and haven't noticed any expansion of the rust spots since I installed the cells. The cells are in the trunk compartment so they aren't directly exposed to the elements or much condensing humidity. I thought the rust I saw was suspicious, I'll keep my eyes on the cells to see if any more develops.

Cheers,
--Adam

deardancer3 said:

Awaiting responses with interest.

Fellow Headway screwtop owner, 4 months in califronia only a few miles form the salty ocean, no rust as of last month.

d

Click to expand...

I'm in San Diego also, and am very interested in possible rust issues with these Headway cells.

Deardancer3, dry environments usually prevent rust pretty well, might explain your lack of rust. Florida is more humid. But now that we've been having some moisture in the last few months, your cells might start showing a little. Can you let us know how it goes?

BTW, where did you get your Headway cells?

Steve

I would clean off the contact area with a die grinder, tap the threads and apply a coat of anti seize.

That does seem like a serious issue. I'd be interested in hearing if this is a problem for more users as I decide if I'm going to get headways or not.

By the way, Lock, where did you get those cell holders and did you make those aluminum buss strips yourself?

Not my cells!!! I just posted that first msg copied from the EVDL, `cause I thought it would interest some here. I *do* have a pack of Headways awaiting assembly, but I bought through AndyH w/the "standard"(?) Headway Lego building blocks...
Lock

I'm guessing that garage contained lead-acid batteries being charged, or possibly bags of fertilizer. I've not seen any rust on my headway cells and humidity is high here.

After doing your rust removal and rethreading the connector threads you may want to find a good "electric grease" to coat the metal surfaces of the cells. /you should be able to use it on the connectors as well. You may find it helps or even eliminates the rust all together. There are a lot of produces available to choose from and the cost can be really high for some of them. So it maybe a try it and see project. Here's a few to consider http://www.wiringproducts.com/contents/en-us/d327.html If you want more info you can google "electric grease" .

Little-Acorn said:

deardancer3 said:

Awaiting responses with interest.

Fellow Headway screwtop owner, 4 months in califronia only a few miles form the salty ocean, no rust as of last month.

d

Click to expand...

I'm in San Diego also, and am very interested in possible rust issues with these Headway cells.

Deardancer3, dry environments usually prevent rust pretty well, might explain your lack of rust. Florida is more humid. But now that we've been having some moisture in the last few months, your cells might start showing a little. Can you let us know how it goes?

BTW, where did you get your Headway cells?

Steve

Click to expand...

Just checked, all the cells BMS, connection rust and tarnish free.

HOWEVER, spotted a pretty loose screw terminal on the big power switch. tightened and prevented a problem.

thanks.....
i was part of the big Joshua Yahoo purchase group in 2008.

`Been following this thread on the EVDL... getting interesting:

Re: [EVDL] Headway Battery Rust Issue
Friday, February 26, 2010 8:54 PM
From: "Matrixel" <mat rix el@co mcast.net>
To: "Electric Vehicle Discussion List" <ev@lists.sjsu.edu>
>> I looked at the pictures. Are the cells only rusting on one end?
>> Don

There is some minor rust on the negative terminals, but most is occurring on the positive side.



> Hey is the plastic near it PVC?
> I just remembered that when we cooked off a litle PVC in our molding machines, all exposed metal rusted in a 1/2 hour and stainless less so,
> but still did. If we left PVC sitting on metal surface it rusted it.
> Jeff



You may be on to something here Jeff. I'm not sure what plastics are being used but there are many.



The pack enclosure consists of 4 major components (from inside to out),
rubber spacers, yellow sheet plastic, packing tape and blue shrink wrap.
Each pack has 6-8 vertical rubber 1/2" spacers between the cells and the
outside case to help keep the pack shape. It is then enclosed in a fairly
rigid yellow plastic sheet which is covered with a full layer of packing
tape. The yellow plastic makes a cracking sound when I bend it. The entire
yellow plastic and taped mess is then blue shrink-wrapped. Overall it's a
fairly air-tight arrangement which also serves to trap in any leaching
plastic contaminants. When I opened up the last pack for the first time the
plastic odor was very strong. Now it smells like packing tape.