Anybody ever RejuveNite a Lead Acid battery?

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I ran across this video.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J7n908PSRTw

My boss has an old Meter maid cart thing that he uses around his property and the battery died. It's a Napa battery and one of the cells wont come up even after 2 days on a trickle charger.

The other 5 cells are good.

Under a 100A load it would drop to 4v which won't start the cart.

I did the Epson salt trick and after 2 hrs it had 12.6V and dropped to 10V under a 100A load. Be interesting to see how long it lasts.

I wouldn't recomend doing it to a car you take into Death Valley or your kid drives but for a tractor used around the house it should be ok.

I'm going to check it again tomorrow. It's at the shop with a 1157 bulb burning bright. I'll put it on a trickle charge tomorrow and see what happens.
 
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Nothing to loose trying it so...
I'm looking forward to seeing how it works out. I have some stuff called Battery Equalizer but haven't tried it yet. If the video is accurate, I wasted $50!
 
Epson salt will not do anything of use. Magniesium SUlfate is what is in Epsom Salt and it in no way will reduce or remove the sulfation that happens inside a lead acid batter. It also is not part of the electrolyte mix and and will not do anything to positively affect specific gravity!

On top of all of this just in case I was wrong I ran this by my Chemistry Professor who is a real PHD and is published and actually teach's class's still! On top of that amongst other things he worked for a long time in the Auto Industry and the Medical Industry so he is not all book smarts and no hands on type!HE confirmed what I said before the Epsom Salt trick is nothing more then ignorant wives tale!

Last time I commented on this myth I was kind enough to point out that EDTA which is almost as cheap and is easily available mail order or at local chemical supply houses can have some positive effect assuming the plates are not shorted out and you completely replace the electrolyte with fresh after the EDTA has done it's job. For best results mix the EDTA with distilled water.!!!!

On top of that while I am clear about how EDTA works as a chelating agent I am still waiting for anyone to explain what Magniesium Sulfate is supposed to do and how it is supposed to do it? Science guys it all comes down to science no way around that!
 
Get some new golf cart batteries. You need a proper output and charging rate battery charger to charge the deep cycle batteries.
 
I have used VX6 or Charge it and have had batteries last 10 years or more even in bad winters. I use this as a maintenance product rather than a rejuvenator. These chemicals I mentioned contain cadmium and are hard to come by now days because of a worldwide ban on cadmium.

BTW, Mag Sulfate is a great smooth muscle relaxer.
 
Originally Posted By: JohnBrowning
Epson salt will not do anything of use. Magniesium SUlfate is what is in Epsom Salt and it in no way will reduce or remove the sulfation that happens inside a lead acid batter. It also is not part of the electrolyte mix and and will not do anything to positively affect specific gravity!

On top of all of this just in case I was wrong I ran this by my Chemistry Professor who is a real PHD and is published and actually teach's class's still! On top of that amongst other things he worked for a long time in the Auto Industry and the Medical Industry so he is not all book smarts and no hands on type!HE confirmed what I said before the Epsom Salt trick is nothing more then ignorant wives tale!

Last time I commented on this myth I was kind enough to point out that EDTA which is almost as cheap and is easily available mail order or at local chemical supply houses can have some positive effect assuming the plates are not shorted out and you completely replace the electrolyte with fresh after the EDTA has done it's job. For best results mix the EDTA with distilled water.!!!!

On top of that while I am clear about how EDTA works as a chelating agent I am still waiting for anyone to explain what Magniesium Sulfate is supposed to do and how it is supposed to do it? Science guys it all comes down to science no way around that!


Well here it is as of 30 minutes ago. It went from a completly discharged battery to this and has been burning since about 2pm...It's 9pm here now.

Now weather or not it will actully start a car is yet to be seen. It was down to 10v and dropped to 7v with a 100A load 30 min ago.

The Epson salt did do something to make it a better battery than it was. I'm not holding my breath though.

Excuse my fat finger on the bottom of the pic.
0108001559.jpg
 
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I never did the salt trick. Once upon a time, a family member went through NAPA batteries like tanks of gasoline in her car. Once it got so bad that even though the alternator was producing great voltage, the car wouldn't start and had to be jumped every single time - including after having driven it 250 miles and stopping to get gas.
Well, I got my hands on this battery and tried a regular charge with it. Sure enough, it would have a phantom 12.6v but then drop down to 10v after attempting to start with it. Then it would stay at 10v. I didn't give up - I put it on a very slow, weak trickle charger for a few days and tried again. Voila... it started holding a 12v charge! It went on to replace a bad battery in another car and continued to work in that car for the next year until the car was sold. Last I heard of that car, it still had that battery in it.

Batteries are funny creatures.
 
Originally Posted By: Slick17601
I added an Alka Seltzer to each cell of a garden tractor battery already a few times and got another summer of use.


Bet that was a relief!
 
Originally Posted By: Chris142
Originally Posted By: oilboy123
What about the trickle chargers with a sulfation button?
Never seen one.

Check your manual. Mine, linked below, which I paid $30 for at Wally, has it but it activates automatically if it detects a batt needs it.

http://store.schumachermart.com/sc-600a.html

Please keep us posted on the result. I have a pack rat friend sitting on 3 -4 old dead batteries in his garage.
 
I put the battery on the charger @ 8am. Checked it @ 5pm. It's still got a dead cell although it will light a small bulb all night.

It's not enough to start a car. IMO the Epson salt did improve it from DOA to small bulbs and maybe playing a radio.

I went everywhere looking for a charger that has a desulfate mode and did not find anything. I'm assuming that one would say so on the box.
 
I go through alot of atv batteries. I started taking them out and putting them on trickle chargers, but still alot of work and with 6 of them it seems like Iam always buying batteries. Iam going to try the salt trick, the seltzer trick and I may try hitting one with a welder, it works on the nicad rechargable. Ill put the atv battery under a wood box with just the leads coming out and hit it with about 30 volts and see if that helps.
 
When I got my truck it had 2 "renewed" batteries in it. They worked fine but I replaced them when I got a truck for pars and it had 3 brand new batteries in it.

Just reciently one of the renewed batteries died. One still works. I was wondering if I could renew batteries for stuff around the house but no such luck so far.

There has to be a way other than cutting the case apart and cleaning the plates (Sonic cleaner?).
 
And you thought this thread was DEAD.

I own a 2005 F250 Powerstroke FX4 with the original batteries. I always park my truck in my garage, even when I just stop by the house for 15 minutes. When it's in the garage, it's hooked up to a Deltran Battery Tender.

My friend owns a 2006 Powerstroke and his truck is parked outside 24/7 and is never hooked up to a Deltran Battery Tender.

We both use a power inverter to run laptop computers. I NEVER run my inverter unless I'm on the road or up-idling at 1,200 RPM. My friend often ran hias inverter with the engine off.

Last November, My friend's truck refused to start on a +10F Wyoming night. We removed the batteries and placed them in my heated to +40F garage for 12 hours.

I have a Schumaker battery charger with "automatic" sulfate detection. It did not recognize the batteries as sulfated. My friend has a Vector battery charger with a separate manually selected desulfate mode.
Charging each battery in desulfate mode for 24 hours on the Vector brought both of them back to life.

My friend drove the truck through the winter of 2009/2010 in southern Wyoming. The truck was always parked outside and never connected to a battery tender or charger.

In august of 2010, starting became a little sluggish, so my friend desulfated the batteries again. As of Oct 10, 2010, they seem to be O.K.

I spoke with an engineer at Schumaker and was told:

Keeping the batteries on a battery tender (like the Deltran) keeps them as close to 100% charge as possible. 100% charge minimizes sulfating.

There is no such thing as premptive desulfating. If you desulfate a battery before it goes bad, you are shortening its life.

You can "force" a Schumaker charger with auto sulfate detection into desulfate mode. Unfortunately, I didn't write down the procedure, so I'll have to call Schumakewr to find out how to do it.

My friend was able to bring back his OEM Motorcraft batteries back to life twice, extending their useful lives just about one year at this point - under the worst of conditions.

I'm going to find a charger with a separate manual desulfate mode .
 
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