d to remain in a discharged
condition, or the owner may have neglected to add water, with the
result that the electrolyte did not cover the plates. In either case a
considerable amount of crystallized sulphate will have formed in the
plates. Plates in such a condition will require a charge of about a
week at a low rate and will then have to be discharged and recharged
again. Several such cycles of charge and discharge may be necessary.
It may even be impossible to charge such a battery, no matter how many
cycles of charge and discharge are given. If the owner admits that his
battery has been neglected and allowed to stand idle for a
considerable time, get his permission to open the battery.

(b) The battery may have been overheated by an excessive charging
rate, or by putting it on a car in a sulphated condition. The normal
charging rate of the generator on the car will over heat a sulphated
battery. Overheated plates buckle their lower edges cut through the
separators, causing a short-circuit between plates.

(c) The pockets in the bottoms of the jars may have become filled with
sediment, and the sediment may be short-circuiting the plates.

(d) Impurities may have attacked the plates and changed the active
materials to other substances which do not form a battery. Such plates
may be so badly damaged that they are brittle and crumbled. Acetic
acid from improperly treated separators will dissolve lead very
quickly, and may even cause an open circuit in the cell.

(e) The conditions described in (a), (b), and (c) will permit a
charging current to pass through the battery, but the plates will not
become charged. It is possible, of course, but not probable, that a
condition may exist in which all the plates of one or both groups of a
cell may be broken from the connecting straps, or inter-cell
connectors may be making no contact with the posts. In such a case, it
would be impossible to send a charging current through the battery.
Acetic acid from improperly treated separators, and organic matter
introduced by the use of impure water in refilling will attack the
lead of the plates, especially at the upper surface of the
electrolyte, and may dissolve all the plate lugs from the connecting
straps and cause an open-circuit.

(f) The separators may be soggy and somewhat charred and blackened, or
they may be clogged up with sulphate, and the battery may need new
separators.

(g) The spongy lead may be bulged, or the posit