FREE Recycled Batteries for HAM's

Skip the verbiage and go straight to the "what's available" list!

Hospitals use and discard LOTS of batteries!

For example, in its portable mode, a hospital's 120-volt AC/DC X-ray machine carries a bank of ten 12V 28AH sealed lead-acid batteries, each of which is about the size of a small automobile battery, and each sealed battery consists of six non-replaceable 2-volt cells.   (I know because I once hacked into one!)   Over time and/or use, cells lose their ability to hold a charge, and after enough cells have deteriorated such that the total voltage won't operate the X-ray machine, the hospital replaces the ENTIRE BANK!   Furthermore, to try to ensure they will never fail in use, other batteries, such as those which power IV pumps, are replaced on a time-in-use basis even if they haven't yet failed.

For almost 20 years, Mercy Hospital (once called St. Mary's Hospital) has given me their "old" batteries.   Batteries whose voltage remains "nominal" while supplying a current of an ampere or two are listed below and are given (free of charge, of course) to HAM (amateur radio) operators all over the nation (I once sent, via a HAM who was going that way, ten 12V, 28AH batteries to southern Florida from central Kansas for use in their hurricane season!), while those which fail go to the recycling center.

Over the years, I've received all sorts of batteries, from monster 100-pound 12V 100AH batteries to 50-pound 120V 4AH batteries to ounce-size cells.   Most batteries are LEAD-ACID, but many are NiCd's and NiMH's, and some are so well encased that I don't know what they are!   Long ago, I even received some "wet" NiCd's (think potassium hydroxide instead of dilute sulfuric acid), and about two years ago I was given two humongous-big/heavy 5 KVA UPS's (Uninterruptible Power Supplies; these went to Kansas City and Nebraska to power repeaters!)

In their replacement process, most of these recycled batteries are marked "BAD" so hospital personnel won't try to re-use them, but many of them last for YEARS beyond their replacement date.   (In 2007, for example, I finally recycled a 12V 17AH battery which HAMs used to provide emergency communication for the 1996 International Horse Race!)


As of 18 May, 2009, the following batteries are available FREE

  Sealed Lead-Acid batteries
  ==========================
  How       Amp
  Many Volt  Hrs         Other Comments
  ---- ---- ----  ----------------------------------------------------------
    2   12  17    About the size of a motorcycle battery
    1   12   3    Rated for C20 discharge rate
    1    8   3.8  Rated for C20 discharge rate

    4    8   2.7  These are "neat" batteries in that they are replaced on
                  a time-in-use basis and will probably last a LONG time,
                  but are probably rated for a fairly-low discharge rate.
                  If used (with appropriate cabling) in place of a 9-volt
                  "transistor" battery, it should last a VERY LONG time!

    1    6   5    Three "Gates"-type cells in a triangular package

    1   12   3?   Looks sorta like a lantern battery with wire terminals


  The following are shrink-wrapped instead of sealed and can be disassembled
  and/or rebuilt by a (pick one:  true?  cheap?  thrifty?  desperate?) HAM!
  ==========================================================================
  How       Amp
  Many Volt  Hrs         Other Comments
  ---- ---- ----  ----------------------------------------------------------
    4   12   4    10 NiMH cells, each a little longer than AA-size
    2   12   4    Same as above, but with some bad cells
    2   12   3    NiMH, about "C" size cells
    1   16   ?    12 AA-size cells of unknown type

If you have a use for one or more of the above, and if you'll promise to dispose of it/them properly at its/their end of life, then contact me by phone (785-539-4448; Manhattan, KS) or email (W0PBV@ARRL.net).   First come, first served, and you must come to my place to get them.

Some miscellaneous hardware and a few miscellaneous connectors are also available.
Use your browser's "back" button to return to whatever you were reading, or
go directly to my homepage "http://mcalhoun.freeshell.org/index.html">

Five boxes preserve our freedoms:  soap, ballot, witness, jury, and cartridge.
PhD EE - Barbershop Tenor - CDL(PTXS) - Amateur Radio Operator (W0PBV)
NRA "Lifer" & Certified Rifle, Pistol, and Home-Firearm-Safety Instructor
Certified Instructor for Kansas CCH (Concealed-Carry Handgun) license

This page was last modified on Monday, 18 May, 2009.