Lead Calcium Plates Dumped into Sodium Bicarbonate Solution

Yeah, smells like salt and vinegar chips, haven't done the taste test though

Thanks for your quick response.

Not sure about the correctness of the insoluble state of Ca compounded with either CO3 or SO4, but that is not the point of my query

From what you are saying, basically the Sulfur is being told to bugger off and replaced by a Carbon?

<...the Sulfur is being told to bugger off and replaced by a Carbon...>

Not elemental sulphur nor elemental carbon. Sulphate and carbonate. The electochemistry of the cell will determine whether the carbonate becomes attached to the calcium or to the lead. Lead carbonate doesn't sound like it's the sort of stuff that is wanted in a lead-acid battery, whereas lead sulphate certainly is - in the right place. Anyway, replenishing the electrolyte later with sulphuric acid will certainly drive off any carbon dioxide from any carbonates present, replacing them with sulphites and sulphates.

Whether a useful battery will result after all this chemistry has been done to it others might wish to chime in on?

Yeah. thanks for the correction.

It is my belief from researching on the web, that the VRLA lead acid batteries (Valve Regulated Lead Acid) use AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) as between plate insulators and also doubles as a medium to hold the electrolyte and reduce loss of Oxygen and Hydrogen. The VRLA batteries also use a lead calcium grid for their plates as opposed to Lead-Antinomy.

The positive plate (after "forming") has a paste covering the plate made up of PbO₂

The negative plate (after "forming") has Pb.

As a result of normal chemical reactions during normal use of a battery, both negative and positive plates also contain in addition, varying amounts of PbSO₄

Out of boredom I pulled my dead VRLA apart and dunked the plates into a mix of water and sodium bicarbonate. Much happy bubbling was observed and the smell of my favorite Smith's salt and vinegar chips ensued.

I was just curious as to what has happening here and thanks for answering my question.

I've heard of a very old method of getting a sulphated battery back into operation by using Epson salts. You dump the acid and fill the battery with Epson salts disolved in water. Let this sit and then flush the battery and refill with acid. It's reputed to work by removing the sulphates from the plates, but I have never tried it. A lot of messing around with acid.