Read all about the restoration of this lovely old hand lamp & Edison NH10A (NiFe) battery
By Dorian Stonehouse
With grateful thanks to Barrie Jones of Niagara Falls, Ontario, Canada for donating the hand lamp to us for restoration; and for shipping it all the way here to Carmarthenshire.
The restoration project begins

Remember to take special care when handling these NiFe batteries, as they may contain potassium hydroxide, which will burn the skin.

Read all about the restoration of this lovely old hand lamp & Edison NH10A (NiFe) battery
A voltage test across the battery terminal can show up any snags at an early stage.
These batteries, despite being left for dead decades ago, can often still retain a charge.
This ancient voltage can sometimes give us a good clue as to battery condition.
So, before dumping an old Edison NiFe battery on the scrap heap because it looks tatty, check out the battery condition first with a high resistance multimeter. You might be pleasantly surprised by what you find.

Evaluating if battery renovation is worth it – the method
Using safety glasses, first chip off some of the crystals with a screw driver.
Then give the top a bit of cleanup with a toothbrush and wire brush, open the two vents screws and pour some potassium hydroxide solution into each cell and swish the solution round for a few seconds.
Now check those terminal voltages
Even before charging this hand lamp, the voltage across each block jumped up to around 0.57V and 0.9V respectively.
This showed that although one cell was slightly deficient, none of the cells were shorted.
With this in mind, I immediately set out to charge the battery.
Bubbling but not boiling
When charging the Edison nickel iron (NiFe) battery, do not let the electrolyte boil over, as this means you are over – charging it.
Charging and cleaning information
For charging information, here are a couple of links which will take you to other parts of this website, where you will learn all about charging techniques:
NH10 EDISON NICKEL IRON (NiFe) CLEANING AND CHARGING
NH5 EDISON NICKEL IRON (NiFe) BATTERY HANDLAMP

Read all about the restoration of this lovely old hand lamp & Edison NH10A (NiFe) battery


Read all about the restoration of this lovely old hand lamp & Edison NH10A (NiFe) battery


Read all about the restoration of this lovely old hand lamp & Edison NH10A (NiFe) battery
Donations of scientific items and lamps most welcome
If readers would like to make a donation to us of any unwanted lamps or scientific apparatus (the more unusual the item – the better), then please contact me by email:
doriansto@aol.com
Best wishes to all
Dorian.