good grief... to think that a 10 year old video contains a far higher amount of relevant and practical information than I can find on any modern content... this right here is what youtube is for. Thank you.
Wrong, I have done the various charging discharging routines on some 'bad' batteries in the past that would not come back to much capacity if any really. Then I also pulse charged them a long time. Eventually I got back about 80% Or more capacity and the batteries worked well for years for me. Very large expensive industrial batteries I bought dirt cheap at a scrap yard!
Sometimes when I gass my batteries the cells turn brown, positive plate corrosion happens when you over gas so I suggest you keep your amps low, like 2 amps for a 100AH battery.
it's odd, he kept saying "12.5volts" in the video AND to overcharge it, and yet we all know that it takes 12.6 to 12.7volts to even be considered fully charged, let alone overcharged...
Multumesc pentru video, as vrea sa-mi construiesc si eu un dummy load, rezistenta de unde ati cumparat-o? Eu as vrea sa folosesc pentru testarea capacitatii unor baterii de 12 -14 V, ce valoare a rezistentei trebuie sa folosesc ? M-am abonat la canalul tau si eu sunt pasionat de electronica.
The sediment that falls to the bottom is lead that is no longer able to chemically interact with the battery in a useful way. That active material should be considered to be permanently lost and once enough of it has been lost the battery is beyond saving and will need to be recycled.
To desulfate a working battery and rejuvenate it a bit, a car starter battery, what voltage/amperage should you charge it at? Like I can charge it fine but I know discharging and recharging a few times would help, just not sure the best way to do it Or is the normal smart charger really ideal. In that case, can you clarify the voltage it’s charging at on the dumb charger in the first step when it’s at a really low current for instance what’s the voltage it’s charging at
If I want to desulfate a large 24V electric pallet jack battery pack that's been sitting for a year, what would be the appropriate sized inverter to use for when I get to step 5? Also how many amps of load would be ideal to discharge it? The thing is pretty big, just the battery pack alone weighs around 1500 lbs.
Pallet jack batteries are usually lead-antimony, and as they age they take a lot of water and current during charge. I'd recommend splitting them up and desulfating the batteries individually before reconnecting as a full battery unit. Not sure what voltage or capacity the cells are in your case. Lead antimony takes about 5x the charge current when the batteries are EOL vs when new so there is a large range on those vs the more common lead-calcium (in the USA) or lead-selenium (in the EU). If the batteries are older you may need a pretty substantial amount of current to desulfate.
@@knurlgnar24 Thanks for the reply. I tested each cell and it sits around 2 volts. 24.4 volts for the whole pack together. That's after one round of charging but still not enough for the pallet jack to operate yet. I have watered the batteries with distilled water just to the top of the plates whenever needed. I was under the impression that these are lead-acid batteries. Its a Crown PE 4000 pallet jack with EnerSys batteries and I'm in the USA. The battery appeared to work fine a year ago. The standard 8 hour charge used to work well at that time. I do have a very large old school charger which worked well for these batteries in the past. It has a needle gauge that reads amperage and it appears that during charging, the current starts out higher but soon drops to around 40 amps. The whole thing plugs into a 220V socket so I get a decent amount of amperage. I don't have an overhead crane or engine hoist and each cell is really heavy. I don't have a way to split them apart. I was just wondering in my situation, what kinds of parameters would be involved in step 5, discharging. Would a small 400W 24V input inverter be sufficient if I just hooked up a row of lights? Or would that take forever to discharge this battery pack?
Nice video, thanks for sharing. Quick question, you never did go to the part about pulse charging. From my limited knowledge standpoint, pulse charging is basically another way of "overcharging" and "cycling" the battery at the same time, thus allowing for quicker results. So how come you're against it?
Charging at a "stable" 1-4 amps sounds expensive. Who is going to pay the bill for me when I recover a $200 battery but it ends up costing me half that in utility billing? I realize the charger steps up the current, but the KW hour price in my area is a killer. When I was a teenager I added some "Magic Battery Recovery" clear liquid to a failing car battery and after several weeks of on again off again (mostly on) it recovered enough to get several YEARS service out of it in a Cadillac of all things. I have no idea what I added, but have been retroactively curious and wish I had the asnwer. Oh well. I doubt I would be as willing to use an unknown chemical these days. With wisdom comes skepticism. Fortune cookie phrase I just made up.
Even at 4A, charging for a full day costs less than 15 cents at a rate of 10 cents per kwh. It is essentially free relative to all other costs and saving a battery is great for the environment to boot.
Not only is this instructive, it's informative and explanatory. This is what the internet needs!!! I've been looking this sort of thing up for about an hour and after several youtube videos, this one came up, and I wanted to say Kudos and thanks for this informative video! I like when someone explains how and why something works. Leads to better understanding.
This is literally not true. Most parents are not issued to brand new inventions, but in order for something to be patentable, it must be a completely new and better device than what currently exists, or, as most patents are, it must be a significant and useful improvement on a pre-existing device that is currently patented. A statement like, "Anything can be patented", is so wrong that it is hilarious. I've got a few parents, my late uncle was a patent attorney. More than 90% of patent applications are rejected. Somehow, the math maintaining that ANYTHING can be patented, vs the reality of MOST patent applications being rejected just doesn't add up. Making such broad generalizations that are based on (what are your sources for this absurd statement?) do more harm than you can imagine. Next thing MAGA idiots will be storming the US Patent and Trademark Office for rejecting Mr. Trump's application for bleach and/or Lysol IM as covid cures. It's particularly sad because the rest of your video, though 10 yo, is the best that I have ever seen regarding battery desulfation and regeneration. Please don't interpret my one negative comment as a general putdown of your entire video. It's not. It's a great and informative video in general, and years ahead of anything currently (lol) being made on YT. It speaks loudly and clearly to the immutability of electronics and physics. You have merely made it easier to understand (not easy for the typical consumer of these videos) and definitively proven that magic and wishes have no place in these situations. Keep up the good work. If you produce vids anymore!
I have lived off-grid for 15 years and have been a ham operator for 45 years. THIS DUDE KNOWS WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT! The rest are hucksters! I have used an Infinitum desulphator (this is not an ad, BTW, there are other brands as well) for the last 7 years and my average system voltage has gone from 23.9v to 24.8v after about a year's use. I believe adding a desulphator is good maintenance, but it does not restore batteries. Using a desulphator to keep a battery in good condition is not magic. Remember, what he said, taking good care of a battery is what it's all about, not free lunch...This is a first-rate post! Thanks!
I have restored many car batteries using the old charger method and for the most part, maybe 7 out of 10, would all recover. Some were old truck batteries which take a lot longer to stabilise, but most get there in the end. My reason for needing these old batteries as a kid - C.B Radio, until i was old enough to buy a stable rectified and regulated PSU. I did miss the bubbling sound beside my bed though...lol. Some good info for cycling the batteries you have given. Info I will no doubt benefit from one day. Top vid mate.
Followup for anyone interested: I still use this battery today 5 years later for various purposes. It has about 50% of its expected capacity and about 200% of the normal series resistance. It is still useful to this day which is better than being thrown out, even if it isn't as good as a brand new one.
I've been considering starting to make videos again but it is a lot of work, time, commitment, and money. In short life and motivation have gotten in the way. Perhaps someday... Thanks for the support!
Hello. I use a different approach. I use a laboratory power supply unit (lab PSU for short) that can output between 0 and 30VDC (selectable via knob). My model allows up to 3A maximum. It should have similar results to your method shown here but MUCH quicker. So for example let's suppose the internal resistance of the battery is abnormally very high. To compensate for that, we maybe have to initially put 20V or even the full 30V to the battery terminals but since the lab PSU has current limiting, I can set that at anything I want from 0 to 3A. Let's suppose I set it at 2A. Now it wont matter how much initial voltage I put to the battery terminals since the lab PSU will not flow more than 2A and will adjust the voltage accordingly. What usually happens on a bad battery is the voltage will start out high, then creep down as the battery takes on some charge. When the voltage gets down to more normal levels (such as 14V for a 12V battery), I can then pull it off of the lab PSU, drain it slightly to remove surface charge and to prep it for a normal smartcharger. Then just let the smartcharger do its thing. So what you do in possibly a month, I can do MUCH quicker. I agree that cycling an old battery helps the Ah capacity as even letting a battery sit in a nearly full charged state seems to somewhat hurt the capacity slowly over a long period of time. I have seen an old AGM battery that had only 48 minutes of runtime at about a 500W load jump up to 63 minutes the very next cycle cuz that battery was sitting for years (but fully charged before each drain test). Also, why burden yourself having to keep checking if the load voltage is 11.0V when you can just let the power inverter inform you when it drops to between 10.5 and 10.7 by letting it sound the audible alarm? That is what I do. I put the load on the battery via the power inverter then I go in another room on my computer and just listen for the alarm then quickly turn off the power inverter and immediately recharge the battery using my standard smartcharger. I think it is also a good idea to charge a battery at different charge rates. The idea is each different charge rate has pros and cons but it should improve the overall health of the battery to sometimes blast it with high amperage but other times use a more reasonable amperage and if you are not in a hurry, sometimes use a rather low amperage. For example, on a 100Ah AGM battery, sometimes I hit it with 25A, sometimes with 12A, and sometimes with 8A initial charge current setting. One last thing: using incandescent lamps is a very good idea for a load, especially if you live in a cold climate cuz the heat will be put to good use. However, a lamp rated at say 100 watts at 120VAC will NOT be 100 watts if powered by a cheap non sine wave inverter. Those usually have less output voltage such as 110VAC and thus the actual wattage of the lamp will drop to something like between 80 to 90 watts. I normally use a pair of 300 watt lamps but connected to an inverter, I suspect they are considerably lower such as 240 watts each. So I call the entire load (including the power inverter) about 500 watts total. The actual wattage is not critical since I use it for all the drain tests so I am just checking the relative capacity of different batteries (or of the same battery after cycling).
hey ,if anyone else trying to find out nicad battery reconditioning try Jadonite Renovate Battery Buddy (do a search on google ) ? Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my mate got great success with it.
excellent idea, btw i did somehow same procedure like you, but the outcome after 3 or 4 cycles was one cell in short for dendrites problems, now i used 110AC line with a lamp incandecent (the old ones very difficult nowaday to get one btw) a diode bridge rectifier and the battery all in series and till now it's working but i need to do more test and check if dendrites or cell shorts, will not appears
HI. can i ask if you put resistor between or not? I'm try PSU set for 2 amp and voltage raise from 12v to 16V and battery start boil inside..after few hours of charge.When I know is done? Thanks
I actually have good experience with pulse charging, I made my own pulse source of 25 kHz frequency, and in combination with cycling i just revovered one battery from some 30% capacity to almost 80% (Ah). First I was cycling with overcharge, but I had small improve increments. Than I implement pulse charging instead my standard charger, and I keep on overcharge (battery voltage between 15-16V) for about 1-2 hours. Continue with cycling, and than it start to improve in much bigger increments.
@@shorelined1 I dont think so... The battery never came back, but maybe if you had more stanima you'd have better luck, i could only last a few minutes... and wasnt packing much amps like 1-2, so she never go off not surprisingly. Id like to try again perhaps with a DIY solution like zokonjazokonja did.
@@mikejones-vd3fg the original comment said he had a pulse frequency of 25khz that means 25000 pulses a second, i dont think you were that fast plugging and unplugging it lol
This method works 100%! Picked up a use NIB Back UPS and when I opened it I discovered it had been unopened for 16 years. The 12v 5 mAh SLA was totally dead. Watched this video then I proceeded to fill all the cells (all were completely dry) and connect it to my bench power supply pushing it @16v. For the first 24 hours it was only drawing about 1 mA and had only come up to about 6v, at the end of the 2nd day it'd come up to 10.6v but was still only drawing 1 mA and it stayed there for 48 hours, I was beginning to doubt that this battery was salvageable. I noticed it the middle of the 4th day that it was drawing 3 mA and had come up to 11.9v (there might be something to this!) 4 hours later it was sitting @13v and as it stands now I'm draining it down to 10.5v with a turn signal bulb and it's been running for nearly 30 minutes. Amazing that I could bring a 16 year old battery back to life with this process.
@@princeinflorida214 if the cells are dry then you need to refill them with distilled water. Restoring already used SLA batteries never seems to work that well but if you do this with new ones it can work extremely well. I got a battery from a car jump starter pack which had been sitting unused for 8 years and was at 0.2 V but after charging it for a couple of days the 8AH battery puts out about 80% of the power of a brand new one and gets about 6AH of capacity. I did this about 7 months ago and the battery still works great.
Just restored 2 100AH scrap yard batteries Using a 20V 90W laptop charger and a 65A load using a similar method to this It took me 2 days to restore instead of 2 weeks just by changing the voltage and load Initially after charging with a smart charger and both batteries linked in parallel they would run the load for about 20 sec before the inverter shut down After recovery they ran the load for about 2 hours I let the battery voltage go up to around 15-17 volts and left it at that voltage with the laptop charger switched on for about 20 min then disconnected the charger and let it rest for an hour then drain it with the inverter then recharge with a smart charger then overcharge with the laptop charger I repeated those steps about 4 times a day for 2 days and now they are in service powering my off grid system
@mewantbrains - "I let the battery voltage go up to around 15-17 volts". Hi, can you, or anyone else, explain the above sentence, i.e. what charger was used to get the battery voltage to 15v-17v. Is the foll. interpretation correct - Use the smart charger to charge battery upto 14.4/14.7.(or whatever the smart charger charges). Then immediately, use the 20v 90w laptop charger. Once the multimeter (keep checking battery terminals) shows around 15v/16v, keep the charger connected for more 20 min. Thanks.
Yes. I think that's what he means. A man in my area advised direct charging from a high voltage solar panel 24V (for a 12V battery) directly to the battery for about 15 minutes repeatedly, during peak sun hours. Do same for two to three days. I haven't tried it because I am not yet in that situation.
Finally some more videos on stuff I have been doing forever. You can restore lead acid batteries and you can’t restore lithium batteries easily at home. The companies want you to spend money and keep buying more batteries or new technology. I love maintaining and restoring anything I have. Lead acid batteries are perfect for home base solar storage And I easily restore lead acid batteries with Raw solar power without the smart solar charger. I would use lithium for lighter transportation needs. People need to know the truth.
Understanding the physical chemistry is slightly useful and this video is good for this. After 50 years of car battery life cycle experiments I concur with the approach taken here. Cracking that sulphate layer is needed, but not so hot that the plate loses useful material underneath. That's why a pulse charger isn't so good: the plate reforming doesn't work so well with high currents so you lose capacity.
I have the foxsur Amazon charger which does indeed use pulse method. I’m trying to restore a battery that keeps dropping volts. I cleaned the cells out then added an epson salt/distilled water solution and set the charger on repair. But now I’m afraid I may have messed up using this charger
This was great, thanks, I've been looking for "restore old batteries" for a while now, and I think this has helped. You ever tried - Ammaceen Reconditioning Rabblement - (just google it ) ? Ive heard some awesome things about it and my mate got cool success with it.
I\'m not sure but ,if anyone else trying to find out how to recondition used car batteries try Panlarko Recondition Planner ( search on google ) ? Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my mate got excellent results with it.
There are several factors in fixing a car battery. One place I discovered which successfully combines these is the Magic Mender Wizard (check it out on google) definately the best info that I have ever seen. Check out this awesome resource.
@ 3:10 Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate. It increases conductivity at the expense of positive plate corrosion and drastically accelerated self discharge. Keep watching for a better solution...I was shooting a video on adding the Epsom salt method that I have had mixed results with and I have to say this is by far the best way to restore a lead acid battery. Do you know if you add the Epsom salt and keep the battery on a float charger will that offset the accelerated self discharge problem?
With lead-acid, it may be worth replacing the H2SO4 electrolyte if cells are accessible. If cells are 'lead sulphonated' then the battery equation says that some of your electrolyte will be JUST WATER. Have a nice day.
The method you describe is done industrially to recondition batteries. Replace the electrolyte with distilled water, Force current through it until the pH stops falling, then clean out the cells of liquid and debris and replace with the proper concentration electrolyte. It's messy and not too practical for the average person and I've never tried it. But it is well documented that it works and forklift batteries, for example, are often reconditioned this way before being sold to their 2nd application.
It's surprising that you dismissed pulse charging completely. I've been playing with bedini circuit for a couple of years now. I got most of the batteries I used in those projects from scrapyard - all sulfated badly I'm sure, they were dumped. I had only one small 4.5 Ah brand new to have something to compare amphours. Well, contrary to what you say, I managed to successfully restore (partially of course) all of those. I didn't have an actual 12V charger to compare with, but even if it did better, clearly the HV pulse charging worked just fine. At least it did for me. Did you not try the SSG circuit? It does charge pretty damn well.
Excellent video. Thank you! No hate, but I've recovered several batteries with a cheapo pulse charger I got off eBay. It's not 100% and I haven't recovered anything heavily sulfated. There also is a happy medium with it. You can't just put it on every battery and leave it. It will interfere with normal charging at some point. Even so, It has saved me from buying new batteries several times. When the dead battery is a relatively new one that was left to sit for too long, you're glad for the de-sulfator. It has more than paid for itself several times now.
I made a highly concentrated epsom salt by filling one cup of epsom salt then mixing it with a little bit of water, then i emptied the battery electrolyte, then added the epsom salt to one of the weak cells that was not bubbling while charging but i didnt charge it affter adding the salt, i just poured the salt into the dead cell, i left it for 24 hours, and now it is accepting a charge and bubbling, then i emptied the epsom salt, gave it a rinse and added the sulphuric acid electrolyte again, now it is reaching 13v
Still you can find close to that price in Walmart...But don't anyone know or that may sky rocket too as the norm in post COVID is to take back all the pennies they gave and thousand folds more!
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to educate us. Being that we only have about 32,000 days, or 960 months of life, if we live to be 80 years old, time is priceless.
Some say life is meaningless. Some say time is priceless. Some say the 80 years we live is nothing compared with eternity. Some say live for today because tomorrow may not come. The truth is I just made this video because I have an interest in such topics and I wanted to, but I'm glad people are finding it useful!
@@knurlgnar24 I thought about putting silicone carbide powder and water in a battery and then putting the battery on a paint shaker to clean the plates off. Any thoughts on that?
@@Ed_Aylward I suspect the plates would destruct from the vibration, but I think your idea is super interesting as industrial battery restorers perform similar processes (without the vibration). If you make a video showing your process and results, positive or not, please let me know.
Thanks for this video! I wouldn't dismiss pulse charging and Epsom salts entirely. Pulse charging allows for a much higher than normal charging voltage to get through the cells to help break up the sulfation, and the cyclic nature mitigates against heat build up as well as creating small oscillations to help mechanically break up the sulfation. Epsom salts don't do anything chemically other than reducing the resistance, which helps promote current flow to also break up sulfation when charging. I am hesitant on discharging the battery completely, but the principle makes sense. People also discharge the battery, reverse charge it, then discharge, and charge it back up again as another method to "shock" the sulfation off. A combination of these methods can often help. But these methods only work when the problem is sulfation. When there's mechanical damage to the plates or if they are shorted out then the battery is junk.
I work for a large industrial battery company and we have pulse chargers but we do not promote that they are better at desulfation which in my experience of two years they do not but the pulse charge is promoted to save electricity costs for people with many batteries to charge daily. Our guidelines for desulfation require a steady low amperage charge for 48 hours and then put them on a load bank to test for bad cells.......sometimes repeating the process two to three times to fully desulfate. This guy knows what he is talking about.......any other way is a gimmick or quick fix.
Your statement is ambiguous. A combination desulfator/charger will attempt to desulfate as it is slow charging but they also have higher amperage desulfators for large capacity batteries (such as 100Ah or more). How do you know for certain that a desulfator is not any better than slow charging?
I did the distilled water with Epsom salt mix after emptying out the old acid and cleaning the inside with baking soda and distilled water the rinsed it out with more water after filled it up with the mix and to my surprise it actually worked so far its been good for some months
Very bad idea.mixing foreign chemicals with an acid is like a kids chemistry set.you are playing with avid for dad gum sake.and baking soda is a neutralizer.unless you can get every scrap of it out of the battery you will in effect neutralize your electrolyte in short order.
This UT brought back fond memories. My uncle owned a small automotive repair shop. I worked there during a few summers while in HS. I noticed he had a bank of batteries that he had on chargers (all were dumb at this time. LOL). I asked him what he was doing with all these old customer batteries. He said he was reconditions them. I thought it odd at the time, but he seemed pretty confident that it work for some. I guess he was right. I learned a lot about cars. If you maintain the battery, rubber hoses, belts, oil, coolant, and tires even long ago most car almost never stranded one the road. And true today.
Well done young man! Years ago I used a similar method to restore thousands of dollars worth of batteries in building inverting systems. The charger I used was so old it actually had tubes in it!
Old tube equipment is some of the best equipment! I prefer transistorized stuff myself and while work with computerized equipment for a living I ONLY want smarts in my equipment if it actually provides value in excess of it's cost and complexity drawbacks. Not everything new is better.
@@knurlgnar24 Tungar rectifiers were quite popular for battery charging. A tungar rectifier is a vacuum tube diode with a low voltage drop. The cathode and filament connections came out the bottom to a screw in light bulb base. The anode connection came out the top pin. Service stations had them and in the time of battery powered radio sets many brought their batteries to the service station for charging. Of course radio dealers and repair shops also had them as well as home garages.
@@knurlgnar24 I have that battery charger. That thing alone has brought back dead batteries for me numerous times. I absolutely love that little charger.
Several people here making comments about pulse desulfators but no proof as to how well or not they work. Why doesn't someone just take a highly sulfated FLA battery, take some video of it, leave it on the desulfator for a month, then come back and take more video of it. Also take a similar battery and just put it on a trickle charger (using knurlgnar24's method) and compare results. Also you cannot use just 1 pulse desulfator to generalize to all of them. Try maybe 2 or 3 different models since many use different pulse frequencies, designed for different size batteries. These "snake oil" claims here and not scientifically proven or disproven, they seem more opinionated.
Thank you for this tutorial Knurlgnar I tested my car battery from my car (varta d59) with a conductance tester that calculates the amps the battery puts out based on its internal resistance, it tested at 388A out of 540a. I made some tiny 1mm holes on the top and used a syringe to add a bit of distilled water in it each cell, all of them had the plates covered but each one was at a different level. I then put it in an equalising charge at 16 volts for 24 hours, then i did a discharge with an h4 headlight bulb and after recharging it it went to 432A. I just finished the second discharge cycle and i am waiting for it to charge to test again.
Appreciate Video! Forgive me for chiming in, I would appreciate your initial thoughts. Have you heard the talk about - Lammywalness Trendy Trade Guide (google it)? It is an awesome one of a kind product for learning how to recondition batteries at home minus the hard work. Ive heard some unbelievable things about it and my GF after a lifetime of fighting got amazing results with it.
Summary to help locate details in video. 0:00 How to identify when rechargeable lead-acid battery is failing. 2:34 Two "recovery" methods that knurlgnar24 does not recommend: (i) adding chemicals to the cells and (ii) pulse charging. 3:40 Introduction to recommended 5-step procedure. Equipment needed: Non-smart (old) battery charger, low-ohm resistor (such as an incandescent light bulb), voltmeter, and clamp ammeter capable of measuring at least 5 amps. 5:14 Step 1: Connect non-smart charger through a low-ohm resistor to the battery. [Be careful where you put the low-ohm resistor. It can get hot if the battery starts to accept more current.] 7:48 Step 2: Monitor current until it rises to and stabilizes at 1-4 amps. Add distilled water [carefully!] to keep battery plates covered if possible. It may take up to a month before the charging current stabilizes at 1-4 amps. If it never reaches 1 amp, the battery is not recoverable. Buy a new battery and recycle the old one. Some vendors will pay you a "core charge" credit if you return your old battery to that vendor. [Determine details before purchase.] 8:20 Step 3: Assuming charging current stabilizes at 1-4 amps, leave the charger connected for an additional 48 hours. 8:42 Step 4: Disconnect the charger, wait 24 hours, and measure the battery's voltage. If not 12.5 V, reconnect the charger for another 48 hours. Repeat step 4 as needed to bring the voltage to 12.5 V after 24 hours of no charging. If you still can't get 12.5 V after a week or two of repeating step 4, recycle the battery. Successfully passing step 4 means that the battery is desulfated. 9:50 Step 5: Cycle the battery about 5 times by partially discharging through a load and recharging. 13:23 Final comments
Thanks so much for the information! This is a fantastic tutorial as are your other videos on reconditioning batteries. I was struggling with getting severely imbalanced SLA Group 4D batteries back to health, (they were only 6 months old and in light cycle use) and your videos pointed me in the correct direction. What I found, and what helped me: The key is to not stop at the voltage of the 20 hour rate, but make sure the resting voltage after discharge is at the 20 hour rate. I had tried to recondition stopping at the 20 hour rate (10.5 volts in my case) but that did not work. my batteries were not improving. I tried slow recharge with 2 ohm resistor for a week, recharge at 1 volt over the upper limit (condition equalization charge) for 24 hours, charge at 14.8 volts for 2 days, 40 amps for 10 hours, nothing worked. Then I thought about what you said about referencing the spec sheet in one of your reconditioning videos and getting amps through the battery - I'm theoretically putting a ton of amps back into the battery, its not holding the charge - it wasn't even going to heat, it was just doing nothing..., so maybe I'm not discharging enough 10.5 and stopping is just not enough? That was the case. After complete discharge cycles so my resting voltage was at the 20 hour rate spec, the batteries started to improve with the reconditioning you outline. I had 10 out of 26 Group 4D batteries like this, so far I've got 4 recovering, 2 back in service. I read up on how imbalances that ultimately lead to sulfation like this can happen, turns out it is manufacturing defects! Improper ratios of the lead + active materials (tin/calcium/etc) during manufacturing causes the internal cells to become imbalanced when lightly discharged and slowly recharged. (however the manufacturer of these batteries will not refund me or give me replacements, soooo I won't ever purchase from them again) but your methodology works to bring them back into balance and back into service. I just hope I don't have to do this too often, because it is ridiculously time consuming :) Thanks for your videos! Useful and accurate information that solved my problem!
I just saw one of your battery revival attempts, try this if you have the time and effort. There's an old trick that used to be used here in Sweden for tired batteries with thick plates. The old ones didn't have as soft lead clay so what we did was; 1. Discharge the battery to less than 10%. In the end, use an iron rod or similar to completely discharge it. 2. Charge the battery in reverse polarity, make sure it doesn't get hot. - If so, decrease the current. Leave for 12-48 hours on a dumb charger. 3. Do as point 1. 4. Charge with normal polarity. (5. Small particles of lead may be present on the bottom and making a soft short circuit. If so, drain the battery, rinse it several times until clean. Fill with 32-37% H2SO4 and charge as normal. Leave on a dumb charger for overcharging for 12-48 hours.) Get back to me if you try it, it’d be fun to know the results.
@@nwakammachijioke622 you can buy battery acid (sulfuric acid) at Oreilys and autozone in the US. They come is 1 quart, 1 gallon, 2.5 gallons, and 5 gallons.
A written summary would have been nice (but otherwise nice video) so I'll try: 1) use lowest amp charge possible, even a 'reducer' if you can invent one, to charge it at only 2, 1 or like him, even .1amps. Charge it like that for upto many days (even a month he says basically) till you feel it's 'overcharged' (he surmises the only way to actually 'desulfate' a battery is by "overcharging" (his words 4:56 for 15 sec)).. 2) 'recycle' it by....using it, like upto 5times, to try to break off more crud (he 'keeps track', but just use it instead, you'll notice if it's better anyways..). That's it. (his '5points' are really 1 or 2 points>>1mini-charge, 2use-it. The other minor issues he mentions not necessarily important: a) refill w/ water if needed (obvious) & b) use older 1950's era-chargers that won't auto-shut off so you can overcharge. The one thing he doesn't say that he probably should? Make sure it's a really bad battery to begin with, because all the overcharging can possibly hurt you if it's halfway decent to start with. Basically, if you want a poor-mans' version, just buy they smallest amp charger you can find, usually called just a 'maintainer' for ~20$ at ~1.5amp max, and throw it on there for weeks and weeks, it'll do the same thing. Once it seems like its worked, start using the battery like normal. Personally, when i have a dead battery that doesn't come back, i can usually get a few more years out of it by 'tricking it' to recharge dead cells by jerry-rigging it to another battery, and charging both at the same time for a day or two. They'll 'fight' over who gets the charge, and somehow trick the weaker battery to recognize its bad cells and start to charge them finally. p.s. he says get it over 12.5volts to overcharge, but 12.5 isn't even considered a full charge, which is 12.6 to 12.7, so try to get it a little higher
immeohmyoh yea I agree I have actually had good success force charging at 200 amps for 20 minutes then 40amp for 12 hours check voltage ( I usually see 13 volts ) I then discharge and charge on 2 amp for 48 hours ... has always worked for me . I do think I’m going to try “ cleaning one of my weakest batteries with distilled water and baking soda “ refill and slow charge just for curiosity. But all I see him doing is spending a really long time doing something that can be accomplished a lot quicker . I just did the double battery deal last night with a dead jump pack and a hot car battery it’s been on for 24 hrs at 2 amp and is showing a few volts I’m going to give it another day or 2 and if I do t see any voltage gain I’m going to feed 40amps to it for a day ! Lol she will either go or blow !!
i should have mentioned that when i jerry-rig two together they both start weak or undercharged, but a full one should still leak to the weak one, though i think it's probably better to start them closer-together so they fight longer. //i haven't heard about baking soda but it sounds plausible for a 'clean', usually people mention epsom salts moreso for the sulfates in it, let us know how it works out!//yes i've mixed boost charges with trickle charges too, >13v is common//gang-way! ha
After watching a few years back I have revived a few batteries using this method. What I use rather then old charger is just a small 10w panel and controller hooked up to battery until it holds 12.5 then I cycle it...after about 4-5 cycles I can usually use it again to start a car. It takes quite a few weeks sometimes longer but doesn’t cost anything to leave them hooked up on a panel.
If your really need a resistor but dont have one you can make one out of a pencil clip lead to sharp end then cut into pencil a few spots exposing the graphite to what you want the resistance to be using a multimeter then clip the other lead to exposed graphite then to battery I know it works because ive charged smaller batteries using this method 👍
A sulfated battery is not a.worn out battery. It is sulfated not deteriorated. Deterioration of positive plates is irreversible Every lead acid battery has a finite number of charge discharge cycles with resultant deterioration for every cycle until ineffective usability. Sulfation occurs from deep discharge or lack of charge over time A new battery in cold weather can become sulfated by continually running your starter until it is driven into a deep discharge state. A sulfated battery gives false voltage readings on charge thus smart chargers will automtically shut down. There is such a thing called a form charger which is variable voltage and high current output witch is suitable for complete desulfation Charge until battery temperature reaches 130 degrees F. Cool and repeat until specific gravity reaches 1275 on a hydrometer for automotive batteries and 1300 for deep cycle batteries Keep top of plates covered don’t overfill. Absolutely must be monitored on charge overheating must not be allowed to occur as plate deterioration results Also high rate of hydrogen production dictates mandatory safety practices. Never make or break connections without shutting the charger off. Cycleing the battery is no help. High current and temperature rise under controlled circumstances is. And a hydrometer reading is the proof. Trust your hydrometer A fully charged lead acid battery should read between 1275 and 1300 specific gravity. It’s been a while since I worked on batteries for a living but pluskota used to manufacture form chargers.
You can do this with a power supply pretty easily, too. Sometimes, that can be adventageous because you can run slightly higher voltages. Some cases of battery issues can be solved by running around 15.5-18.5 volts for a few hours until current increases, then dropping back down to 14 or 10. As for pulsed charging, it works when combined with other methods, but it has a correct and incorrect application. A capacitor-regulated pulse charging approach can be extremely effective for certain types of issues. Those little pulse devices are garbage.
You're one of the few 'pulse charging' proponents I have run across who has reasonable expectations of the technology and because of that I will respond and say that I agree in general. There are applications where non CV/CC desulfation can be beneficial. I draw the line when people claim there is some sort of magic going on. All pulse charging implementations use the same physics and chemistry as constant current desulfation. I still argue that for most people CC desulfation is a better method but there are very valid arguments to be made against that claim. In any case I did publish a video that covers using a lab style power supply to do what you outline in your first paragraph. Yup. Works faster than what I show here though one needs more than a standard charger to accomplish it.
I have about 6 multimeters of various qualities, but I still want a free Harbour Freight one - just because it's both cool and ridiculous that they give them away lol. But alas I live in New Zealand.
A resistor can be made with simple SS wire wrapped around a non-conductive core. You can use an ohm meter to confirm the number of turns. I used .024 SS aircraft lock wire for one I needed to replace a blown power resistor on an automotive cooling fan.
I watched this video when you first uploaded it. I agree with you totally on chargers. The older ones will get the voltage above 15v which is critical to desulfinate the plates. What are your thoughts on the newer thing, capacitance chargers? I'm tempted to experiment with one.
I look for whitepapers and academic research on battery charging technologies from time to time and the reputable information I find has always debunked any complicated charging technique analyzed. A simple constant voltage is best. BTW, I went through my batteries again just a few months ago and for some reason this battery has now recovered to about 90% using this technique a 2nd time. (I used an electronic load for discharge and a lab power supply for charging, but the technique is the same as the 'cheap' way presented in this video.) Perhaps being on a low float voltage trickle charge for the last few years while not in use helped it out.
The battery in my wife's car recently died.. checked with my multimeter and it was sitting at 11.4v, down to 6 or 7v when turning over the engine. attempted charging on a 20 year old "charge and maintain" charger that was my dads; that didnt work as the charger clicked over to ready after about 30 secs without actually charging... so bought a 9 stage smart charger that has a reconditioning mode and received it today.. its on it currently and the charger has recognised the battery is "low" and further during the pulses my multimeter is showing 15.41v for about 15-20 seconds then dropping back to 13.5ish volts before immediately climbing again and repeating the process. I guess ill see tomorrow how it's gone 💁 but as far as the reviews go these cheap multi stage chargers these days seem to have a reputation of working well at reviving dead batteries. I'm guessing the technology has advanced a bit since you made this?!
I wonder if you fill the battery with nitroglycerin and gasoline ⛽️. I bet that would make something happen 😊. Just kidding I enjoyed your video thanks for sharing information.
This idea also applies to life in general. Feeling kind of down and negative? And more positive to your negative and life's will be much better .... follow me for more tips and tricks .. lol .. All jokes aside enjoyed your video..
I heard of this one guy who put epsom salt in his battery thinking it would fix it. When people found out what he did he was charged with a salt and battery. Dad jokes rock.
This tutorial is packed with the good information and zero bad advice. As a simple safety tip it should be pointed out that flooded lead acid batteries expel flammable gasses (hydrogen and oxygen) during the charging process and should be performed in a well ventilated space. Hydrogen is a lighter than air gas so common sense would say "don't do this in a closet or under a non-ventilated hood. But hey, who needs eyebrows. My old man used to tip them upside down, rinse them out, smack them with a dead blow hammer a couple of times and refill with clean acid solution. I could see the old sulfur and crud poor out and it usually helped on old farm tractor batteries. The main trick is getting the crud (sulfates) to slough off of the plates as he clearly explained in the video.
I have recovered various varieties of lead acid batteries over the years, from my experience it sometimes helps to get a fairly high voltage across each cell, obviously this can lead to localized heating if part of the cell is in partial recovery. This is a merit to pulse charging, to get fairly high peak voltage but with a low duty cycle the heating and localized gassing can be minimized. A GE publication many years ago regarded sulphation as a reversible failure but also suggested current limited charging that could reach about 11v per cell. In my experience conventional wet lead acids will recover after many years of neglect, other types are more tricky. Obviously not all failures are reversible!
Do you have a video or is there an easy way to determine whether a car battery has a shorted cell (unrecoverable), as opposed to a sulfation problem that is recoverable. Cheers
It's funny that I just came across this video. A few weeks ago, I decided to try recharging this car battery that I've had for years. It's been dead, in my garage, on the ground, for at least two winters. I thought for sure that the plates were trashed. So, I busted out my battery maintainer and connected it to the battery. It gave me a green light, which means it's done charging. So, to trick it into charging, I put my test light in the circuit and walked away. I came back two days later, to find it charging. I took the light out and let the charger continue. Three more days passed, and it was full. I disconnected it and let it sit another two days, before checking the voltage. It was just over 12.6, which looked good. Then, I put a small load on it, similar to what you did, with a inverter and a 90 watt halogen bulb. The voltage dropped quick, so I charged it up again, and repeated the test. It got stronger, probably enough to crank an engine over or at least run my inverter for a few hours. I've done this trick a number of times I've the years, but this was the first to a battery that sat through a couple winters without a charge, and was brought back to life! So, I too, will disagree with pulse chargers, as I've used them to resuscitate a LA battery from 0 volts to 12.6.
Thanks. Just got handed a treasure trove of batteries and already finding some good ones. This method may help me get the most and the best out of the pile. I'm actually looking for several with a decidedly dead cell or two, reducing the voltage to 8.1 to 10.4 that can be used to run transmitters requiring that voltage range. Ah rating can be also reduced as the transmitters are low power. Tired batts can also be used for lighting and other appliances not voltage sensitive or appliances that designed to operate at a 'failing' batteries maximum voltage... Get creative!. To the heckler, Yes, I do in fact plan to go to MARS and will need this information. There i will likely find a colony of vulcans and fellow geeks. We will gladly watch from a far as the earth denigrates. Have a nice time.
Great video content! Apologies for the intrusion, I would love your initial thoughts. Have you researched - Lammywalness Trendy Trade Guide (probably on Google)? It is an awesome one off product for learning how to recondition batteries at home minus the normal expense. Ive heard some decent things about it and my mate after many years got cool results with it.
Great Video clip! Sorry for butting in, I am interested in your thoughts. Have you heard the talk about - Lammywalness Trendy Trade Guide (erm, check it on google should be there)? It is a great one of a kind guide for learning how to recondition batteries at home minus the hard work. Ive heard some great things about it and my friend at very last got astronomical success with it.
The plates are actually made of a hard lead mesh impregnated with a soft lead paste. Scrubbing would remove the paste, and to get them apart you would need to cut and re-cast the lead straps holding the plates together. A better way to clean them is to empty the electrolyte, replace with distilled water, and charge. empty, charge, repeat, etc. Then refill with the proper ph acid. This will remove nearly all of the sulfation, whereas this procedure only removes some of it.
Nice Video clip! Apologies for chiming in, I am interested in your initial thoughts. Have you considered - Lammywalness Trendy Trade Guide (do a search on google)? It is a good exclusive guide for learning how to recondition batteries at home minus the headache. Ive heard some pretty good things about it and my buddy after many years got astronomical success with it.
Hi , Have recently got a set of 600AHr OPzS (6 x 2v cells) that were in good service for 2 years and were decommissioned simply because the PO went on grid. Unfortunately the PO removed the acid to make them easier to move:-( That's how they came to me. The airtight caps are on. Some slight visible white fluff here and there. Do you recommend anything I could do before I (re)do the commissioning procedure, e.g. add acid and CC charge at C/20 till I reach 2.75 VPC/or no more increase in voltage and no rise in SG for 3 hrs after maxing out on the voltage? I would think that the above could only help. What kind of charging current would you recommend with the distilled water? Anything else? It's a really a beautiful set and it be a shame to toss regards, Nick
This Guy is the only one that makes absolute senses about battery reconditioning. I have to say I fell for the BS put out there on Baking soda and epson salt process. I also spent a lot of money on a Battery Tender pulse charger that he states is worthless. I’m very glad I came across his video. .
hey ,if anyone else wants to learn about how to recondition batteries at home try Bablim Battery Booster (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now ) ? Ive heard some super things about it and my brother in law got amazing success with it.
It`s surprising how easy this reconditioning steps are t.co/Folp6e7Dkc ! My auto batteries, cellphone battery, drill battery, camera battery, along with other forms of batteries are all repaired and useful again! Since starting this program I have ended up saving over $ 400 on batteries!?
Thank yoh for your honest opinions in your presentation. I think pulse chargers also have their place if they are properly utilised. I'm planning of building a diy version of that, and I will share the results if I do.
I agree that this process takes time, but it is worth it in my opinion. You have essentially explained what I do when messing about with rechargeable batteries. I have never tried additives and found this method has a high success rate with batteries showing around 10 volts. Some of them were only half full of electrolyte when recovered. I use the ones recovered to form a reserve energy source when the Hurricanes hit and the power is out for a few days. (After my generator runs out of fuel.)
I used to think exactly like this guy. Then one day I left a battery on charge for 2 days and the charger melted down inside its plastic case and set the house on fire, causing about £1000 worth of damage. This method is only useful if you can monitor everything day and night.
Just leave the battery and charger somewhere safer, like the back porch. However if your back porch is flammable then maybe no. Or if it's cement maybe no because there's a chance you will spill sulfuric acid which would make the cement brittle. But I think you get the point.. :)
Hey Dude i guess you've not used the mandatory 1 our 2 on 20w resistor or at least a headlight bulb in series either of which is extremely important and makes immediately sense safety wise. And oh how come no one mentioned that flammable Hydrogen is a copious and a dangerous byproduct and that it makes intense sense to do the whole thing in a week ventilated area. I suspect these two combinations of events were the result of that fire that occurred at your place....
Great video, I have really enjoyed watching it. I have also watched your entire series on making a sine wave inverter from an old UPS which I intend to use for an old UPS I have. I appreciate the level of detail that you go into, and although some concepts and ideas may go over my head I feel like I'm really learning some things which is not always the case on the Interwebs today! Question: Have you tried this method on multiple batteries at one time, or is this only useful for a single battery at a time? I have a great deal of SLA batteries that I would like to recondition, some of which are really dead, some only "mostly dead" in the words of Miracle Max. Any tips would be helpful, but my end goal is to recover enough to use with the UPS and convert into a working solar generator with battery bank backup. Thanks!
but epsom salt (magnesium sulphate with distilled water ) worked for my 6v 4Ah solar lamp battery unused for 7 years . the same trick also worked for my 12v bike battery.
Hey man , I agree with you and you made an excellent video.... i feel like at this point in history we need something better. I'm thinking we start making clear cases & dividers. Something like acrylic. This way we can see what is wrong. If the plates are rotted we can at least drain the lower bits of dissolved lead OUT. Typically there is a mud in a lower space of the batt, which is there to hold this 'extra sloth' . Eventually when this gets thick enough the plates short out. That failure mode is different to >> it just dried out caz I only use it every now and then and never check the water. > take the plates out of an old battery / keep the liquid / filter the liquid with coffee filter or whatever / wash plates off with DI / move to new case / deal with old nasty case later
I too wish battery cases were clear - but for customer satisfaction reasons that will never be the case. People don't want to see the crap inside their batteries because it looks messy and they'll complain. So battery manufacturers will continue making opaque ones to limit their liability except in special applications.
It's too bad the construction of most deep cycle batteries do not allow for the removal of the top of the case with standard tools to remove the lead plates, clean them (desulphate) , add new water and acid and put the battery back into service.
That would be too much liability. Then somebody could open their battery with little effort, spill acid on themselves and their dog, then start a lawsuit against the battery manufacturer and the auto parts chain that sold it to them, plus PETA would start a class action lawsuit because the person's dog was inhumanely harmed by the negligence of the all battery manufacturers that used that type of battery construction. Lawyers would make a ton of money.
@@javaman2883 How true How True, but you also forgot to mention no battery company would want us to be reparing batteries even if we could because everytime we repair something they think they lost a sale!!!
Good video. Tried this with a couple of small (3 Ah) APC UPS batteries I was going to toss out that have been sitting around for years. The APC doesn't maintain the battery properly and so the batteries die after standby use with hardly any cycling. One was bone dry. Topped off with tap water (very soft water here). One battery took a charge, the bone dry one did not Got 8 seconds while running the inverter under load. Tried this a few times without improvement. Then tried an Everstart marine charger with de-sulphating mode a couple more times and got it up to 5 minutes, which is what APC is the run time on these small paper-weight UPS. Not really worth it for a $15 battery but an interesting proof of concept, both for the battery and the marine charger.
The description of the way a sulfated battery's plates can be made functional again, despite the irreparable damage sounds similar to the way an alcoholic's liver regains its function.
Great Video clip! Excuse me for butting in, I am interested in your initial thoughts. Have you thought about - Lammywalness Trendy Trade Guide (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now)? It is a smashing exclusive product for learning how to recondition batteries at home minus the normal expense. Ive heard some incredible things about it and my m8 at last got excellent results with it.
Cheers for the video content! Apologies for chiming in, I would love your opinion. Have you tried - Lammywalness Trendy Trade Guide (erm, check it on google should be there)? It is an awesome one of a kind guide for learning how to recondition batteries at home without the hard work. Ive heard some unbelievable things about it and my buddy after many years got amazing success with it.
@@mdmonowar7339 please pardon my very average, nothing special ability to recognize tendencies of ppl towards overly complementary and unnecessarily positive descriptions of whatever it is they are talking about. But it is actually types of behavior, when taken in context, that tend to make me not want to believe anything at all being discussed as the writer has demonstrated very clearly their eagerness to guzzle it. Hopefully you can follow my point. Which would make one of us.
I actually bought a brand new car battery at Walmart just last year for $60 for an old car. It works great - for now. They still exist but, yeah, good ones cost much more now.
Don't listen to this. It may or may not work. I have a very large 60Ah 12 sealed battery that was from a industrial UPS that I got probably back in the mid 2000's. I was hoping that I could purchase another battery for the UPS and have a near FREE industrial UPS at my house. A new battery long ago was near $800 and I didn't want to spend that much on getting the UPS to work. Starting around February this year 2020, I came cross this battery sitting in my basement after watching another video here on how to disulfate by being patient and letting it over charge. I started charging middle of February with a dumb charger like the first video I watched said to do and at the end of March, 6 weeks later the battery was only drawing 0.01 of an amp, up from 0.005 of a amp. It would draw 12 volts at 500 watts for about 30 seconds and then drop to below 1 volt. That is 6 weeks on the charger. I also was reading the temperature of the battery every day or so and it never got above room temperature. So, I decided to go for more. From the advice from the first video, with a flat screwdriver I popped off all the plastic parts covering the sealed part of the battery and then pulled off the rubber caps covering the fill holes. I filled the battery with distilled water, you want 100% water and no minerals or stuff in it. This sealed battery took almost the entire gallon of water that I had. I then found a 26 volt at 2amp power supply that was for a VoIP telephone also from the early 2000. I made a connector for the power supply to the battery that had screw on terminals. At then let it have at it. The current started off at 0.006 of an amp. One hour later the current was up to 0.05 of an amp. Encouraging. Only after an hour of charge, the battery would drain at 12.6 volt at 500 watts for 4 minutes. I put the charger back on. At 6 hours I went out to check on the battery and it was hot at 133F degrees and water maybe half a cup had come back out through the top. I stopped charging and let it discharge again at 12.6 volts 500 watts at 26 minutes and 30 seconds or so. I was very surprised. I let the battery cool to room temperature and then put it back on for another 6 hours and noticed that the 26v charging that it started at the day prior is now charging 20.1 v 2.2amp, probably the maximum that the wall charger can put out. At 6 hours at 20.1v 2.2amp I again stopped the charging at the battery temperature was now 140F. I let the battery again cool down and the next day put it on a smart charger and charged up to 31,550 watt hours worth. It is right now sitting in my garage and I will do a few more drain and recharge cycles and do one last 26 v for 6 hour charge and I bet I will get the 60Ah out of this battery.
Ah, the good old days of analogue, before ubiquitous microprocessors started telling consumers what/how they should do things. If one had a dodgy or broken Valve Radio, Gramophone, Cathode Ray Tube TV, etc., yer just whacked the veneer furnished box products came in and had a 99% chance of resuscitation.
This get's me to wondering if a simple 555 timer circuit driving a MOSFET would be useful. It occurs to me that a high current pulse at a low rate would work fairly well. This is something I've been thinking about for a while. I'm curious as to what you think about the idea.
I used to recondition batteries when I was a kid I would bring old batteries home and charge them for two or three weeks on a slow charger and my dad would sell them to his friends for 5 or 10 bucks I said Dad how come only get $2 he said who was paid for electricity I had a lot of fun bringing old batteries back to life that was the day of six volt batteries and 12 volt batteries
And if that is what you will spend your month doing then Meester Estall suh that is exactly what you should do. But cents I's is rentin my house from you and cents you won't fix the heet iz may b a weener ether way suh. Iz ewe still gon b beetin me Thurzda like always suh o can I go to my baby funral?
Excellent video content! Sorry for chiming in, I would love your initial thoughts. Have you tried - Rozardner Powerful Battery Reality (erm, check it on google should be there)? It is a good one of a kind product for learning how to recondition an old battery without the hard work. Ive heard some decent things about it and my cooworker after a lifetime of fighting got excellent success with it.
I have found that although the battery voltage may reach a fully charged state, once I performed a load and capacity test, the battery was quite down on the specifications. I used a Power Products analyzer for a load test and a Torkel 860 for the capacity test. Finally a battery video that makes sense considering all the BS found on TH-cam and forums. Having worked in a battery lab, I have yet to see any charger with a so-called desulfation mode that works. And the key to long battery life is care and maintenance. My car batteries have all lasted over 15 years and I also choose a flooded lead acid battery because they can be maintained.
Let me say this a flooded battery can always and i do mean always be brought back to like new if not better than agm not as easy or cost effective but can be brought cback there is no such thing as a bad battery my friend if you going to state truths state em truly i may not have your college degrees but i have an uncanny ability to grasp the flow of electrons stereo systems is what got me into it but there are many ways you can completely revive a completely crystallized cell if not there would be no value in a core return battery companies dont want you to know but if you have knowledge of how it works you can remove led add led remove electrolytes and fresh change metals change electrolytes for about 1/3 the price of a truly brand new battery. CAUTION PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TAMPER WITH A FACTORY SEAL FOR MEANS OF RESTORING YOUR BATTERY UNLESS YOU KNOW THE DANGERS INVOLVED AND HAVE ALL THE PPE AND SAFTY EQUIPMENT
I had a Ford Econovan from 84 to 97, don't know what year it was new, the battery in it lasted just on 13 years, it survived early on when i bought it ,being overcharged when i forgot to monitor the cheap little 1 amp charger I left on for a long time as it was not my daily driver, When i came back to check on it i could smell it and saw acid all over the concrete and it was bubbliong and boiling all over, let it cool, topped it up with water,expected the worst but it survived all of those years, had holes in the casing and stank when it finally died.
I use my DLS-45 as you describe and it works well for it. 45A is faster than optimal for charging batteries but I haven't had a problem with outgassing or overheating even when charging single batteries. You just have to watch them more closely and it's best to not start with a warm battery. It does start tapering fairly early on in the charge cycle so it's not like it does 45A the whole time - probably just the first 20 mins or so on a normal deep cycle battery.
![[TH] FS vs BME - VCT Ascension Pacific - Lower Bracket Final](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/wnygqsR2Fig/mqdefault.jpg)
good grief... to think that a 10 year old video contains a far higher amount of relevant and practical information than I can find on any modern content... this right here is what youtube is for. Thank you.
You totally read my mind. Couldn't say it better👍👍
Tried it and it WORKS!!!!
The *only thing* that _battery desulfators_ clean out- is a person's _wallet._
What proof do you have of that?
Wrong, I have done the various charging discharging routines on some 'bad' batteries in the past that would not come back to much capacity if any really. Then I also pulse charged them a long time. Eventually I got back about 80% Or more capacity and the batteries worked well for years for me. Very large expensive industrial batteries I bought dirt cheap at a scrap yard!
Sometimes when I gass my batteries the cells turn brown, positive plate corrosion happens when you over gas so I suggest you keep your amps low, like 2 amps for a 100AH battery.
+Fum3s This is somewhat accurate. The point of this is to over-charge the battery.
it's odd, he kept saying "12.5volts" in the video AND to overcharge it, and yet we all know that it takes 12.6 to 12.7volts to even be considered fully charged, let alone overcharged...
My old lady said my big old 2 Ohm resistor does the job just fine here!
I have my doubts that the meter your using can using dc amps with the clamp probe............
It's has a DC amp setting
You can substitute a small 12v lightbulb for the resistor
You can hook the light bulbs directly across the DC voltage(battery) without the inverter. Will act like a 100 watt Load across the battery.
+Terry Roberts it will not
+ciepularys Sorry, you are right this will only be approximately a 100 milliamp load.
Multumesc pentru video, as vrea sa-mi construiesc si eu un dummy load, rezistenta de unde ati cumparat-o?
Eu as vrea sa folosesc pentru testarea capacitatii unor baterii de 12 -14 V, ce valoare a rezistentei trebuie sa folosesc ?
M-am abonat la canalul tau si eu sunt pasionat de electronica.
So if the sulfate falls to the bottom you have to add new acid to replace it?
The sediment that falls to the bottom is lead that is no longer able to chemically interact with the battery in a useful way. That active material should be considered to be permanently lost and once enough of it has been lost the battery is beyond saving and will need to be recycled.
To desulfate a working battery and rejuvenate it a bit, a car starter battery, what voltage/amperage should you charge it at? Like I can charge it fine but I know discharging and recharging a few times would help, just not sure the best way to do it
Or is the normal smart charger really ideal.
In that case, can you clarify the voltage it’s charging at on the dumb charger in the first step when it’s at a really low current for instance what’s the voltage it’s charging at
why would you add resistance if your trying to raise the voltage to over charging levels 15v-16v
If I want to desulfate a large 24V electric pallet jack battery pack that's been sitting for a year, what would be the appropriate sized inverter to use for when I get to step 5? Also how many amps of load would be ideal to discharge it? The thing is pretty big, just the battery pack alone weighs around 1500 lbs.
Pallet jack batteries are usually lead-antimony, and as they age they take a lot of water and current during charge. I'd recommend splitting them up and desulfating the batteries individually before reconnecting as a full battery unit. Not sure what voltage or capacity the cells are in your case. Lead antimony takes about 5x the charge current when the batteries are EOL vs when new so there is a large range on those vs the more common lead-calcium (in the USA) or lead-selenium (in the EU). If the batteries are older you may need a pretty substantial amount of current to desulfate.
@@knurlgnar24 Thanks for the reply. I tested each cell and it sits around 2 volts. 24.4 volts for the whole pack together. That's after one round of charging but still not enough for the pallet jack to operate yet. I have watered the batteries with distilled water just to the top of the plates whenever needed. I was under the impression that these are lead-acid batteries. Its a Crown PE 4000 pallet jack with EnerSys batteries and I'm in the USA. The battery appeared to work fine a year ago. The standard 8 hour charge used to work well at that time. I do have a very large old school charger which worked well for these batteries in the past. It has a needle gauge that reads amperage and it appears that during charging, the current starts out higher but soon drops to around 40 amps. The whole thing plugs into a 220V socket so I get a decent amount of amperage. I don't have an overhead crane or engine hoist and each cell is really heavy. I don't have a way to split them apart. I was just wondering in my situation, what kinds of parameters would be involved in step 5, discharging. Would a small 400W 24V input inverter be sufficient if I just hooked up a row of lights? Or would that take forever to discharge this battery pack?
Nice video, thanks for sharing. Quick question, you never did go to the part about pulse charging. From my limited knowledge standpoint, pulse charging is basically another way of "overcharging" and "cycling" the battery at the same time, thus allowing for quicker results. So how come you're against it?
So you cause a big short in the battery charging circuit?
Charging at a "stable" 1-4 amps sounds expensive. Who is going to pay the bill for me when I recover a $200 battery but it ends up costing me half that in utility billing? I realize the charger steps up the current, but the KW hour price in my area is a killer. When I was a teenager I added some "Magic Battery Recovery" clear liquid to a failing car battery and after several weeks of on again off again (mostly on) it recovered enough to get several YEARS service out of it in a Cadillac of all things. I have no idea what I added, but have been retroactively curious and wish I had the asnwer. Oh well. I doubt I would be as willing to use an unknown chemical these days. With wisdom comes skepticism. Fortune cookie phrase I just made up.
Even at 4A, charging for a full day costs less than 15 cents at a rate of 10 cents per kwh. It is essentially free relative to all other costs and saving a battery is great for the environment to boot.
Not only is this instructive, it's informative and explanatory. This is what the internet needs!!! I've been looking this sort of thing up for about an hour and after several youtube videos, this one came up, and I wanted to say Kudos and thanks for this informative video! I like when someone explains how and why something works. Leads to better understanding.
" You can patent anything. It doesn't have to work. ""
Greatest comment ever.
What a great video. I learned A LOT. Thanks.
This is literally not true. Most parents are not issued to brand new inventions, but in order for something to be patentable, it must be a completely new and better device than what currently exists, or, as most patents are, it must be a significant and useful improvement on a pre-existing device that is currently patented. A statement like, "Anything can be patented", is so wrong that it is hilarious. I've got a few parents, my late uncle was a patent attorney. More than 90% of patent applications are rejected. Somehow, the math maintaining that ANYTHING can be patented, vs the reality of MOST patent applications being rejected just doesn't add up. Making such broad generalizations that are based on (what are your sources for this absurd statement?) do more harm than you can imagine. Next thing MAGA idiots will be storming the US Patent and Trademark Office for rejecting Mr. Trump's application for bleach and/or Lysol IM as covid cures. It's particularly sad because the rest of your video, though 10 yo, is the best that I have ever seen regarding battery desulfation and regeneration. Please don't interpret my one negative comment as a general putdown of your entire video. It's not. It's a great and informative video in general, and years ahead of anything currently (lol) being made on YT. It speaks loudly and clearly to the immutability of electronics and physics. You have merely made it easier to understand (not easy for the typical consumer of these videos) and definitively proven that magic and wishes have no place in these situations. Keep up the good work. If you produce vids anymore!
* patents
* again, patents!
Not entirely true. The physics have to be viable in a patent so if its patented . It has to be set in truth in some way.reproducable
.
I have lived off-grid for 15 years and have been a ham operator for 45 years. THIS DUDE KNOWS WHAT HE'S TALKING ABOUT! The rest are hucksters! I have used an Infinitum desulphator (this is not an ad, BTW, there are other brands as well) for the last 7 years and my average system voltage has gone from 23.9v to 24.8v after about a year's use. I believe adding a desulphator is good maintenance, but it does not restore batteries. Using a desulphator to keep a battery in good condition is not magic. Remember, what he said, taking good care of a battery is what it's all about, not free lunch...This is a first-rate post! Thanks!
Mad respect for living off grid for 15 years!
@@knurlgnar24 I've had pretty good luck with my new battery charger so far
I have restored many car batteries using the old charger method and for the most part, maybe 7 out of 10, would all recover. Some were old truck batteries which take a lot longer to stabilise, but most get there in the end.
My reason for needing these old batteries as a kid - C.B Radio, until i was old enough to buy a stable rectified and regulated PSU. I did miss the bubbling sound beside my bed though...lol.
Some good info for cycling the batteries you have given. Info I will no doubt benefit from one day. Top vid mate.
Followup for anyone interested: I still use this battery today 5 years later for various purposes. It has about 50% of its expected capacity and about 200% of the normal series resistance. It is still useful to this day which is better than being thrown out, even if it isn't as good as a brand new one.
oh wow, that's awesome
Oh man make some new videos ive missed you on the tube
I've been considering starting to make videos again but it is a lot of work, time, commitment, and money. In short life and motivation have gotten in the way. Perhaps someday... Thanks for the support!
@@knurlgnar24 awesome i understand got 700 plus videos up. Takes alot of time
Hi there, not sure if I've skipped it somewhere in the video, but the time you got it charged, how long had it been with you?
Hello. I use a different approach. I use a laboratory power supply unit (lab PSU for short) that can output between 0 and 30VDC (selectable via knob). My model allows up to 3A maximum. It should have similar results to your method shown here but MUCH quicker. So for example let's suppose the internal resistance of the battery is abnormally very high. To compensate for that, we maybe have to initially put 20V or even the full 30V to the battery terminals but since the lab PSU has current limiting, I can set that at anything I want from 0 to 3A. Let's suppose I set it at 2A. Now it wont matter how much initial voltage I put to the battery terminals since the lab PSU will not flow more than 2A and will adjust the voltage accordingly. What usually happens on a bad battery is the voltage will start out high, then creep down as the battery takes on some charge. When the voltage gets down to more normal levels (such as 14V for a 12V battery), I can then pull it off of the lab PSU, drain it slightly to remove surface charge and to prep it for a normal smartcharger. Then just let the smartcharger do its thing. So what you do in possibly a month, I can do MUCH quicker.
I agree that cycling an old battery helps the Ah capacity as even letting a battery sit in a nearly full charged state seems to somewhat hurt the capacity slowly over a long period of time. I have seen an old AGM battery that had only 48 minutes of runtime at about a 500W load jump up to 63 minutes the very next cycle cuz that battery was sitting for years (but fully charged before each drain test).
Also, why burden yourself having to keep checking if the load voltage is 11.0V when you can just let the power inverter inform you when it drops to between 10.5 and 10.7 by letting it sound the audible alarm? That is what I do. I put the load on the battery via the power inverter then I go in another room on my computer and just listen for the alarm then quickly turn off the power inverter and immediately recharge the battery using my standard smartcharger.
I think it is also a good idea to charge a battery at different charge rates. The idea is each different charge rate has pros and cons but it should improve the overall health of the battery to sometimes blast it with high amperage but other times use a more reasonable amperage and if you are not in a hurry, sometimes use a rather low amperage. For example, on a 100Ah AGM battery, sometimes I hit it with 25A, sometimes with 12A, and sometimes with 8A initial charge current setting.
One last thing: using incandescent lamps is a very good idea for a load, especially if you live in a cold climate cuz the heat will be put to good use. However, a lamp rated at say 100 watts at 120VAC will NOT be 100 watts if powered by a cheap non sine wave inverter. Those usually have less output voltage such as 110VAC and thus the actual wattage of the lamp will drop to something like between 80 to 90 watts. I normally use a pair of 300 watt lamps but connected to an inverter, I suspect they are considerably lower such as 240 watts each. So I call the entire load (including the power inverter) about 500 watts total. The actual wattage is not critical since I use it for all the drain tests so I am just checking the relative capacity of different batteries (or of the same battery after cycling).
hey ,if anyone else trying to find out nicad battery reconditioning try Jadonite Renovate Battery Buddy (do a search on google ) ? Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my mate got great success with it.
excellent idea, btw i did somehow same procedure like you, but the outcome after 3 or 4 cycles was one cell in short for dendrites problems, now i used 110AC line with a lamp incandecent (the old ones very difficult nowaday to get one btw) a diode bridge rectifier and the battery all in series and till now it's working but i need to do more test and check if dendrites or cell shorts, will not appears
Here is by far the easiest method to recondition batteries: JoxCharge. com
HI. can i ask if you put resistor between or not? I'm try PSU set for 2 amp and voltage raise from 12v to 16V and battery start boil inside..after few hours of charge.When I know is done? Thanks
David James can I ask you some questions
I actually have good experience with pulse charging, I made my own pulse source of 25 kHz frequency, and in combination with cycling i just revovered one battery from some 30% capacity to almost 80% (Ah). First I was cycling with overcharge, but I had small improve increments. Than I implement pulse charging instead my standard charger, and I keep on overcharge (battery voltage between 15-16V) for about 1-2 hours. Continue with cycling, and than it start to improve in much bigger increments.
I have done the pulse charging with the same result
i have a16v wall adapter i kept pluggin in and out, with smooth low frequencey rythmic pulsing, i think i could hear the sulphate melt in excitment.
@@mikejones-vd3fg lol. What amps? Did it work out?
@@shorelined1 I dont think so... The battery never came back, but maybe if you had more stanima you'd have better luck, i could only last a few minutes... and wasnt packing much amps like 1-2, so she never go off not surprisingly. Id like to try again perhaps with a DIY solution like zokonjazokonja did.
@@mikejones-vd3fg the original comment said he had a pulse frequency of 25khz that means 25000 pulses a second, i dont think you were that fast plugging and unplugging it lol
I really admire your honesty and your professional presentation, well done, you have a big thumb up from me, thank you so much for all the useful info
This method works 100%! Picked up a use NIB Back UPS and when I opened it I discovered it had been unopened for 16 years. The 12v 5 mAh SLA was totally dead. Watched this video then I proceeded to fill all the cells (all were completely dry) and connect it to my bench power supply pushing it @16v. For the first 24 hours it was only drawing about 1 mA and had only come up to about 6v, at the end of the 2nd day it'd come up to 10.6v but was still only drawing 1 mA and it stayed there for 48 hours, I was beginning to doubt that this battery was salvageable. I noticed it the middle of the 4th day that it was drawing 3 mA and had come up to 11.9v (there might be something to this!) 4 hours later it was sitting @13v and as it stands now I'm draining it down to 10.5v with a turn signal bulb and it's been running for nearly 30 minutes. Amazing that I could bring a 16 year old battery back to life with this process.
With what did you fill the cells? And how did the battery perform over the months since?
@@princeinflorida214 if the cells are dry then you need to refill them with distilled water. Restoring already used SLA batteries never seems to work that well but if you do this with new ones it can work extremely well. I got a battery from a car jump starter pack which had been sitting unused for 8 years and was at 0.2 V but after charging it for a couple of days the 8AH battery puts out about 80% of the power of a brand new one and gets about 6AH of capacity. I did this about 7 months ago and the battery still works great.
Just restored 2 100AH scrap yard batteries Using a 20V 90W laptop charger and a 65A load using a similar method to this
It took me 2 days to restore instead of 2 weeks just by changing the voltage and load
Initially after charging with a smart charger and both batteries linked in parallel they would run the load for about 20 sec before the inverter shut down
After recovery they ran the load for about 2 hours
I let the battery voltage go up to around 15-17 volts and left it at that voltage with the laptop charger switched on for about 20 min then disconnected the charger and let it rest for an hour then drain it with the inverter then recharge with a smart charger then overcharge with the laptop charger
I repeated those steps about 4 times a day for 2 days and now they are in service powering my off grid system
You da man !I will copy, but have to keep an eye on temp etc, sounds slightly dangerous
@mewantbrains - "I let the battery voltage go up to around 15-17 volts". Hi, can you, or anyone else, explain the above sentence, i.e. what charger was used to get the battery voltage to 15v-17v. Is the foll. interpretation correct - Use the smart charger to charge battery upto 14.4/14.7.(or whatever the smart charger charges). Then immediately, use the 20v 90w laptop charger. Once the multimeter (keep checking battery terminals) shows around 15v/16v, keep the charger connected for more 20 min. Thanks.
Yes. I think that's what he means. A man in my area advised direct charging from a high voltage solar panel 24V (for a 12V battery) directly to the battery for about 15 minutes repeatedly, during peak sun hours. Do same for two to three days. I haven't tried it because I am not yet in that situation.
Finally some more videos on stuff I have been doing forever. You can restore lead acid batteries and you can’t restore lithium batteries easily at home. The companies want you to spend money and keep buying more batteries or new technology. I love maintaining and restoring anything I have. Lead acid batteries are perfect for home base solar storage And I easily restore lead acid batteries with Raw solar power without the smart solar charger. I would use lithium for lighter transportation needs. People need to know the truth.
Thankyou Reggie
Reggie could you explain your process ?
Could you explain in brief how you restore your home based lead acid batteries?
Understanding the physical chemistry is slightly useful and this video is good for this. After 50 years of car battery life cycle experiments I concur with the approach taken here. Cracking that sulphate layer is needed, but not so hot that the plate loses useful material underneath. That's why a pulse charger isn't so good: the plate reforming doesn't work so well with high currents so you lose capacity.
You said “not so hot” what is too hot?
I have the foxsur Amazon charger which does indeed use pulse method. I’m trying to restore a battery that keeps dropping volts. I cleaned the cells out then added an epson salt/distilled water solution and set the charger on repair. But now I’m afraid I may have messed up using this charger
"Dumb charger", the charger has feelings too you know?
This was great, thanks, I've been looking for "restore old batteries" for a while now, and I think this has helped. You ever tried - Ammaceen Reconditioning Rabblement - (just google it ) ? Ive heard some awesome things about it and my mate got cool success with it.
I\'m not sure but ,if anyone else trying to find out how to recondition used car batteries try Panlarko Recondition Planner ( search on google ) ? Ive heard some extraordinary things about it and my mate got excellent results with it.
There are several factors in fixing a car battery. One place I discovered which successfully combines these is the Magic Mender Wizard (check it out on google) definately the best info that I have ever seen. Check out this awesome resource.
I have spent months researching into battery reconditioning and found an awesome website at Magic Mender Wizard (check it out on google)
So you can't use Epsom salts 🇬🇧😕
@ 3:10 Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate. It increases conductivity at the expense of positive plate corrosion and drastically accelerated self discharge. Keep watching for a better solution...I was shooting a video on adding the Epsom salt method that I have had mixed results with and I have to say this is by far the best way to restore a lead acid battery. Do you know if you add the Epsom salt and keep the battery on a float charger will that offset the accelerated self discharge problem?
With lead-acid, it may be worth replacing the H2SO4 electrolyte if cells are accessible. If cells are 'lead sulphonated' then the battery equation says that some of your electrolyte will be JUST WATER. Have a nice day.
The method you describe is done industrially to recondition batteries. Replace the electrolyte with distilled water, Force current through it until the pH stops falling, then clean out the cells of liquid and debris and replace with the proper concentration electrolyte. It's messy and not too practical for the average person and I've never tried it. But it is well documented that it works and forklift batteries, for example, are often reconditioned this way before being sold to their 2nd application.
thank you!
It's surprising that you dismissed pulse charging completely. I've been playing with bedini circuit for a couple of years now. I got most of the batteries I used in those projects from scrapyard - all sulfated badly I'm sure, they were dumped. I had only one small 4.5 Ah brand new to have something to compare amphours. Well, contrary to what you say, I managed to successfully restore (partially of course) all of those. I didn't have an actual 12V charger to compare with, but even if it did better, clearly the HV pulse charging worked just fine. At least it did for me. Did you not try the SSG circuit? It does charge pretty damn well.
Excellent video. Thank you! No hate, but I've recovered several batteries with a cheapo pulse charger I got off eBay. It's not 100% and I haven't recovered anything heavily sulfated. There also is a happy medium with it. You can't just put it on every battery and leave it. It will interfere with normal charging at some point. Even so, It has saved me from buying new batteries several times. When the dead battery is a relatively new one that was left to sit for too long, you're glad for the de-sulfator. It has more than paid for itself several times now.
I made a highly concentrated epsom salt by filling one cup of epsom salt then mixing it with a little bit of water, then i emptied the battery electrolyte, then added the epsom salt to one of the weak cells that was not bubbling while charging but i didnt charge it affter adding the salt, i just poured the salt into the dead cell, i left it for 24 hours, and now it is accepting a charge and bubbling, then i emptied the epsom salt, gave it a rinse and added the sulphuric acid electrolyte again, now it is reaching 13v
next step moon!
Excellent! Found it very informative! And no bull shit! Loved the video!
$60 batteries have gone along with the dodo bird.
Still you can find close to that price in Walmart...But don't anyone know or that may sky rocket too as the norm in post COVID is to take back all the pennies they gave and thousand folds more!
Thank you for taking the time out of your day to educate us. Being that we only have about 32,000 days, or 960 months of life, if we live to be 80 years old, time is priceless.
Some say life is meaningless. Some say time is priceless. Some say the 80 years we live is nothing compared with eternity. Some say live for today because tomorrow may not come. The truth is I just made this video because I have an interest in such topics and I wanted to, but I'm glad people are finding it useful!
@@knurlgnar24 I thought about putting silicone carbide powder and water in a battery and then putting the battery on a paint shaker to clean the plates off. Any thoughts on that?
@@Ed_Aylward I suspect the plates would destruct from the vibration, but I think your idea is super interesting as industrial battery restorers perform similar processes (without the vibration). If you make a video showing your process and results, positive or not, please let me know.
Thanks for this; I'll try again. I had no idea that it might have to go on the charger for so long...
Thanks for this video! I wouldn't dismiss pulse charging and Epsom salts entirely. Pulse charging allows for a much higher than normal charging voltage to get through the cells to help break up the sulfation, and the cyclic nature mitigates against heat build up as well as creating small oscillations to help mechanically break up the sulfation. Epsom salts don't do anything chemically other than reducing the resistance, which helps promote current flow to also break up sulfation when charging.
I am hesitant on discharging the battery completely, but the principle makes sense. People also discharge the battery, reverse charge it, then discharge, and charge it back up again as another method to "shock" the sulfation off. A combination of these methods can often help. But these methods only work when the problem is sulfation. When there's mechanical damage to the plates or if they are shorted out then the battery is junk.
I work for a large industrial battery company and we have pulse chargers but we do not promote that they are better at desulfation which in my experience of two years they do not but the pulse charge is promoted to save electricity costs for people with many batteries to charge daily. Our guidelines for desulfation require a steady low amperage charge for 48 hours and then put them on a load bank to test for bad cells.......sometimes repeating the process two to three times to fully desulfate. This guy knows what he is talking about.......any other way is a gimmick or quick fix.
whoozbi 9*
Your statement is ambiguous. A combination desulfator/charger will attempt to desulfate as it is slow charging but they also have higher amperage desulfators for large capacity batteries (such as 100Ah or more). How do you know for certain that a desulfator is not any better than slow charging?
I did the distilled water with Epsom salt mix after emptying out the old acid and cleaning the inside with baking soda and distilled water the rinsed it out with more water after filled it up with the mix and to my surprise it actually worked so far its been good for some months
Very bad idea.mixing foreign chemicals with an acid is like a kids chemistry set.you are playing with avid for dad gum sake.and baking soda is a neutralizer.unless you can get every scrap of it out of the battery you will in effect neutralize your electrolyte in short order.
This UT brought back fond memories. My uncle owned a small automotive repair shop. I worked there during a few summers while in HS. I noticed he had a bank of batteries that he had on chargers (all were dumb at this time. LOL). I asked him what he was doing with all these old customer batteries. He said he was reconditions them. I thought it odd at the time, but he seemed pretty confident that it work for some. I guess he was right. I learned a lot about cars. If you maintain the battery, rubber hoses, belts, oil, coolant, and tires even long ago most car almost never stranded one the road. And true today.
Well done young man! Years ago I used a similar method to restore thousands of dollars worth of batteries in building inverting systems. The charger I used was so old it actually had tubes in it!
Old tube equipment is some of the best equipment! I prefer transistorized stuff myself and while work with computerized equipment for a living I ONLY want smarts in my equipment if it actually provides value in excess of it's cost and complexity drawbacks. Not everything new is better.
@@knurlgnar24 Tungar rectifiers were quite popular for battery charging. A tungar rectifier is a vacuum tube diode with a low voltage drop. The cathode and filament connections came out the bottom to a screw in light bulb base. The anode connection came out the top pin. Service stations had them and in the time of battery powered radio sets many brought their batteries to the service station for charging. Of course radio dealers and repair shops also had them as well as home garages.
@@knurlgnar24
I have that battery charger. That thing alone has brought back dead batteries for me numerous times. I absolutely love that little charger.
I think you guys are DINOSAURS, and I'M 69!
@@dictare those were the days
Several people here making comments about pulse desulfators but no proof as to how well or not they work. Why doesn't someone just take a highly sulfated FLA battery, take some video of it, leave it on the desulfator for a month, then come back and take more video of it. Also take a similar battery and just put it on a trickle charger (using knurlgnar24's method) and compare results. Also you cannot use just 1 pulse desulfator to generalize to all of them. Try maybe 2 or 3 different models since many use different pulse frequencies, designed for different size batteries. These "snake oil" claims here and not scientifically proven or disproven, they seem more opinionated.
Thank you for this tutorial Knurlgnar
I tested my car battery from my car (varta d59) with a conductance tester that calculates the amps the battery puts out based on its internal resistance, it tested at 388A out of 540a. I made some tiny 1mm holes on the top and used a syringe to add a bit of distilled water in it each cell, all of them had the plates covered but each one was at a different level. I then put it in an equalising charge at 16 volts for 24 hours, then i did a discharge with an h4 headlight bulb and after recharging it it went to 432A. I just finished the second discharge cycle and i am waiting for it to charge to test again.
A good replacement for the 2 ohm resistor would be a headlight lightbulb. They should limit the current to about 2 amps.
great idea. you could try a tin can too, and any strange metals, just measure the resistance with multimeter and use a specific length.
Appreciate Video! Forgive me for chiming in, I would appreciate your initial thoughts. Have you heard the talk about - Lammywalness Trendy Trade Guide (google it)? It is an awesome one of a kind product for learning how to recondition batteries at home minus the hard work. Ive heard some unbelievable things about it and my GF after a lifetime of fighting got amazing results with it.
THAT is what he showed as a substitute if you did not have a 2 ohm resistor--- HELLO!
Jammit Timmaj - Pay attention dumbass. I figured any 100W light bulb would do, and was impressed he mentioned that. He knows what he's talking about.
12 V / 2 ohm should result to 6 amps, right?
Excellent honest video. Thank you for taking the time to make it! Exactly the no snake-oil engineering approach I was searching for.
Summary to help locate details in video.
0:00 How to identify when rechargeable lead-acid battery is failing.
2:34 Two "recovery" methods that knurlgnar24 does not recommend: (i) adding chemicals to the cells and (ii) pulse charging.
3:40 Introduction to recommended 5-step procedure. Equipment needed: Non-smart (old) battery charger, low-ohm resistor (such as an incandescent light bulb), voltmeter, and clamp ammeter capable of measuring at least 5 amps.
5:14 Step 1: Connect non-smart charger through a low-ohm resistor to the battery. [Be careful where you put the low-ohm resistor. It can get hot if the battery starts to accept more current.]
7:48 Step 2: Monitor current until it rises to and stabilizes at 1-4 amps. Add distilled water [carefully!] to keep battery plates covered if possible. It may take up to a month before the charging current stabilizes at 1-4 amps. If it never reaches 1 amp, the battery is not recoverable. Buy a new battery and recycle the old one. Some vendors will pay you a "core charge" credit if you return your old battery to that vendor. [Determine details before purchase.]
8:20 Step 3: Assuming charging current stabilizes at 1-4 amps, leave the charger connected for an additional 48 hours.
8:42 Step 4: Disconnect the charger, wait 24 hours, and measure the battery's voltage. If not 12.5 V, reconnect the charger for another 48 hours. Repeat step 4 as needed to bring the voltage to 12.5 V after 24 hours of no charging. If you still can't get 12.5 V after a week or two of repeating step 4, recycle the battery. Successfully passing step 4 means that the battery is desulfated.
9:50 Step 5: Cycle the battery about 5 times by partially discharging through a load and recharging.
13:23 Final comments
Thanks so much for the information! This is a fantastic tutorial as are your other videos on reconditioning batteries. I was struggling with getting severely imbalanced SLA Group 4D batteries back to health, (they were only 6 months old and in light cycle use) and your videos pointed me in the correct direction.
What I found, and what helped me: The key is to not stop at the voltage of the 20 hour rate, but make sure the resting voltage after discharge is at the 20 hour rate. I had tried to recondition stopping at the 20 hour rate (10.5 volts in my case) but that did not work. my batteries were not improving. I tried slow recharge with 2 ohm resistor for a week, recharge at 1 volt over the upper limit (condition equalization charge) for 24 hours, charge at 14.8 volts for 2 days, 40 amps for 10 hours, nothing worked. Then I thought about what you said about referencing the spec sheet in one of your reconditioning videos and getting amps through the battery - I'm theoretically putting a ton of amps back into the battery, its not holding the charge - it wasn't even going to heat, it was just doing nothing..., so maybe I'm not discharging enough 10.5 and stopping is just not enough? That was the case. After complete discharge cycles so my resting voltage was at the 20 hour rate spec, the batteries started to improve with the reconditioning you outline.
I had 10 out of 26 Group 4D batteries like this, so far I've got 4 recovering, 2 back in service. I read up on how imbalances that ultimately lead to sulfation like this can happen, turns out it is manufacturing defects! Improper ratios of the lead + active materials (tin/calcium/etc) during manufacturing causes the internal cells to become imbalanced when lightly discharged and slowly recharged. (however the manufacturer of these batteries will not refund me or give me replacements, soooo I won't ever purchase from them again) but your methodology works to bring them back into balance and back into service. I just hope I don't have to do this too often, because it is ridiculously time consuming :)
Thanks for your videos! Useful and accurate information that solved my problem!
I just saw one of your battery revival attempts, try this if you have the time and effort. There's an old trick that used to be used here in Sweden for tired batteries with thick plates. The old ones didn't have as soft lead clay so what we did was; 1. Discharge the battery to less than 10%. In the end, use an iron rod or similar to completely discharge it. 2. Charge the battery in reverse polarity, make sure it doesn't get hot. - If so, decrease the current. Leave for 12-48 hours on a dumb charger. 3. Do as point 1. 4. Charge with normal polarity. (5. Small particles of lead may be present on the bottom and making a soft short circuit. If so, drain the battery, rinse it several times until clean. Fill with 32-37% H2SO4 and charge as normal. Leave on a dumb charger for overcharging for 12-48 hours.) Get back to me if you try it, it’d be fun to know the results.
very interesting where can we get back at you?
Where do I get H2SO4?
@@nwakammachijioke622 not at all it's banned in europe
@@nwakammachijioke622 you can buy battery acid (sulfuric acid) at Oreilys and autozone in the US. They come is 1 quart, 1 gallon, 2.5 gallons, and 5 gallons.
Very nice and straightforward, and I also appreciate the brief explanation of dubious "alternative" methods… thanks!
A written summary would have been nice (but otherwise nice video) so I'll try: 1) use lowest amp charge possible, even a 'reducer' if you can invent one, to charge it at only 2, 1 or like him, even .1amps. Charge it like that for upto many days (even a month he says basically) till you feel it's 'overcharged' (he surmises the only way to actually 'desulfate' a battery is by "overcharging" (his words 4:56 for 15 sec)).. 2) 'recycle' it by....using it, like upto 5times, to try to break off more crud (he 'keeps track', but just use it instead, you'll notice if it's better anyways..). That's it. (his '5points' are really 1 or 2 points>>1mini-charge, 2use-it.
The other minor issues he mentions not necessarily important: a) refill w/ water if needed (obvious) & b) use older 1950's era-chargers that won't auto-shut off so you can overcharge.
The one thing he doesn't say that he probably should? Make sure it's a really bad battery to begin with, because all the overcharging can possibly hurt you if it's halfway decent to start with.
Basically, if you want a poor-mans' version, just buy they smallest amp charger you can find, usually called just a 'maintainer' for ~20$ at ~1.5amp max, and throw it on there for weeks and weeks, it'll do the same thing. Once it seems like its worked, start using the battery like normal. Personally, when i have a dead battery that doesn't come back, i can usually get a few more years out of it by 'tricking it' to recharge dead cells by jerry-rigging it to another battery, and charging both at the same time for a day or two. They'll 'fight' over who gets the charge, and somehow trick the weaker battery to recognize its bad cells and start to charge them finally.
p.s. he says get it over 12.5volts to overcharge, but 12.5 isn't even considered a full charge, which is 12.6 to 12.7, so try to get it a little higher
immeohmyoh yea I agree I have actually had good success force charging at 200 amps for 20 minutes then 40amp for 12 hours check voltage ( I usually see 13 volts ) I then discharge and charge on 2 amp for 48 hours ... has always worked for me . I do think I’m going to try “ cleaning one of my weakest batteries with distilled water and baking soda “ refill and slow charge just for curiosity. But all I see him doing is spending a really long time doing something that can be accomplished a lot quicker . I just did the double battery deal last night with a dead jump pack and a hot car battery it’s been on for 24 hrs at 2 amp and is showing a few volts I’m going to give it another day or 2 and if I do t see any voltage gain I’m going to feed 40amps to it for a day ! Lol she will either go or blow !!
i should have mentioned that when i jerry-rig two together they both start weak or undercharged, but a full one should still leak to the weak one, though i think it's probably better to start them closer-together so they fight longer. //i haven't heard about baking soda but it sounds plausible for a 'clean', usually people mention epsom salts moreso for the sulfates in it, let us know how it works out!//yes i've mixed boost charges with trickle charges too, >13v is common//gang-way! ha
Damn dude ur good at the whole information conveyance thing. Thanks
After watching a few years back I have revived a few batteries using this method. What I use rather then old charger is just a small 10w panel and controller hooked up to battery until it holds 12.5 then I cycle it...after about 4-5 cycles I can usually use it again to start a car. It takes quite a few weeks sometimes longer but doesn’t cost anything to leave them hooked up on a panel.
I used to sell solar and noticed that panels without a charge controller sometimes did this with old batteries.
If your really need a resistor but dont have one you can make one out of a pencil clip lead to sharp end then cut into pencil a few spots exposing the graphite to what you want the resistance to be using a multimeter then clip the other lead to exposed graphite then to battery I know it works because ive charged smaller batteries using this method 👍
Now I know to just buy a new battery. Thanks. (I was going to buy a pulse thing.)
Look ok o mk ok o I'm
Lovely lovely km km long NM po ohkmo look kill kloof
Hi pip
A sulfated battery is not a.worn out battery. It is sulfated not deteriorated. Deterioration of positive plates is irreversible Every lead acid battery has a finite number of charge discharge cycles with resultant deterioration for every cycle until ineffective usability. Sulfation occurs from deep discharge or lack of charge over time A new battery in cold weather can become sulfated by continually running your starter until it is driven into a deep discharge state. A sulfated battery gives false voltage readings on charge thus smart chargers will automtically shut down. There is such a thing called a form charger which is variable voltage and high current output witch is suitable for complete desulfation Charge until battery temperature reaches 130 degrees F. Cool and repeat until specific gravity reaches 1275 on a hydrometer for automotive batteries and 1300 for deep cycle batteries Keep top of plates covered don’t overfill. Absolutely must be monitored on charge overheating must not be allowed to occur as plate deterioration results Also high rate of hydrogen production dictates mandatory safety practices. Never make or break connections without shutting the charger off. Cycleing the battery is no help. High current and temperature rise under controlled circumstances is. And a hydrometer reading is the proof. Trust your hydrometer A fully charged lead acid battery should read between 1275 and 1300 specific gravity. It’s been a while since I worked on batteries for a living but pluskota used to manufacture form chargers.
You can do this with a power supply pretty easily, too. Sometimes, that can be adventageous because you can run slightly higher voltages. Some cases of battery issues can be solved by running around 15.5-18.5 volts for a few hours until current increases, then dropping back down to 14 or 10.
As for pulsed charging, it works when combined with other methods, but it has a correct and incorrect application. A capacitor-regulated pulse charging approach can be extremely effective for certain types of issues. Those little pulse devices are garbage.
You're one of the few 'pulse charging' proponents I have run across who has reasonable expectations of the technology and because of that I will respond and say that I agree in general. There are applications where non CV/CC desulfation can be beneficial. I draw the line when people claim there is some sort of magic going on. All pulse charging implementations use the same physics and chemistry as constant current desulfation. I still argue that for most people CC desulfation is a better method but there are very valid arguments to be made against that claim. In any case I did publish a video that covers using a lab style power supply to do what you outline in your first paragraph. Yup. Works faster than what I show here though one needs more than a standard charger to accomplish it.
I love the free harbor freight volt meter..the ones they cant even give away..lol
everyone has had one of those
I have spent months researching into fixing a car battery and discovered a fantastic resource at Jons mender guide (google it if you are interested)
yes i have one works fine
The probes are very delicate. They break easily. I guess I'll get a new free volt meter, LOL.
I have about 6 multimeters of various qualities, but I still want a free Harbour Freight one - just because it's both cool and ridiculous that they give them away lol. But alas I live in New Zealand.
A resistor can be made with simple SS wire wrapped around a non-conductive core. You can use an ohm meter to confirm the number of turns. I used .024 SS aircraft lock wire for one I needed to replace a blown power resistor on an automotive cooling fan.
Does SS wire just stand for stainless steel wire?
I watched this video when you first uploaded it. I agree with you totally on chargers. The older ones will get the voltage above 15v which is critical to desulfinate the plates. What are your thoughts on the newer thing, capacitance chargers? I'm tempted to experiment with one.
I look for whitepapers and academic research on battery charging technologies from time to time and the reputable information I find has always debunked any complicated charging technique analyzed. A simple constant voltage is best. BTW, I went through my batteries again just a few months ago and for some reason this battery has now recovered to about 90% using this technique a 2nd time. (I used an electronic load for discharge and a lab power supply for charging, but the technique is the same as the 'cheap' way presented in this video.) Perhaps being on a low float voltage trickle charge for the last few years while not in use helped it out.
correction, constant voltage or constant current depending on the details. Either one can be valid depending on the circumstances.
The battery in my wife's car recently died..
checked with my multimeter and it was sitting at 11.4v, down to 6 or 7v when turning over the engine. attempted charging on a 20 year old "charge and maintain" charger that was my dads; that didnt work as the charger clicked over to ready after about 30 secs without actually charging... so bought a 9 stage smart charger that has a reconditioning mode and received it today.. its on it currently and the charger has recognised the battery is "low" and further during the pulses my multimeter is showing 15.41v for about 15-20 seconds then dropping back to 13.5ish volts before immediately climbing again and repeating the process. I guess ill see tomorrow how it's gone 💁 but as far as the reviews go these cheap multi stage chargers these days seem to have a reputation of working well at reviving dead batteries.
I'm guessing the technology has advanced a bit since you made this?!
@@malulsos I'm curious how that goes for you. If possible, keep me updated.
I wonder if you fill the battery with nitroglycerin and gasoline ⛽️. I bet that would make something happen 😊.
Just kidding I enjoyed your video thanks for sharing information.
This idea also applies to life in general. Feeling kind of down and negative? And more positive to your negative and life's will be much better .... follow me for more tips and tricks .. lol .. All jokes aside enjoyed your video..
I heard of this one guy who put epsom salt in his battery thinking it would fix it. When people found out what he did he was charged with a salt and battery.
Dad jokes rock.
@@knurlgnar24 Got me laughing on that one..ha!
This tutorial is packed with the good information and zero bad advice. As a simple safety tip it should be pointed out that flooded lead acid batteries expel flammable gasses (hydrogen and oxygen) during the charging process and should be performed in a well ventilated space. Hydrogen is a lighter than air gas so common sense would say "don't do this in a closet or under a non-ventilated hood. But hey, who needs eyebrows. My old man used to tip them upside down, rinse them out, smack them with a dead blow hammer a couple of times and refill with clean acid solution. I could see the old sulfur and crud poor out and it usually helped on old farm tractor batteries. The main trick is getting the crud (sulfates) to slough off of the plates as he clearly explained in the video.
I don't have the patience for this. I'm just going to zap it with an electric cattle prod and see what happens.
Styro Pyro does this!
Use a glow rod, be well!
I have recovered various varieties of lead acid batteries over the years, from my experience it sometimes helps to get a fairly high voltage across each cell, obviously this can lead to localized heating if part of the cell is in partial recovery. This is a merit to pulse charging, to get fairly high peak voltage but with a low duty cycle the heating and localized gassing can be minimized. A GE publication many years ago regarded sulphation as a reversible failure but also suggested current limited charging that could reach about 11v per cell. In my experience conventional wet lead acids will recover after many years of neglect, other types are more tricky. Obviously not all failures are reversible!
Do you have a video or is there an easy way to determine whether a car battery has a shorted cell (unrecoverable), as opposed to a sulfation problem that is recoverable. Cheers
It's funny that I just came across this video. A few weeks ago, I decided to try recharging this car battery that I've had for years. It's been dead, in my garage, on the ground, for at least two winters. I thought for sure that the plates were trashed. So, I busted out my battery maintainer and connected it to the battery. It gave me a green light, which means it's done charging. So, to trick it into charging, I put my test light in the circuit and walked away. I came back two days later, to find it charging. I took the light out and let the charger continue. Three more days passed, and it was full. I disconnected it and let it sit another two days, before checking the voltage. It was just over 12.6, which looked good. Then, I put a small load on it, similar to what you did, with a inverter and a 90 watt halogen bulb. The voltage dropped quick, so I charged it up again, and repeated the test. It got stronger, probably enough to crank an engine over or at least run my inverter for a few hours. I've done this trick a number of times I've the years, but this was the first to a battery that sat through a couple winters without a charge, and was brought back to life! So, I too, will disagree with pulse chargers, as I've used them to resuscitate a LA battery from 0 volts to 12.6.
Thanks. Just got handed a treasure trove of batteries and already finding some good ones. This method may help me get the most and the best out of the pile. I'm actually looking for several with a decidedly dead cell or two, reducing the voltage to 8.1 to 10.4 that can be used to run transmitters requiring that voltage range. Ah rating can be also reduced as the transmitters are low power. Tired batts can also be used for lighting and other appliances not voltage sensitive or appliances that designed to operate at a 'failing' batteries maximum voltage... Get creative!.
To the heckler,
Yes, I do in fact plan to go to MARS and will need this information. There i will likely find a colony of vulcans and fellow geeks. We will gladly watch from a far as the earth denigrates. Have a nice time.
Has glasses, monotone voice, check shirt.....MUST OBEY...
LOL.
Great video content! Apologies for the intrusion, I would love your initial thoughts. Have you researched - Lammywalness Trendy Trade Guide (probably on Google)? It is an awesome one off product for learning how to recondition batteries at home minus the normal expense. Ive heard some decent things about it and my mate after many years got cool results with it.
Great Video clip! Sorry for butting in, I am interested in your thoughts. Have you heard the talk about - Lammywalness Trendy Trade Guide (erm, check it on google should be there)? It is a great one of a kind guide for learning how to recondition batteries at home minus the hard work. Ive heard some great things about it and my friend at very last got astronomical success with it.
The plates are actually made of a hard lead mesh impregnated with a soft lead paste. Scrubbing would remove the paste, and to get them apart you would need to cut and re-cast the lead straps holding the plates together. A better way to clean them is to empty the electrolyte, replace with distilled water, and charge. empty, charge, repeat, etc. Then refill with the proper ph acid. This will remove nearly all of the sulfation, whereas this procedure only removes some of it.
K
what about ultrasonic? or sticking it on the washing machine for a while..
Nice Video clip! Apologies for chiming in, I am interested in your initial thoughts. Have you considered - Lammywalness Trendy Trade Guide (do a search on google)? It is a good exclusive guide for learning how to recondition batteries at home minus the headache. Ive heard some pretty good things about it and my buddy after many years got astronomical success with it.
Load of rubbish
Hi ,
Have recently got a set of 600AHr OPzS (6 x 2v cells) that were in good service for 2 years and were decommissioned simply because the PO went on grid.
Unfortunately the PO removed the acid to make them easier to move:-(
That's how they came to me. The airtight caps are on. Some slight visible white fluff here and there.
Do you recommend anything I could do before I (re)do the commissioning procedure, e.g. add acid and CC charge at C/20
till I reach 2.75 VPC/or no more increase in voltage and no rise in SG for 3 hrs after maxing out on the voltage?
I would think that the above could only help. What kind of charging current would you recommend with the distilled water?
Anything else?
It's a really a beautiful set and it be a shame to toss
regards,
Nick
This Guy is the only one that makes absolute senses about battery reconditioning. I have to say I fell for the BS put out there on Baking soda and epson salt process. I also spent a lot of money on a Battery Tender pulse charger that he states is worthless. I’m very glad I came across his video. .
hey ,if anyone else wants to learn about how to recondition batteries at home try Bablim Battery Booster (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now ) ? Ive heard some super things about it and my brother in law got amazing success with it.
I filled my battery up with Irish Whiskey. It didn't recover it but it had a fantastic time.
Here's the best method for reconditioning your old batteries: HootBattery.xyz
Excellent tutorial and very professional.
It`s surprising how easy this reconditioning steps are t.co/Folp6e7Dkc ! My auto batteries, cellphone battery, drill battery, camera battery, along with other forms of batteries are all repaired and useful again! Since starting this program I have ended up saving over $ 400 on batteries!?
Thank you! I'm glad your blunt Abd straight forward. Love your videos!
Thank yoh for your honest opinions in your presentation. I think pulse chargers also have their place if they are properly utilised. I'm planning of building a diy version of that, and I will share the results if I do.
I agree that this process takes time, but it is worth it in my opinion. You have essentially explained what I do when messing about with rechargeable batteries. I have never tried additives and found this method has a high success rate with batteries showing around 10 volts. Some of them were only half full of electrolyte when recovered. I use the ones recovered to form a reserve energy source when the Hurricanes hit and the power is out for a few days. (After my generator runs out of fuel.)
Right 4
Ni
I used to think exactly like this guy. Then one day I left a battery on charge for 2 days and the charger melted down inside its plastic case and set the house on fire, causing about £1000 worth of damage. This method is only useful if you can monitor everything day and night.
Just leave the battery and charger somewhere safer, like the back porch. However if your back porch is flammable then maybe no. Or if it's cement maybe no because there's a chance you will spill sulfuric acid which would make the cement brittle. But I think you get the point.. :)
Hey Dude i guess you've not used the mandatory 1 our 2 on 20w resistor or at least a headlight bulb in series either of which is extremely important and makes immediately sense safety wise. And oh how come no one mentioned that flammable Hydrogen is a copious and a dangerous byproduct and that it makes intense sense to do the whole thing in a week ventilated area. I suspect these two combinations of events were the result of that fire that occurred at your place....
Great video, I have really enjoyed watching it. I have also watched your entire series on making a sine wave inverter from an old UPS which I intend to use for an old UPS I have. I appreciate the level of detail that you go into, and although some concepts and ideas may go over my head I feel like I'm really learning some things which is not always the case on the Interwebs today! Question: Have you tried this method on multiple batteries at one time, or is this only useful for a single battery at a time? I have a great deal of SLA batteries that I would like to recondition, some of which are really dead, some only "mostly dead" in the words of Miracle Max. Any tips would be helpful, but my end goal is to recover enough to use with the UPS and convert into a working solar generator with battery bank backup. Thanks!
but epsom salt (magnesium sulphate with distilled water ) worked for my 6v 4Ah solar lamp battery unused for 7 years . the same trick also worked for my 12v bike battery.
Hey man , I agree with you and you made an excellent video.... i feel like at this point in history we need something better. I'm thinking we start making clear cases & dividers. Something like acrylic. This way we can see what is wrong. If the plates are rotted we can at least drain the lower bits of dissolved lead OUT. Typically there is a mud in a lower space of the batt, which is there to hold this 'extra sloth' . Eventually when this gets thick enough the plates short out. That failure mode is different to >> it just dried out caz I only use it every now and then and never check the water. > take the plates out of an old battery / keep the liquid / filter the liquid with coffee filter or whatever / wash plates off with DI / move to new case / deal with old nasty case later
I too wish battery cases were clear - but for customer satisfaction reasons that will never be the case. People don't want to see the crap inside their batteries because it looks messy and they'll complain. So battery manufacturers will continue making opaque ones to limit their liability except in special applications.
I have used this method before in the past (and still do) and it works well the the most part.
Excellent video.
It's too bad the construction of most deep cycle batteries do not allow for the removal of the top of the case with standard tools to remove the lead plates, clean them (desulphate) , add new water and acid and put the battery back into service.
Doug Hanchard
That would be too much liability. Then somebody could open their battery with little effort, spill acid on themselves and their dog, then start a lawsuit against the battery manufacturer and the auto parts chain that sold it to them, plus PETA would start a class action lawsuit because the person's dog was inhumanely harmed by the negligence of the all battery manufacturers that used that type of battery construction. Lawyers would make a ton of money.
@@javaman2883 How true How True, but you also forgot to mention no battery company would want us to be reparing batteries even if we could because everytime we repair something they think they lost a sale!!!
Good video. Tried this with a couple of small (3 Ah) APC UPS batteries I was going to toss out that have been sitting around for years. The APC doesn't maintain the battery properly and so the batteries die after standby use with hardly any cycling.
One was bone dry. Topped off with tap water (very soft water here). One battery took a charge, the bone dry one did not Got 8 seconds while running the inverter under load. Tried this a few times without improvement. Then tried an Everstart marine charger with de-sulphating mode a couple more times and got it up to 5 minutes, which is what APC is the run time on these small paper-weight UPS.
Not really worth it for a $15 battery but an interesting proof of concept, both for the battery and the marine charger.
The description of the way a sulfated battery's plates can be made functional again, despite the irreparable damage sounds similar to the way an alcoholic's liver regains its function.
You speak good sense really helped me out thanks!
Well, did the orange battery survive?!
Still asking the question here too
@@Teknopottu I hope Orange survived. Still waiting on vote results.
@@JERRYR708 Nice one.
Old traditional Dumb charger, you made me laugh lol
Great Video clip! Excuse me for butting in, I am interested in your initial thoughts. Have you thought about - Lammywalness Trendy Trade Guide (Have a quick look on google cant remember the place now)? It is a smashing exclusive product for learning how to recondition batteries at home minus the normal expense. Ive heard some incredible things about it and my m8 at last got excellent results with it.
Cheers for the video content! Apologies for chiming in, I would love your opinion. Have you tried - Lammywalness Trendy Trade Guide (erm, check it on google should be there)? It is an awesome one of a kind guide for learning how to recondition batteries at home without the hard work. Ive heard some unbelievable things about it and my buddy after many years got amazing success with it.
@@mdmonowar7339 please pardon my very average, nothing special ability to recognize tendencies of ppl towards overly complementary and unnecessarily positive descriptions of whatever it is they are talking about. But it is actually types of behavior, when taken in context, that tend to make me not want to believe anything at all being discussed as the writer has demonstrated very clearly their eagerness to guzzle it. Hopefully you can follow my point. Which would make one of us.
@@hexadecim8 These posts are all over every vid on TH-cam about batteries. Probably the same guy under different names trying to sell a scam.
"You can get a new car battery for about sixty bucks." This is how you know this video is over 10 years old!
I actually bought a brand new car battery at Walmart just last year for $60 for an old car. It works great - for now. They still exist but, yeah, good ones cost much more now.
Don't listen to this. It may or may not work. I have a very large 60Ah 12 sealed battery that was from a industrial UPS that I got probably back in the mid 2000's. I was hoping that I could purchase another battery for the UPS and have a near FREE industrial UPS at my house. A new battery long ago was near $800 and I didn't want to spend that much on getting the UPS to work. Starting around February this year 2020, I came cross this battery sitting in my basement after watching another video here on how to disulfate by being patient and letting it over charge. I started charging middle of February with a dumb charger like the first video I watched said to do and at the end of March, 6 weeks later the battery was only drawing 0.01 of an amp, up from 0.005 of a amp. It would draw 12 volts at 500 watts for about 30 seconds and then drop to below 1 volt. That is 6 weeks on the charger. I also was reading the temperature of the battery every day or so and it never got above room temperature. So, I decided to go for more. From the advice from the first video, with a flat screwdriver I popped off all the plastic parts covering the sealed part of the battery and then pulled off the rubber caps covering the fill holes. I filled the battery with distilled water, you want 100% water and no minerals or stuff in it. This sealed battery took almost the entire gallon of water that I had. I then found a 26 volt at 2amp power supply that was for a VoIP telephone also from the early 2000. I made a connector for the power supply to the battery that had screw on terminals. At then let it have at it. The current started off at 0.006 of an amp. One hour later the current was up to 0.05 of an amp. Encouraging. Only after an hour of charge, the battery would drain at 12.6 volt at 500 watts for 4 minutes. I put the charger back on. At 6 hours I went out to check on the battery and it was hot at 133F degrees and water maybe half a cup had come back out through the top. I stopped charging and let it discharge again at 12.6 volts 500 watts at 26 minutes and 30 seconds or so. I was very surprised. I let the battery cool to room temperature and then put it back on for another 6 hours and noticed that the 26v charging that it started at the day prior is now charging 20.1 v 2.2amp, probably the maximum that the wall charger can put out. At 6 hours at 20.1v 2.2amp I again stopped the charging at the battery temperature was now 140F. I let the battery again cool down and the next day put it on a smart charger and charged up to 31,550 watt hours worth. It is right now sitting in my garage and I will do a few more drain and recharge cycles and do one last 26 v for 6 hour charge and I bet I will get the 60Ah out of this battery.
Ah, the good old days of analogue, before ubiquitous microprocessors started telling consumers what/how they should do things. If one had a dodgy or broken Valve Radio, Gramophone, Cathode Ray Tube TV, etc., yer just whacked the veneer furnished box products came in and had a 99% chance of resuscitation.
One of the best, no SHIT, video that I have seen. I loved it!
This get's me to wondering if a simple 555 timer circuit driving a MOSFET would be useful. It occurs to me that a high current pulse at a low rate would work fairly well. This is something I've been thinking about for a while. I'm curious as to what you think about the idea.
This sounds like something Bedini did with his SSG charger.
I used to recondition batteries when I was a kid I would bring old batteries home and charge them for two or three weeks on a slow charger and my dad would sell them to his friends for 5 or 10 bucks I said Dad how come only get $2 he said who was paid for electricity I had a lot of fun bringing old batteries back to life that was the day of six volt batteries and 12 volt batteries
Great story! The world today is built on the backs of young entrepreneurs like yourself!
Sure I’m going to wait a month while an old charger is running . Waiting a month for the garage to go up in flames rather than buy a new car battery .
And if that is what you will spend your month doing then Meester Estall suh that is exactly what you should do. But cents I's is rentin my house from you and cents you won't fix the heet iz may b a weener ether way suh. Iz ewe still gon b beetin me Thurzda like always suh o can I go to my baby funral?
pretentious prick
Thank you . I have a habit of watching your videos for good information . Thank you again and please keep making these great videos .
When I see a nerd with glasses, I'm going to pay attention!
Excellent video content! Sorry for chiming in, I would love your initial thoughts. Have you tried - Rozardner Powerful Battery Reality (erm, check it on google should be there)? It is a good one of a kind product for learning how to recondition an old battery without the hard work. Ive heard some decent things about it and my cooworker after a lifetime of fighting got excellent success with it.
I have found that although the battery voltage may reach a fully charged state, once I performed a load and capacity test, the battery was quite down on the specifications. I used a Power Products analyzer for a load test and a Torkel 860 for the capacity test.
Finally a battery video that makes sense considering all the BS found on TH-cam and forums. Having worked in a battery lab, I have yet to see any charger with a so-called desulfation mode that works. And the key to long battery life is care and maintenance. My car batteries have all lasted over 15 years and I also choose a flooded lead acid battery because they can be maintained.
you are right, see voltage drop quickly as he measures, means self-discharge is high. watch is ok, but use old or new acid.
Let me say this a flooded battery can always and i do mean always be brought back to like new if not better than agm not as easy or cost effective but can be brought cback there is no such thing as a bad battery my friend if you going to state truths state em truly i may not have your college degrees but i have an uncanny ability to grasp the flow of electrons stereo systems is what got me into it but there are many ways you can completely revive a completely crystallized cell if not there would be no value in a core return battery companies dont want you to know but if you have knowledge of how it works you can remove led add led remove electrolytes and fresh change metals change electrolytes for about 1/3 the price of a truly brand new battery. CAUTION PLEASE DO NOT ATTEMPT TO TAMPER WITH A FACTORY SEAL FOR MEANS OF RESTORING YOUR BATTERY UNLESS YOU KNOW THE DANGERS INVOLVED AND HAVE ALL THE PPE AND SAFTY EQUIPMENT
@@charliehull1326 But you shared absolutely no infomation on how to do anything.
Talk is cheap.
I had a Ford Econovan from 84 to 97, don't know what year it was new, the battery in it lasted just on 13 years, it survived early on when i bought it ,being overcharged when i forgot to monitor the cheap little 1 amp charger I left on for a long time as it was not my daily driver, When i came back to check on it i could smell it and saw acid all over the concrete and it was bubbliong and boiling all over, let it cool, topped it up with water,expected the worst but it survived all of those years, had holes in the casing and stank when it finally died.
I use my DLS-45 as you describe and it works well for it. 45A is faster than optimal for charging batteries but I haven't had a problem with outgassing or overheating even when charging single batteries. You just have to watch them more closely and it's best to not start with a warm battery. It does start tapering fairly early on in the charge cycle so it's not like it does 45A the whole time - probably just the first 20 mins or so on a normal deep cycle battery.