[sportcoupe]

I have 180 lbs of well used lithium batteries from Nissan Leaf. A local large golf cart battery store wants $700 to dispose of them for me.

How can I make them safe and dispose of them? Some are still charged.

 

[kennybobby]

Mitsubishi has a procedure for the MiEV pack which involves placing it in a wooden crate lined with a heavy plastic film, then filling this "tub" with water, and waiting 72 hours.

Basically you could put it on a sheet of plastic film on top of a pallet, then carefully build some side walls without puncturing the film, to make a tub.

i don't know if this will help with disposal, but it should remove any concerns over transporting a hot pack that has voltage.

edit: no salt in the water, just tap water. Salt causes the reaction to be too aggressive and release excessive hydrogen gas. Water makes it react, salt water reacts too fast.

 

[Duncan]

Where are you?
I would take them off you for free!

They may be usable as home storage but even if not they represent a couple of hundred dollars worth of materials

I would just keep them (plenty of space) - at some stage they will be worth a bit for materials

EV batteries are just too much expensive materials in one place to be thrown away

 

[john61ct]

My understanding is the law requires the original vendor to take them back for proper recycling.

You may be responsible for getting them there.

 

[sportcoupe]

Mitsubishi has a procedure for the MiEV pack which involves placing it in a wooden crate lined with a heavy plastic film, then filling this "tub" with water in which salt has been added. The saltwater is conductive and will short everything out and deplete the pack to an inert state.

Basically you could put it on a sheet of plastic film on top of a pallet, then carefully build some side walls without puncturing the film, to make a tub. Then i would mix up a batch of salty water in a 5-gallon bucket and pour it in to mix with the rest of the water needed to submerge everything.

i don't know if this will help with disposal, but it should remove any concerns over transporting a hot pack that has voltage.

I’ll have to look into this more for details. Not enough information in your post. Thanks.

 

[sportcoupe]

Where are you?
I would take them off you for free!

They may be usable as home storage but even if not they represent a couple of hundred dollars worth of materials

I would just keep them (plenty of space) - at some stage they will be worth a bit for materials

EV batteries are just too much expensive materials in one place to be thrown away

Savannah, Georgia. Just about as far from you as possible.

 

[sportcoupe]

edit: no salt in the water, just tap water. Salt causes the reaction to be too aggressive and release excessive hydrogen gas. Water makes it react, salt water reacts too fast.

I found the MiEV pdf. It is here if anyone is interested.

http://elvsolutions.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/2012_I_Dismantling_guide.pdf

Yes, no mention of salt. Just water for 72 hours. I won't need to build a crate though, my modules are individual. I will take a 50% discharged module and test it in a bucket of water to see if it explodes or discharges. LoL.

 

[GreenTecAuto]

I work with a recycler up in Wisconsin. He pays me $0.10 lb. But they need to be disassembled and discharged before he can accept them. Not a lot of money, but better than having to pay.
Im assuming you have modules, since the whole pack weights much more than that.
I usually put some nichrome ribbon across the terminals, long enough for a slow discharge. I dont leave anything overnight.
https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2062857.m570.l1313.TR2.TRC0.A0.H0.Xnichrome+ribbon.TRS0&_nkw=nichrome+ribbon&_sacat=0

I have a shop up in Atlanta, GA. If you happen to make your way up there, you can drop them off. I cant pay you for them bc i will need to send them up north, but i have shipments going back and forth that these can go on.

They may still be usable, like someone else mentioned. One mans junk is another mans treasure.
PM me if you decide you want to drop them off, i will let them know to expect you.

 

[sportcoupe]

I am test discharging 2 Leaf modules in a bucket of plain tap water. They are supposed to discharge in 72 hours according to the information I was given and read.

I decided to check voltage after 24 hours and see if it has started coming down. Voltage hasn't changed at all in 24 hours submerged in tap water.

Has anyone tried this with success?

 

[john61ct]

Add dissolved salt

 

[kennybobby]

Add salt to make the water more conductive. Since you are testing individual cell modules by themselves it may require a more agressive method.

The miev pack has numerous circuit boards and connections to each cell that provide easy-to-short conduction paths when they get wet. Your cell terminals are well separated and have no circuit components. Here is an 8 cell module from the miev.

 

[sportcoupe]

I'd like to avoid salt so it doesn't erode away the positive connection.

I resorted to the lowly 12v tail light bulb to discharge modules.

 

[Duncan]

Why are you discharging these modules?
What is wrong with them?

I suspect that a Leaf module with only half capacity is still worth something - have you tested all of these modules?

I suspect that there is somebody with a caravan close to you who would love to take them off your hands

 

[sportcoupe]

Why are you discharging these modules?
What is wrong with them?

I suspect that a Leaf module with only half capacity is still worth something - have you tested all of these modules?

I suspect that there is somebody with a caravan close to you who would love to take them off your hands

Some are already 0.00v so they are ready to be recycled. They went to 0.00v while in the pack on their own. Some are 8v and puffed up like a pillow about to burst. Those are getting discharged to 0v for recycling.

Yes there are some good modules left out of 16 total. They are all getting old (2010). I don't know anyone local that would want them.

 

[StevO]

Reading thru these posts and I didn't think fresh water would work because H2O is not a conductor. Ocean water is however. What about pounding a steel rod into the ground and just wiring the positive terminal to the grounded rod?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

 

[sportcoupe]

Reading thru these posts and I didn't think fresh water would work because H2O is not a conductor. Ocean water is however. What about pounding a steel rod into the ground and just wiring the positive terminal to the grounded rod?

Sent from my Pixel 2 using Tapatalk

If tap water isn't conductive, can I toss a hairdryer into your bathwater with you in the water?

 

[john61ct]

It is a very poor conductor compared to salt water.

High voltages + a lot of amps will overcome that

 

[StevO]

as soon as you get in the tub, salts from your skin, dirt, soap scum left in the tub, etc make the water become conductive. Pure H2O is a poor conductor. Take 2 clean glass beakers, fill one up with pure distilled non ionoic H2O and fill the other with salt water, then take your multimeter and do some Ohm tests. You'll see the difference

 

[sportcoupe]

My tap water is NOT pure H2O. Not even close.