he loose active material, corrosion of the grids, failure of the
gravity to rise high enough on charge, overheating of the battery on
charge, gassing before the sulphate is reduced to active material with
breaking off and roughening of the active material, and makes the
battery lazy and sluggish in action. The spongy lead must make good
contact with the grids if the battery is to have a long life and give
good service.

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