Does anyone buy dead L16 batteries? (or at least give you a core charge for them?)

I have 8 Interstate "Workaholic" L16 batteries that came with a full system I bought. Unfortunately, they've had to sit and wait outside for a few years, and they're no longer strong enough to use. I figure with the high price of lead acid batteries and core charges, I should be able to at least get something for them. If I've got to move those beasts around to get rid of them, hopefully I can get paid a little to do it. Anyone had any dealings with this? Thanks, Lee

Sure. They have normal scrap value.

I had a few dead 12 volt AGMs, standard auto battery size more or less, and the best I could find was Autozone giving a $10 gift certificate credit for turning them in. I found big-city recycling places that might have done better but wasn't interested in the 200 mile drive. The autozone people might not like taking an L16 battery they can't lift, plus doesn't look like a car battery.

You may be able to get help, although it shouldn't really be brand-specific from them:


Just getting them off the property to make room for your LiFePO4 bank may mean more than any core rebate would.

Thanks for the ideas, guys! Right now they're in their battery box at our house, so I just want them out of the yard here, but I sure don't want to load them up and move them to the property and then have to move them again.

It never really occurred to me what to do with "extra" batteries before. I just know they need to be gone, and as much as batteries have jumped in price in the last few years, it seems logical that what's in them should be worth something. Even if it only covers a case of beer for the work it will involve. Since I'm in rural southeast Missouri, the prospects are slim for recycling. Might have to take them to St. Louis an hour north to get anything. But, at 64, although I'm in decent shape, picking them up to set each one on my dolly, then drag them up a ramp onto my truck, I would sure like to recoup something. I'll check out that site, Substrate. Thanks again, everyone. Lee

Well, there is always a contingent out there who are into "rejuvenating" and might take them off your hands.

Home-brew desulfators, arc-welder zappers, and the like could be convinced with a case of beer maybe.

Right. Out here in the sticks, those types might be tough to find, Substrate. Arc welder zappers?? I've been a welder for 45 years, but I'm not sure what those are. Or what they would need old batteries for.

Heh, I'm talking about the guys who dump epsom-salt or other elixers into old batteries. Some are convinced that the batteries merely have a headache, and put an aspirin in each cell.

The high voltage zappers are the guys that tap the terminals with an arc welder in the hopes of burning off the hardened sulfate.

Some may be able to bring them back to some sort of state of usefullness, like powering garden pathway lights..

Ahhh... Didn't know you could do that. No, I actually did try (on one) to drain it and put Epsom salt water in it and charged it, but just moving that thing around convinced me it was a waste of time. Plus, I pretty much decided years ago to use LiFePo batteries instead. So now the question is, how to get some money out of the work it's going to take to get them all out of my possession? And the thought of lead batteries prices (and core charges) going up so high, along with the fact that L16 are twice the size of normal batteries, I figure they ought to be worth something to somebody. I always assumed the core charge was scrap value.