Try to have the owner present while you are opening his battery. If, however, he could not wait, and has left, call him up and tell him what the total cost will be, and if he has no objections, go ahead with the job. If he is not entirely satisfied with your price, try to get him to come to your shop. Show him the battery, explain its condition, tell him just what must be done with it, and explain how you made your estimate of the cost of the whole job. If you do this. there will never be any misunderstanding as to cost. Tell him the cost of a new battery, and let him decide if lie wants one. If the cost of repairing is almost as much as the price of a new battery. advise him to buy a new one, but allow him to make the decision himself. He will then have no cause for complaint.
Fig. 204 and 205, Show Diseased Negatives. The Large Ones Only Eight Months Old. Active Material, Granulated and Blistered.
2. If the battery is more than two years old, and the active material on the negative plates is granulated (grainy appearance), Figs. 204 and 205, and somewhat disintegrated; if the plates are weak and brittle around the edges, and several grids are cracked, Fig. 206, and the plates have lost a considerable amount of active material; and if the case has been rotted by the acid, the battery should be junked.
Call up the owner, and tell him he needs a new battery. If he does not seem pleased, ask him to come to your shop. Then show him his battery, and explain its condition. If you are courteous and patient, you will sell him a new battery. Otherwise he will never return.
3. If the positive plates are badly distorted from buckling, as in Figs. 207 and 208 discard them, for they will cut through new separators, if put into commission again, ill from two to six months.