Got a EverStart Maxx battery charger that has a battery recondition setting. I'm putting it on our Escape (battery 4 years old) and the Dakota (battery 7 years old) today just for giggles. Any thoughts on if it's worth it on a yearly or maybe twice a year basis?
Battery recondition?
- Thread starter wander2039
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JHZR2
Staff member
Be careful,with reconditioning settings especially if a battery is left in the car. The chargers can take it over 16V. Would hate for you to fry vehicle electronics because you think you’re doing something good for your battery.
What problem are you trying to solve? Batteries are consumables. They degrade by sulfation when allowed to sit below 100% SOC. If you’re that concerned, buy a quality charger that is known to do a proper temperature compensated float (like battery minder), and plug it in more often. Don’t fry the rest of your car trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist…
What problem are you trying to solve? Batteries are consumables. They degrade by sulfation when allowed to sit below 100% SOC. If you’re that concerned, buy a quality charger that is known to do a proper temperature compensated float (like battery minder), and plug it in more often. Don’t fry the rest of your car trying to solve a problem that doesn’t exist…
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As an alternative, if your battery is getting older, replace it and you are good to go. I am about to replace the 4 year old 51R in our trusty TSX for this very reason.
Good luck.
Good luck.
I replaced the battery on the 2014 Jeep GC when it was 5 yrs old just because it's located underneath the passenger seat and kind of a pain to replace when it's -30 below. It was an expensive battery however I didn't want to recieve "that call" from Mrs. Right stating the vehicle had a dead battery in the work parking lot.
Replacing a perfectly functional part is pretty wasteful. By that theory, why not replace the water pump, alternator, starter, while you're at it?
I was referring to a battery that was tired. I would guess that was obvious. Maybe not to some... But knock yourself out.
Nope, you said OLDER.
Many people running 6 7 8 or more year old batteries just fine. https://bobistheoilguy.com/forums/threads/oldest-battery-ice-vehicles.362373/#post-6301275
A couple of months ago I noticed my a/c belt on my 2005 Chevy truck was starting to crack quite a bit. I wasn’t having any issues at all with the cooling system but I bought a new oem a/c belt…..new idler and tensioner pulleys…new water pump….new thermostat….flushed the cooling system ….etc. At 233,000 miles I felt it might be a good idea since I was already in there to preemptively replace those 17 year old parts with new ones. It took roughly $300 and 21/2 hours. It’s called ‘Preventive Maintenance‘ in the transportation industry.
I can dig that for your parts that are at the end of their life. A 4 year old battery isn't, barring a test saying otherwise.A couple of months ago I noticed my a/c belt on my 2005 Chevy truck was starting to crack quite a bit. I wasn’t having any issues at all with the cooling system but I bought a new oem a/c belt…..new idler and tensioner pulleys…new water pump….new thermostat….flushed the cooling system ….etc. At 233,000 miles I felt it might be a good idea since I was already in there to preemptively replace those 17 year old parts with new ones. It took roughly $300 and 21/2 hours. It’s called ‘Preventive Maintenance‘ in the transportation industry.
May depend where. In TX it might be because of the heat. In Maine batteries will typically last longer.
If I wanted to recondition a battery I would have the battery out of the vehicle in my garage.
As much as I love extending the life of ANY consumable good one might encounter, I find it a bit odd that the 12v lead-acid battery is so prized as far as longevity is concerned. Even in the current climate... the cost of said batteries really isn't much different than it was 5 years ago.
Getting 3-5 years of reliable use out of a given lead-acid battery seems to be both the sweet spot and the sticking point for people. Half will say "You got your money's worth" with the other half claiming the opposite.
I'm not saying a battery that's used sparingly won't benefit from some maintenance, but I do believe that 90% of lead-acid batteries used within a reasonable fashion will easily last 5 years +/- 8 months.
Getting 3-5 years of reliable use out of a given lead-acid battery seems to be both the sweet spot and the sticking point for people. Half will say "You got your money's worth" with the other half claiming the opposite.
I'm not saying a battery that's used sparingly won't benefit from some maintenance, but I do believe that 90% of lead-acid batteries used within a reasonable fashion will easily last 5 years +/- 8 months.
Battery restoration is best done with a constant current power supply.
Slowly drain a 12V battery to 10V (maybe use a light bulb)
Use CC charging, at 10% of the 1 HOUR AH rating. NOT the 20 hour (or 6 hour) rating.
Charge for 16 hours, stop at 8 hours if the battery gets hot. Restart once cool for 8 more hours.
Voltage will climb to 18 or so by the end.
Note, the 20 hour "AH" rating is always a more favorable number. (the 10h rate is only slightly worse, and this is the typical rating for starting batteries)
(convert 20 hour to 6 hour rating by multiplying by 0.83)
(convert 6h rating to 1h rating by multiplying the 6 hour rate by 0.6)
If this method fails, the battery "ain't" coming back to life.
Example: Charge a 50AH battery with a constant 5A, for 16 hours. A typical battery will withstand this 3x before end of life. This method can extend battery life by a year or two.
Slowly drain a 12V battery to 10V (maybe use a light bulb)
Use CC charging, at 10% of the 1 HOUR AH rating. NOT the 20 hour (or 6 hour) rating.
Charge for 16 hours, stop at 8 hours if the battery gets hot. Restart once cool for 8 more hours.
Voltage will climb to 18 or so by the end.
Note, the 20 hour "AH" rating is always a more favorable number. (the 10h rate is only slightly worse, and this is the typical rating for starting batteries)
(convert 20 hour to 6 hour rating by multiplying by 0.83)
(convert 6h rating to 1h rating by multiplying the 6 hour rate by 0.6)
If this method fails, the battery "ain't" coming back to life.
Example: Charge a 50AH battery with a constant 5A, for 16 hours. A typical battery will withstand this 3x before end of life. This method can extend battery life by a year or two.
I have that charger. It works fine for golf carts. If you don't use a golf cart for a couple of months, the cart charger can't sense the battery and won't begin to charge. The Everstart charger will get the batteries to charge enough for the cart charger to kick in quickly enough.
I'm using the Everstart right now to charge up a lawnmower battery after reconditioning. I'm not sure how it will turn out. I'm just playing with it to be honest. I'll get a new battery at Walmart if it doesn't work out. The 3A trickle feature could come in handy.
I'm using the Everstart right now to charge up a lawnmower battery after reconditioning. I'm not sure how it will turn out. I'm just playing with it to be honest. I'll get a new battery at Walmart if it doesn't work out. The 3A trickle feature could come in handy.
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Referencing a battery to the items you listed is the height of idiocy.
gathermewool
Site Donor 2023
Care to explain? If a battery tests fine, why replace it?
Now, replacing a water pump with a timing kit may make sense, but the others? No one replaces an alternator that is putting out proper voltage. So, “height of idiocy” seems a bit harsh and not quite true.
I guess not everybody is as well off as you seem to be to replace a good working battery that may last years longer. Personally, I prefer to spend my money on things that actually need replacing.
Totally agree Jeff. Just did that on my 4 y/o Mercedes. It was getting a bit weird, like the sunroof would open for no reason. New battery fixed all the odd little things. Even a trickle charge/maintainer just wouldn't quite bring it back to where it should have been.
Anyway, to the OP, I have had no luck with the battery restore "program" on my NOCO 5. Especially on AGM batteries. It might work better on flooded L/A ones.
After the afore mentioned batt was out of the car, I ran the restore function overnight No improvement in the full state of charge voltages the next day.
theres no free lunch. I have the noco 10, and dabbled in renewable energy years ago, was even published at one point in home power magazine. Once a LA battery is worn, aged, sulfated, there arent many easy things you can do to bring them back. The noco has a conservative charge strategy… it may be fine with newer batteries, but it’s kind of hindered with aging batteries with an increasing internal resistance. It’s good that the noco has the “fix it” function, but its a bit of a mixed bag.
the “fix it” function basically pushes a higher voltage charge in sweeps. It’s kinda similar to just leaving an old school charger operating for longer than you normally would - into light bubbling for some softening of sulfation, equalization charging. My issue with it, is that its slightly too aggressive for a healthy maintenance charge on a good battery, and “too much too late” for a battery that’s too far gone to be gentle with. If you’ve got to blast 15+ volts into a tired battery for it to charge, it’s not got much left to give.
I’ve tried the “fix it” function on a couple of batteries. For a “mostly dead” battery, it just puked fluid all over the floor, and the battery still failed to start the car. On a mid-life AGM, the starter spun quicker for the first start and it did perk it up a bit, but I’m not sure of the consequences it might have done by over-volting the agm. I’m not sure I trust the algorithm.
you can probably tell I’m not thrilled with the noco. Where it‘s good - it is a conservative and gentle charger. On the vehicle AGMs it settles to a very low current (200 mAh or so) charge, gently, gently, slowly, bringing up to 14.4V or so, the shuts down until 12.6 or so, then turns back on to the slow slow rate. So it won’t rapidly recondition the battery, but a deep cycle sitting on it for 3 winter months will probably be delighted. It would be better if it would simply float to a set voltage, slightly different for each battery chemistry. Setting it on power supply mode of 13.8 might actually be the best method after the charging algorithm is done.
the “fix it” function basically pushes a higher voltage charge in sweeps. It’s kinda similar to just leaving an old school charger operating for longer than you normally would - into light bubbling for some softening of sulfation, equalization charging. My issue with it, is that its slightly too aggressive for a healthy maintenance charge on a good battery, and “too much too late” for a battery that’s too far gone to be gentle with. If you’ve got to blast 15+ volts into a tired battery for it to charge, it’s not got much left to give.
I’ve tried the “fix it” function on a couple of batteries. For a “mostly dead” battery, it just puked fluid all over the floor, and the battery still failed to start the car. On a mid-life AGM, the starter spun quicker for the first start and it did perk it up a bit, but I’m not sure of the consequences it might have done by over-volting the agm. I’m not sure I trust the algorithm.
you can probably tell I’m not thrilled with the noco. Where it‘s good - it is a conservative and gentle charger. On the vehicle AGMs it settles to a very low current (200 mAh or so) charge, gently, gently, slowly, bringing up to 14.4V or so, the shuts down until 12.6 or so, then turns back on to the slow slow rate. So it won’t rapidly recondition the battery, but a deep cycle sitting on it for 3 winter months will probably be delighted. It would be better if it would simply float to a set voltage, slightly different for each battery chemistry. Setting it on power supply mode of 13.8 might actually be the best method after the charging algorithm is done.
Recently I've been watching a lot of stuff on YouTube about battery rejuvenation. Much of it is just BS and old wives tales, but one method that seems to work quite often is using a stick welder. The Project Farm guy, one of the more credible YouTubers, shows this.
In all cases they use a modern consumer grade inverter DC stick welder. I have an old AC stick welder. My question is, what would happen if I tried to use that on an old dead car battery?
In all cases they use a modern consumer grade inverter DC stick welder. I have an old AC stick welder. My question is, what would happen if I tried to use that on an old dead car battery?
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