olor of both
negatives and positives may be determined. Do not take the battery off
charge until you have obtained these results, although it may be
necessary to continue the charge for two, three, four, or five days.
In this preliminary charge it is not necessary to bring the gravity up
to 1.280, because the electrolyte is not to be used again, and the
plates will become charged completely, regardless of what the gravity
is. The essential thing is to charge until the electrolyte becomes
perfectly clear, the gravity stops rising, and the plates have the
right color. The Cadmium test may be used here to determine when the
plates are charged. If the gravity rises above 1.280 during the
preliminary charge, adjust it to 1.280 by drawing out some of the
electrolyte and adding distilled water. The battery must stay on
charge until you have the desired conditions. If one cell does not
charge,--that is, if its specific gravity does not rise,--you have
probably not freed all the shorts, and must take the element out of
the jar again and carefully inspect it for more shorts.

Right here is where one of the most important questions may be asked
about rebuilding batteries. Why must you free the shorts and put the
battery on charge? Why not save time by putting in all new separators,
sealing the battery, burning on the cell connectors, and then putting
it on charge? If you have ever treated a battery in this way, what
results did you get? Why did you have a badly unbalanced gravity of
electrolyte? How could you know what specific gravity electrolyte to
put in each cell? Perhaps one was charged, one only half charged, and
the other dead. Suppose the dead cell had impurities in it. How could
you get rid of them? Suppose the battery showed poor capacity on test,
what would you do?

Washing and Pressing the Negatives

To continue the actual work on the battery. The battery being fully
charged,--the electrolyte clear, the plates of normal color, the
specific gravity no longer rising,-- remove it from the charging bench
and put it on the work bench. Draw each element and let drain as in
Fig. 197.

[Fig. 219 Nesting plates]

Here again the labeled boxes described on page 183 come in handy.
Separate one group, remove the separators, and put one group in each
end of box to keep clean. Separate another group, And nest the plates,
Fig. 219, the negative with the negative, and positive with positive.
Separate the third element and