How do I recycle leaf batteries?

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evblazer

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Has anyone actually recycled any? Local waste won’t take them as ewaste and didn’t have any suggestions. Battery store just laughed and told me good luck even though they sell other lithium themselves.
I have a leaf pack which I think I wrecked or rather allowed to be wrecked by mice plugging some holes and opening others so water got into the box but couldn’t get out. They also ate a bunch of wires and through some combination of chewed wires and water a few cells got drained pretty far down. Shouldn’t have left the bms connected over the non mowing season although it had been reliable for a couple years so took it for granted.
 

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Wow that's a danger as it can short . Is it at 2.o or below ? Do not keep in house or garage ... ! Ok if you want to go to zero put in bigger bucket water to cover by and inch add salt and watch bobble . keep children and dogs away. It can self ignite . DO NOT CHARGE.!!!!! NO....
 
You should fully discharge them before disposing. I use a 12V Headlight bulb. Discharge one module at a time. Outdoors - I use a bucket of sand. They may get hot. After fully discharged, they are much safer to handle and dispose of. Not sure if they will take them but Home Depot and I think Best Buy have places for battery recycling.
 
Yeah Home Depot discharge the battery put it in a box run in and put it at the bottom of the battery box because it won't fit in top and run oshit you're on camera. This is getting complicated. So where are you located?
 
I took about 10 pounds of discharged 18650s in to Home Depot. Their battery recycle box was too small so I asked at the returns desk. The employee said no problem and took the whole batch of dead cells away in a shopping cart.
 
Once a cell or a pair of cells dropped to 2.5 at one point when I caught the bms going faulty. Since that time they have been charged a few dozen times with a new bms on them.
The pictures are from when I pulled them out after I found some water in again . Today I pulled all the balance leads off and replaced them. The lead to the most positive cell seems to have shorted out at one point and that is the cell that was dropped down.
I do wonder if the green is from the former Lead acids that were in the battery tray but I’m unsure. Right now all the cells are unbalanced but none terribly low.
 

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999zip999 said:
Yeah Home Depot discharge the battery put it in a box run in and put it at the bottom of the battery box because it won't fit in top and run oshit you're on camera. This is getting complicated. So where are you located?
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I’d have to take a couple cans to some far off Home Depot’s when they were busy and run for it. I don’t think I’d be dragging on a hundred pounds of big cells they’d probably call the cops around here. Sadly That would be passing on the problem sort of like when the previous owner of my house left a ton of hazardous waste in a locked shed. The management team came out and met me when I was walking up with 12v of 20ah Thunderskys in a carriage since they get battery dumps.

I’m near Dallas TX.
 
We have a location in Dallas, Richardson to be specific.
The Home Depot thing would be easier.
I recommended that to some people before and they didnt really have any issues dropping them off.
Once someone said they were very picky about it only being a laptop, tool, or cellphone battery.
Im not sure how the Leafs would fit in the bins though, the opening was rather small.
Discharging them is an absolute must, dont want any issues.
After they are discharged below 2V, short them out with wire and then shrink wrap them/wrap them in plastic.
Do not take them charged or unwrapped.
If one Home Depot gives you trouble, go to a different one. lol.
 
Do drain them with light blub or bubble bubble it's a mess and the water turns weild green when you add the salt. I don't know how safe the water is after. Or down to 2.5v or so.
 
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