Sounds like the copper battery bar has corroded!! I had this when I left some old cells out in the garage (in a plastic case mind) and the bar went all green and manky....
You might be able to replace the rotton bars with some better ones (I suggest some decent quality ones from Orion etc etc).
I would think the cells are okay, although you might want to clean the cell 'ends' before resoldering with the new bars.
Using a voltmeter to check cells, they either work or don't work, so set it to measure the cells voltage, then check each cell individually. They will either show 0v or 1.2v or similiar.
HTH
Mark
|