Weak and bad battery reclaimation

Not for batteries with shorted cells - too late for them.

Lead Acid Batteries start with nice clean lead plates. When discharging a layer(s) of sulfate will build on the plate(s) diminishing its capacity. Recharging will disolve and return the sulfate to the electrolyte (acid). Rapid/High rate recharging can cause the sulfate to flake off causing you tons of problems down the road (shorted cells).

For those of you with cell combinations exceeding 12 Volts, real nice battery chargers can be had by searching ebay for "Tungar" or looking for a battery charger in the antiques section. 1920-???? chargers that used a vacuum tube diode were used to keep 12 Volt batteries wired in series charged. I'm not sure of the highest voltage achievable with them. MAYBE SOMEONE CAN ADD TO THIS DISCUSSION THAT DOES KNOW THE TOP VOLTAGE. I do use it to charge a 36V battery bank. You can always tell a vacuum tube diode charger by the redline at 6 amps on the gauge. The vacuum tube diode would burn like a 100 watt light bulb and sellers will sometimes mistakenly refer to the diode tube as a light bulb in the charger. The tubes were known as "Tungar" or "Rectigon" Tubes. Be careful when looking as some tungar chargers where used for old radio bateries and I've seen some which were limited to 2 Amps.

Apparently batteries with encased multiple cells will have one or more cells with a weaker internal connection. This cell(s) will never fully charge and eventually will sulfate to the point of failure (shorted).

For those of you with weak and failing batteries you may want to try electronic desulfation. This device will pulse the battery and electronically gently scrub the plates clean of sulfate, returning it to the acid. It won't restore batteries to "Like New" condition, but close to it.

These are available commercially.

http://www.pulsetech.net/index2.html

This link has good battery maintenance tips http://www.independent-power.com/battery_dos.html

Or for those of you handy with soldering irons you can build your own desulfator. The link below will take you to a website that deals with a design for those wanting to do-it-yourself. BE SURE TO READ THE ORIGINAL ARTICLE.

They really work!


Lead Acid Battery Desulfator

Cant help putting up picture of baby.

'nuther good link on lead acid batteries. Everything you wanted to know about LA batteries. Read 'till you yawn and drop.


Lead Acid Battery FAQ