Extreme corrosion on battery terminals

[pedrocr]

My electric Toro Workman was bought second hand with at set of 8 Trojan T145 batteries with ELPT terminals. I've been having issues with the battery terminals getting a build-up of material that seems to come from corrosion:



I've had several terminals completely corrode through and cause an open circuit in the battery.

To try and solve the issue I've cleaned the terminals, replaced all cables, adjusted water levels on the batteries and installed the cables with a torque wrench to get an exact torque specification. This only happens in some of the terminals and I suspect the previous owner may have over-torqued the bolts and damaged some of the terminals.

Does anyone have some other suggestion on how to fix this without just buying a new set of batteries?

[pedrocr]

Doing some research on how to clean my batteries better I watched in horror a bunch of youtube videos that simply hose down the battery tops. Is this really something that can be done? Isn't adding a bunch of water just shorting all the batteries to one another? The Trojan video uses just little bits of baking soda solution and then little bits of water, section by section. But if I can just turn on the garden hose that makes things much easier.

[Cartmaster]

Yep, Baking soda solution to neutralise the acidity, rinse and dry with airline, hairdryer or similar.

[pedrocr]

If anyone is curious like I was thinking water conducts electricity something like 10^10 (10 billion) times worse than copper:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electr...ious_materials

Suddenly rinsing batteries with a garden hose doesn't sound as crazy

[Ribfeast]

I clean them with a wire brush, rinse with water, dry thoroughly, and then spray them with fish oil, seems to help.
Since went to lithium but it kept the lead acid battery terminals looking good at the time.

[Aflyer]

As others have suggested clean tight connections should not grow mushrooms like you have.

I mix 1/2 cup of baking soda in a quart of water, and use a throw away paint brush to clean the battery tops and the terminals, and cables. Rinse off with clear water and dry if desired. Never had any problems and they stay clean.

You may have corrosion inside the terminal lug on the cable itself. You might want to replace the cable, or cut off the lug and replace it.
Aflyer

[Mooncarter]

Good advice. I use those $1 throw away toilet brushes from the Dollar Store.

[Lochlin]

I find this (or similar) helpful

[gornoman]

To any newbies reading this be sure to DISASSEMBLE the terminals before cleaning efforts begin, or the corrosion will return very quickly.