No amount of charging will cure a negative with bulged, swollen active material. Once this material becomes bulged nothing but pressing will put it back where it belongs, and until it is pressed back into the grids the plates are in a poor condition for service. Even if the bulging is but very slight, the plates must be pressed.
Washing Positives
If you intend to use some of the positives, they should now be washed. If you intend to use all new positives, throw away the old ones, of course. The positives should not be held under the faucet as the negatives were, because the stream of water will wash out much of the positive active material. Rinse the positives a number of times in a jar of clean water by moving them up and down in the water. This will remove impurities from the surfaces of the plates and wash off any foreign or loose materials. After rinsing each positive group, replace it in the box.
Never attempt to straighten badly buckled positives, as the bending cannot be done successfully, and the active material will not have good contact with the grids. Positives cannot be pressed as negatives can, because the positive active material lacks the elasticity and toughness of the negative spongy lead. Slightly buckled positives may sometimes be straightened by bending them lightly all around the edges with a pair of thin, wide nosed pliers. This should be done very carefully, however, and the straightening done gradually. If the plates cannot be straightened in this way and the separators do not lie perfectly flat against them without pinching at the corners, the plates should be discarded, and new ones used in their place.
This is all the work to be done on the old plates, and those which are to be used again are ready to be reassembled in the battery. The process of treating the plates should be followed in every battery that you rebuild, and the same steps should always be taken, and in the same order. With one Standard method of rebuilding batteries you will do uniformly good work and satisfy all your customers. The essential thing for the success of your battery business is to learn the Standard method and use it. Do not rush a battery through your shop, and leave out some of the steps of the process, even though the owner may be in a hurry. If you have a good stock of rental batteries you can put one on his car and keep it there until you have done as good a job of rebuilding on his battery as you possibly can. Remember that the Standard method which has been described has not simply been figured out as being a good method. This method has been worked out in the actual rebuilding of thousands and thousands of batteries of all makes and in all conditions, and has produced batteries full of life and power, ready to give one to two years more of good, reliable service.
Burning on Plates
When you put new plates into a battery, or find some of the plates broken from the connecting strap, it will be necessary to burn the plates to the strap. Frequently you will find plates which are otherwise in a good condition broken from the connecting straps. This is most likely to happen when the plates have been cast on to the connecting strap instead of being burned on. These plates must be burned on.
New plates are frequently necessary. From pages 339 to 346 you see that new plates are required under the following conditions:
(a) Positives. Ruined by freezing; weak and brittle from age, large part of active material shed; badly buckled; rotten and disintegrated by impurities; reversed. Positives in a reasonably good mechanical condition can be restored to a good electrical condition by charging.
(b) Negatives. Active material granulated, bulged and disintegrated; charged while dry; positives disintegrated by impurities; ruined by overcharging; badly sulphated because allowed to stand idle, or used while discharged; much active material lost, and that which is left soft and mushy; negatives reversed by charging battery backwards.