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Reconditioning batteries

Blue85

Blue85

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Does anybody have real experience with this? There is a local guy claiming he can make my RV deep cycle batteries work like 80% or better even though they are currently at 5V ("If it doesn't work you don't pay"). There are also good reviews on some DIY products like this: http://www.amazon.com/BatteryMINDer-Charger-Maintainer-Desulfator-System/dp/B00D7HZ6FC/ref=pd_sbs_263_1?ie=UTF8&refRID=1B1AC41TFVR3JJK0ZE4G

Anybody try it? How about the level of success of Epsom salt, acid and distilled water? I have a "smart" charger from Schumaker, which some say does "de-sulfate" but it just says "bad batt" pretty quick on old ones.
 
I've got two good sized deep cycles, one 0V, other 6V (both are 12V rated). Both were very "dry" inside.

Been playing with both of them to try and get them to take a charge.

Neither has enough voltage to even let a "smart" charger work, you have to jump them with a good battery then remove the good battery. Both batteries are so bad that the battery minder will NOT charge them, it will start charging, get warm, then shut down as I assume it thinks the load has been removed.

Even at 2A both batteries can be heard "boiling" immediately after getting the charger going, the 0V one goes flat immediately upon disconnect. The 6V one will get up to 11-12V on charge, but will only maintain 6V. I assume that means that three of the cells are dead. I plan to try and use it as a 6V battery and see what it's capacity is.

I believe you'll find no hard evidence that the "de-sulphation" claims are valid. Not saying it DOESN'T work, but last I looked, I couldn't find anything concrete saying it was a given that it was effective.
 
I'm not a chemist or materials expert, so I can only go by what I read. "Fixing" a battery we would all throw away sounds too good to be true, but there is lots of anecdotal evidence. There are also failure stories, so I'm sure it doesn't always work, but it's hard to figure the odds.

The thing is - I've never seen a reconditioned battery for sale. If this process had a good success rate, you would find them for sale all over. Of course I can't prove that some batteries sold as new aren't reconditioned but somehow verified to perform like new. But when you hear about the seemingly random lifespan of new car batteries it makes you wonder...

I may be able to let you know if it works next week...
 
It really is tough to know. What works for one may not work for another simply because the innards were garbage as produced. As you mention, the lifespan of new batteries is all over the place...and IMO that means none can be considered "good". The only constant seems to be batteries that come in new cars. Those ALL seem to last 5-7 years+, as long as the car hasn't been abused.

I've been using the battery minder to charge my daughters power wheels for a year or two (so pretty slow charge), and I know that battery has been drained pretty good a couple of times. I normally let it sit on the minder for weeks at a time, unused, but without testing actual capacity of the battery, the results are just anecdotal. I also use a minder on the truck, since it sits months at a time, and I figure it can't hurt. Again...nothing that proves the minder is any better than any other method, including just letting the battery sit!

I expect most "dead" batteries that chain auto parts stores take as returns are likely due to other factors, not an actual dead battery. No offense to those with this experience, but it is hard to know what stories about battery failure are legit, and which ones are mis-diagnosis....if I had a bad battery cable connection and inadvertently fixed it when removing the battery, you might hear a story about the miracles of the battery minders, when of course that wasn't the case. Yes, battery may have been dead, but it would have been charged up the same with any other charger.

I think the real test is batteries that are infrequently used in automotive apps, but when used are kept charged up, not used for things like winching, etc. If you could get a battery in that situation to last for 10 years or more, then repeat with other batteries in similar conditions, the minder might have some proof. But even then, who is to say that just keeping the battery constantly topped off isn't the "miracle", vs the de-sulphation or whatever they claim.
 
I have not tried the epsom salts treatment but have been tempted too,after seeing some youtube videos on the subject..

But I feel a lot of dead batteries today are not due to sulphation,its more likely the plates lost all their "magic stuff" ,or the insulators have rubbed through and let the plates touch and short out..

I have known a few guys who sell "rebuilt" batteries,they cut open the case,repair or replace the dead cells ,and put them back together again..
I see them advertised on Craigslist and for sale at swap meets..haven't heard many complaints about them..

I dont know if they just use cells from a "donor" used battery or what,it would be kind of cool if you could perform such surgery on a battery with success..
Most of the customers for the rebuilts are used car dealers and fleets..
 
sh*tty lead in honeycombed cheapskate plate designs..... nuff said...
 
You can buy refurbished batteries all over. In the ag world, they call them "irrigation batteries" I have two in my M1008 right now.

Martin
 
I have a Black&Decker smart charger with a De-sulfacation mode. I have used it several times on wet batteries. Seems it has about a 50/50 chance of actually working, But on the ones it did work on I got a couple more years out of them. I also don't add water when they are low, I bought some electrolyte(Battery acid)and refill them with that.
 
I dropped my batteries to this guy and realized he's not a pro, just some guy trying to make a few bucks on the side. Other than adding water, his approach is purely electronic, with some $250 de-sulfator. I figure since I only had to go a few miles out of my way, if they won't come back I'm saved a run to the recyclers. They are Megatron deep cycles marked 2006.
 
Just my experience but the military uses a desulfation solar-powered piece on some trucks. It is called a solargizer and it will not keep the batteries topped off but I have got a lot of good batteries out of these trucks and if the trucks didn't have the solargizer the batteries are all shot. Most of these trucks have sat for 10 plus years.
 
I've been keeping my truck hooked up to a battery minder since it sits normally a month at a time.

It will be interesting to see how much life I get out of this battery. It's not taxed with anything like winching and the like, so if keeping them "topped off", or de-sulphated works, I should get some amazing life out of it IMO.

FWIW, putting together a 12V solar battery maintainer is stupid easy, you could put together a pretty "serious" one (10W panel, which should ensure enough output anywhere, any time of year) for about $40.
 
dyeager535 said:
I've been keeping my truck hooked up to a battery minder since it sits normally a month at a time.

It will be interesting to see how much life I get out of this battery. It's not taxed with anything like winching and the like, so if keeping them "topped off", or de-sulphated works, I should get some amazing life out of it IMO.

FWIW, putting together a 12V solar battery maintainer is stupid easy, you could put together a pretty "serious" one (10W panel, which should ensure enough output anywhere, any time of year) for about $40.
Click to expand...

More info on this please. I have a number of various sized solar panels to play with.
 
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