My desulfator has been working perfectly. I have a 100ah military grade deep cycle battery I desulfated last year and is still running like it's brand new.
This is an excellent video series on battery desulfation, how make a desulfator, test its operation, and test the battery. Very well explained... I watched the full series (liked & subbed).
You got that right buddy. I'm starting to think about actually rebuilding my own batteries from that are too far gone.. reforming my own plates and the whole schebang.
LOL thanks and when it comes to this I do know what i'm talking about. I have 4 of those big batteries now and all were completely dead when I got them and now they're like brand new.
Nice video. Some good observations. Years ago I understood Lead-Acid Batteries, the whole issue: PbSo4 & all the changes it went though....drove me mad, but, whatever & I mean this sincerely...I think you have many valid points here. If nothing else: extending the life of the batteries we simply chuck away when they "play up" (When most likely it's another cause!) can only be a good thing. Keep up the good work. Your critics need to contribute to build you a work shop..they worry for the carpet!
AGM batteries are a different beast then regular flooded lead acid batteries when it comes to desulfating. I haven't had the opportunity to play with any yet. Supposedly AGM batteries are more robust then regular lead acid, being able to safely discharged further then lead acid. It all comes down to the condition of the plates in the battery. As long as you don't have any shorted cells I'd give it a try. Those are $200+ batteries that you mentioned.
Viciouskev - actually it doesn't take as much power as you think. I'm desulfating another pair of the same batteries that are in this video right now. They have been hooked up to mains power for 35 days now and my kill-a-watt meter shows 6.91kwh useage so far. That is roughly less then $5 worth of electricity. Also keep note that 4kwh of that power was to just put a charge back into the dead batteries. As of right now both battery chargers together pull a consistent 7 Watts from mains power
PERIEsh - Also, thanks for the kind words. You can buy retail desulfators off of eBay, but i reccomend against doing so. The retail versions are much weaker with thier pulses since if something ever goes wrong there's a liability problem. This is why it is better to build your own for better performance.
I remember once taking apart my OEM 4 and half year old toyota van battery. At that stage it's capacity noticably had dropped hugely. The positive plates crumbled in my fingers, they were very brittle and week. It reminded me of flakes of rust..
nice job on your desulfation circuit. I have been using bendini style solid state pulse motors for years to reclaim L16 T-105 and larger batteries for the solar banks. have you ever thought of feeding directly off some solar panels to your set up. you can use a cap dump set up to smooth out the voltage also. also, I usually let the batteries rest at least 10 hours after a long pulse session, then discharge using the C-20 rate to break thru the bottom end sulfation, again, nice job, well done!
I love this stuff!! Thanks a million for posting this awesine and very informative video. I hate throwing out things, which can be yet fixed. We all need to go more green and waste less. I commend you for taking lead and be an example of others. I am from NJ too (North central). If I cannot build your desulfator myself, do you know from which store I can get one? In any case, love your approach and good luck with all your project to save our environment !!
As long as the desulfator is hooked directly to your car's battery, then the electronics in your car will be okay. The battery will absord the pulse as it supposed to. I had my own desulfators working in my wife's and my car for 3 months will no ill effects.
Themickytdi - I tend to agree with you. With my mounting experience playing with different styles of lead acid batteries, deep cycle batteries that are simply over discharged tend to respond the best. I've tried over the last 6 months to desulfate "starting" batteries and I think I've had a 1 in 10 success rate in rejuvinating the batteries. On the flip side out of 4 deep cycle batteries 3 cake back like new condition and one failed only since it had a shorted cell.
This design of desulfator can safely be left onto a battery indefinately as long as you have a daily trickle charge to replenish the power the desulfator uses with no ill effects on the battery. I will not sell my homemade desulfators for liability reasons. That is why I posted the schematic so people can build their own.
sounds like your on the right track. The one variable you didn't mention was the voltage when the battery started gassing. If it was gassing below 13vdc with the charger connected, then likely you have a shorted cell and/or plates. If this is the case then ditch the battery as it's not recoverable. Batteries usually start gassing over 13.5vdc.
You can buy a retail desulfator like the batteryminder. The whole reason for these videos are for electronics enthusiasts and this circuit is more effective then the batteryminder.
njshark, I just bought 5 Infinitum Desulfators for a bunch of mild to moderately sulfated YellowTop D34 SLA's I have from a cancelled electric car project, bought in 2007, so I will let you know how they work over the next couple weeks. I am using some 'onboard' 1.5amp auto chargers to charge them. Cheers.
Phil Berg - sorry but I do not have a desulfator that can handle that much of a load. There are modifications to the basic circuit to make it a high power desulfator for large batteries like that but I haven't looked into them.
If the battery is bulging even a little bit chances are good that the lead sulfate built up on the plates so thick that it cracked a plate and shorted out a cell. Cut your losses and recycle the battery.
Edwinict - This will work on industrial batteries such a l-16's, it will just take longer to restore the battery or great for a constantly connected maintenance system. I'm hoping to modify the circuit in the next month or two to work on a 24 volt battery bank that I'm creating for a solar setup for my bedroom.
I don't have any first hand experience with desulfating sealed or agm batteries. I would venture to say that it will work as long as the electrolyte hasn't boiled off and the plates are still in good condition.
Thanks. love to see real applications Hi, sorry for the newbie question, but what'st he DC/DC converter for? Is it to step down from the laptop power supply? I thought those desulphators would use the battery's own power to send back pules into them.
Good video, and great tips on desulfating batteries. I have the same Schumacher 1 amp battery charger. Does your desulfator use voltage spikes, or a frequency pulse to desulfate batteries?
the desulfator metephorically punches a hole through the lead sulfate allowing the battery to accept a charge, once this hole is present current can then start charging the battery. The reason the voltage goes up so fast on a fully sulfated battery is the lead sulfate acts as a resistive coating.
thank you! some people seem to be in a rush and want an instant fix for thier ailing batteries, such as using epsom salt. The reality of what we're doing here needs time for the procedure to take effect and reverse years of sulfation in a battery. Rome wasn't built in a day.....
I got them from a tree nursery I used to work at that used m35's to move flatbed trailers through the muddy fields. I would take the batteries to a recycling plant and get the $ for the lead in the batteries. Then buy a new 6tl battery with the money and use the desulfator to maintain and extend the life of your new battery.
great series.. does this desulfation process work on AGM type batteries as well? i switched over to that style years ago. my batteries last much much longer. i have one in a jeep that was discharged bad over the past 10 years but still works. old die hard. i want to bring it back to life. i didnt know about these older vids. i watched your mining stuff. i got into this topic years ago but didnt find any good information at the time. this is awesome.
I have had nothing but problems with optima batteries. I had a yellow top and every time I had a cell short out on me when I had one of these batteries. Unfortunately a desulfator will not repair shorted cells, so I have no clue as to how effective a desulfator will be on Optima batteries, or agm batteries as a whole. It is designed primarily for flooded lead acid batteries, not starved electrolyte.
@SuBLiMeXGoLd Yes, buy an AGM deep cycle battery, and a charger/maintainer suitable for such batteries. Or better yet, just get an actual DJ amplifier. I'm not a fan of using power supplies as the voltage on them can drop pretty low - into the 11.5 and below range which starts to put stress on the guts of the amp (mosfets) since they are going out of their efficiency range and producing more heat.
LOL you are the only one that noticed that the charger "appears" to be on backwards. The battery clips have the same quick connect as the charger but came from a different device, and the different device had the plug polarity reversed. Good eye though. :-)
easiest way is after it has finished time wise (1lb of battery per day) take the battery to an auto parts store and have them load test the battery. If it passes then take it home and put it back on a trickle charge for a few hours to replace the electricity used during the load test. If it fails then take it recycling.
Sorry never heard of that forum. Also you shouldn't be replacing any acid in the battery. All the acid is in there, it's just in the form of lead sulfate. Either the desulfator will work as it's supposed to or you'll have a shorted cell in the battery which will render the battery unrecoverable. The only thing you ever add to a battery is distilled water. Adding battery acid will not fix the problem or speed it up, it'll just upset the ratio of water/acid.
this could be caused by a heavily sulfated cell to a shorted cell. usually sulfation tends to happen uniformly between all cells. My guess would be you have a shorted cell and should just get a replacement battery.
lead acid batteries will vent is you charge them with too high of a voltage. if you keep the charging volts down to 13.5 it will still charge the battery and not vent, and also extend the life of the battery.
That is a new model "6-THN" battery,,replaced lots of the old type back in the day,, I have a old 2, 1/2 ton truck that still has 2 in it of the old type "6-THN's" that could be rebuilt. May try this just for chits and giggels !
The battery I currently use for my trolling motor gets warm near the negative terminal around the 2nd cell block, Is this due to sufation or is it cracked plates that cause this heat?
I have some very large 24 volt forklift batteries that are in bad shape, do you have a de-sulfator that will work with large batteries??and not take 3 or 4 years to do the job? one battery weighs 1200 lbs.
Sharkracer, I have a Kinetik HC1800 - its an 80AH AGM battery, and it weighs about 50 lbs.. Do you think I would be able to desulfate it and bring it back to new condition with one of these chargers? I use them for work, and replace them about once a year due to heavy use..
Some years ago a japanese company was selling electronic desulfators for 300$ that could be left on connected to the battery to keep it conditioned. could this homemade version be set up to do the same thing while hooked up to a solar panel for power source? Also, would you sell those sulfators, and what asking price?
Hi just come across your channel great informative videos well done. I have a question as I am new to the concept of sulphated batteries. I understand that you use a trickle charge to get the battery voltage higher so that the desulfating process can be achieved. Once you have the voltage high enough to start the process of desulfating do I understand you that you leave the charger and de-sulfator working none stop for up to 2 - 3 weeks without a break, [my battery is a normal 56A car battery] I will be checking the acid readings as you instruct in your later videos. Thanks,
Dear Sir, I am trying go build desulfator with charger to charge 12 v lead acid battery. Thanks for sharing the circuit for desulfator but plz can you also advise how you connected 6 am dc-dc charger to your desulfator circuit. Sorry for asking daft question but I am quiet newbie in electronics.
About 1 amp sorry. 17V will burn the cathodes a bit, but you got nothing to lose with hard sulfated anodes. 15V will not be high enough to burn off the hard sulfate. You need 16V minimum.
awesome video! I have a question. im using a 12v lead acid car battery to power my amplifier in my bedroom. im using a 2amp /or 15amp battery charger on it. my dad told me lead acid batteries vent and can be harmful for my health. should i buy an AGM battery and charger to be safe?
Thanks for your response! What is your opinion on using one of these in a car? Would the brief pulse it puts out be any danger at all to the car's electrics? or are they sufficiently protected? I just bought a desulfator and want to hook it up in my car to keep my batteries like new, but not if it will damage my computer or radio :P
One more thing I forgot to ask. What do you think of adding Epsom salt to a dead cattery and revive it that way instead running the desulfating gadget? Will it make sense to combine this two methods?
spyder64 - i agree with you but i can get away with it since we're only renting the townhouse and the carpets aren't part of the lease agreement since we opted not to have them replaced. If you cared about your carpet, might i suggest to anyone else that has a garage use the cement floor with the battery propped up on a piece of wood.
Well, I think all four of these 6TLs are bad. Any idea where I might find more of them that are used. If not I will have to go with the civilian batteries as the 6TLs are over $200 each. Thank you for your help.
I think it started gassing below 13V. One thing I ran out of room to ask was about specific gravity. I had no reading. I replaced some of the fluid with new acid and I got a reading but not good enough. Does the gassing issue have any correlation to the SG? I dont want to replace all of the acid if it won't help. Is there another way to contact you to discuss further? Are you a member on the Steel S...... forum? I ordered a pulsetech charger that will desulphate 100% of the time.
PERIEsh - I personall would never add anything to a batteries electrolyte. When a battery is sulfated it's just the sulfuric acid that is normally suspended in the electrolyte is now bonded to the plates in the form of lead sulfate. When you add salt or anything else to the electrolyte your disturbing a very delicate balance. The desulfator will revert the lead sulfate back to sulfuric acid and restore that delicate balance.
Superhawkn - you won't know till you try. Desulfating is not a precise science. As long as the battery isn't internally damaged there's a good chance it will come back to life.
Thanks for these interesting videos. Are you making any of your desulfators and DC DC converters available for sale? If so, where? I have a couple 8D batteries that I can only get to about 12V and I'm not sure if there is a shorted cell or just sulfated. Any hints? I'd rather gamble than buy these expensive batteries again (I let them sit too long - thought they were trickle charging with a solar batteryminder, but it could not keep up with some hidden loss.
Give it a shot but usually once the plates are exposed to air and no longer submerged some form of damage happens to them. Regardless let us know how it works out for you.
You have to know the basics of making a circuit on protoboard first and be able to read a schematic. If you can do both the overview of the circuit is in part 2 of this video series.
I pulled 4 6TLs like the ones you have out of an M817. The first battery was 6V. I added distilled water to the proper level. First night on a batteryminder 2012 brought it up to 11.4V. 2nd night 11.8V and I had to remove about 3/4" of acid from each cell as the level increased. third night I noticed a bubbling or gurgling sound from battery so I disconnected for 12 hours and checked voltage. now at 12.3V and removed 1/2" of acid. No SG showing. Am I on the right track?
tell me if I buy at ebey desulfator you recommend to buy BLS-12/24B or 12V Infinitum? who do you think would be better to thank you for is responsible..
i would have never thought of using urine to get a battery to work in an emergency situation. hopefully i never get the chance to test this theroy but if it does work i can assure you that will finish off the battery pretty quickly.
Well it has been my experience that battery desulfators won't really help with CCAs as much as it will help with reserve capacity/Amp hours... I have the original battery from an '04 Volvo S60 and while it's a 600CCA battery, due to previous poor charging methods, it's effectively a 500cca battery now and because of that, it technically "fails" on the load test. However 500CCA is plenty and so I desulfated this battery and it now retains its 12.7 resting voltage.
So you are saying if ANY of the plates are exposed at all, then the battery is permanently damaged? Why? Why can you not just add pure H20 to cover the plates and then begin the process? What damage does "air" exposure do? Thanks!
thanks for the reply ilike all your vids! I tried my charger and it didn't work from 3v in reconditioning mode it oscillates from 10-16v. then at 15A it went up to ~11v and kept it there for 8h voltage didn't move up, it smoked. wont keep a charge; went right back down to 3v. if you have on ebay i'll buy! any item # similarr to yours? thanks!
Tbemickytdi - I have to agreement with your comments. In the last 6 months I have had roughly a 1 in 10 success rate desulfating "starting" batteries. Deep cycle batteries with their much thicker plates work much better. Out of 4 deep cycle batteries I tried, 3 came back up to new condition and 1 didn't only since it had a shorted cell.
i have a car battrey in my shed it dose not holed it charge for long i am not shore what to do with it i do not want to put water in it becuse i have no idia what i am do in i pluged it in got up to 12v then by the nexted day it was low agen
@SuBLiMeXGoLd rather than use a battery at all if your any good with fixing things take apart an old computer, the power supply for them is 12v and can easily supply enuf power for your amplifier
great video came over via imstillworking saw this hoping to help with my truck battery but unfortuneatly my battery has buldged :-( hey but i do have 2, 12 volt deep cycle rv batteries i need to measure hmm thanks for the inspiration ;-)
Here in BC Canada (right from the horses mouth) Under the Residential Conservation Rate, customers pay 6.80 cents per kWh for the first 1,350 kWh they use over an average two-month billing period. Above that amount, customers pay 10.19 cents per kWh for the balance of the electricity used during the billing period. $5? are you sure? More like 70c, here....
My desulfator has been working perfectly. I have a 100ah military grade deep cycle battery I desulfated last year and is still running like it's brand new.
This is an excellent video series on battery desulfation, how make a desulfator, test its operation, and test the battery.
Very well explained... I watched the full series (liked & subbed).
When was the battery tested? There was no load testing done?
You got that right buddy. I'm starting to think about actually rebuilding my own batteries from that are too far gone.. reforming my own plates and the whole schebang.
LOL thanks and when it comes to this I do know what i'm talking about. I have 4 of those big batteries now and all were completely dead when I got them and now they're like brand new.
Thanx. This guy knows what he is talking about.
(retired electrical engineer.)
Nice video. Some good observations. Years ago I understood Lead-Acid Batteries, the whole issue: PbSo4 & all the changes it went though....drove me mad, but, whatever & I mean this sincerely...I think you have many valid points here. If nothing else: extending the life of the batteries we simply chuck away when they "play up" (When most likely it's another cause!) can only be a good thing. Keep up the good work. Your critics need to contribute to build you a work shop..they worry for the carpet!
AGM batteries are a different beast then regular flooded lead acid batteries when it comes to desulfating. I haven't had the opportunity to play with any yet. Supposedly AGM batteries are more robust then regular lead acid, being able to safely discharged further then lead acid. It all comes down to the condition of the plates in the battery. As long as you don't have any shorted cells I'd give it a try. Those are $200+ batteries that you mentioned.
Viciouskev - actually it doesn't take as much power as you think. I'm desulfating another pair of the same batteries that are in this video right now. They have been hooked up to mains power for 35 days now and my kill-a-watt meter shows 6.91kwh useage so far. That is roughly less then $5 worth of electricity. Also keep note that 4kwh of that power was to just put a charge back into the dead batteries. As of right now both battery chargers together pull a consistent 7 Watts from mains power
PERIEsh - Also, thanks for the kind words. You can buy retail desulfators off of eBay, but i reccomend against doing so. The retail versions are much weaker with thier pulses since if something ever goes wrong there's a liability problem. This is why it is better to build your own for better performance.
I remember once taking apart my OEM 4 and half year old toyota van battery. At that stage it's capacity noticably had dropped hugely. The positive plates crumbled in my fingers, they were very brittle and week. It reminded me of flakes of rust..
nice job on your desulfation circuit. I have been using bendini style solid state pulse motors for years to reclaim L16 T-105 and larger batteries for the solar banks. have you ever thought of feeding directly off some solar panels to your set up. you can use a cap dump set up to smooth out the voltage also. also, I usually let the batteries rest at least 10 hours after a long pulse session, then discharge using the C-20 rate to break thru the bottom end sulfation, again, nice job, well done!
I love this stuff!! Thanks a million for posting this awesine and very informative video. I hate throwing out things, which can be yet fixed. We all need to go more green and waste less. I commend you for taking lead and be an example of others. I am from NJ too (North central). If I cannot build your desulfator myself, do you know from which store I can get one?
In any case, love your approach and good luck with all your project to save our environment !!
As long as the desulfator is hooked directly to your car's battery, then the electronics in your car will be okay. The battery will absord the pulse as it supposed to. I had my own desulfators working in my wife's and my car for 3 months will no ill effects.
Themickytdi - I tend to agree with you. With my mounting experience playing with different styles of lead acid batteries, deep cycle batteries that are simply over discharged tend to respond the best. I've tried over the last 6 months to desulfate "starting" batteries and I think I've had a 1 in 10 success rate in rejuvinating the batteries. On the flip side out of 4 deep cycle batteries 3 cake back like new condition and one failed only since it had a shorted cell.
This design of desulfator can safely be left onto a battery indefinately as long as you have a daily trickle charge to replenish the power the desulfator uses with no ill effects on the battery. I will not sell my homemade desulfators for liability reasons. That is why I posted the schematic so people can build their own.
Kooking - your welcome, and actually deep cycle batteries usually bounce back from desulfating better then regular car batteries.
sounds like your on the right track. The one variable you didn't mention was the voltage when the battery started gassing. If it was gassing below 13vdc with the charger connected, then likely you have a shorted cell and/or plates. If this is the case then ditch the battery as it's not recoverable. Batteries usually start gassing over 13.5vdc.
Great Video, Do you know anything about sealed lead acid or gel cells batteries? can restore those as well? or desulfate?
You can buy a retail desulfator like the batteryminder. The whole reason for these videos are for electronics enthusiasts and this circuit is more effective then the batteryminder.
njshark, I just bought 5 Infinitum Desulfators for a bunch of mild to moderately sulfated YellowTop D34 SLA's I have from a cancelled electric car project, bought in 2007, so I will let you know how they work over the next couple weeks. I am using some 'onboard' 1.5amp auto chargers to charge them. Cheers.
Phil Berg - sorry but I do not have a desulfator that can handle that much of a load. There are modifications to the basic circuit to make it a high power desulfator for large batteries like that but I haven't looked into them.
If the battery is bulging even a little bit chances are good that the lead sulfate built up on the plates so thick that it cracked a plate and shorted out a cell. Cut your losses and recycle the battery.
Edwinict - This will work on industrial batteries such a l-16's, it will just take longer to restore the battery or great for a constantly connected maintenance system. I'm hoping to modify the circuit in the next month or two to work on a 24 volt battery bank that I'm creating for a solar setup for my bedroom.
I don't have any first hand experience with desulfating sealed or agm batteries. I would venture to say that it will work as long as the electrolyte hasn't boiled off and the plates are still in good condition.
Thanks. love to see real applications
Hi, sorry for the newbie question, but what'st he DC/DC converter for?
Is it to step down from the laptop power supply?
I thought those desulphators would use the battery's own power to send
back pules into them.
Good video, and great tips on desulfating batteries. I have the same Schumacher 1 amp battery charger. Does your desulfator use voltage spikes, or a frequency pulse to desulfate batteries?
the desulfator metephorically punches a hole through the lead sulfate allowing the battery to accept a charge, once this hole is present current can then start charging the battery. The reason the voltage goes up so fast on a fully sulfated battery is the lead sulfate acts as a resistive coating.
thank you! some people seem to be in a rush and want an instant fix for thier ailing batteries, such as using epsom salt. The reality of what we're doing here needs time for the procedure to take effect and reverse years of sulfation in a battery. Rome wasn't built in a day.....
you can save a battery if it has bulged if it has a lot than no but it can be done i have one in my car
I got them from a tree nursery I used to work at that used m35's to move flatbed trailers through the muddy fields. I would take the batteries to a recycling plant and get the $ for the lead in the batteries. Then buy a new 6tl battery with the money and use the desulfator to maintain and extend the life of your new battery.
great series.. does this desulfation process work on AGM type batteries as well? i switched over to that style years ago. my batteries last much much longer. i have one in a jeep that was discharged bad over the past 10 years but still works. old die hard. i want to bring it back to life. i didnt know about these older vids. i watched your mining stuff. i got into this topic years ago but didnt find any good information at the time. this is awesome.
I have had nothing but problems with optima batteries. I had a yellow top and every time I had a cell short out on me when I had one of these batteries. Unfortunately a desulfator will not repair shorted cells, so I have no clue as to how effective a desulfator will be on Optima batteries, or agm batteries as a whole. It is designed primarily for flooded lead acid batteries, not starved electrolyte.
@SuBLiMeXGoLd
Yes, buy an AGM deep cycle battery, and a charger/maintainer suitable for such batteries.
Or better yet, just get an actual DJ amplifier. I'm not a fan of using power supplies as the voltage on them can drop pretty low - into the 11.5 and below range which starts to put stress on the guts of the amp (mosfets) since they are going out of their efficiency range and producing more heat.
LOL you are the only one that noticed that the charger "appears" to be on backwards. The battery clips have the same quick connect as the charger but came from a different device, and the different device had the plug polarity reversed. Good eye though. :-)
Can you put desulfators on lithium batteries also? Or only on lead acid?
Thanks.
Only lead acid
easiest way is after it has finished time wise (1lb of battery per day) take the battery to an auto parts store and have them load test the battery. If it passes then take it home and put it back on a trickle charge for a few hours to replace the electricity used during the load test. If it fails then take it recycling.
Sorry never heard of that forum. Also you shouldn't be replacing any acid in the battery. All the acid is in there, it's just in the form of lead sulfate. Either the desulfator will work as it's supposed to or you'll have a shorted cell in the battery which will render the battery unrecoverable. The only thing you ever add to a battery is distilled water. Adding battery acid will not fix the problem or speed it up, it'll just upset the ratio of water/acid.
this could be caused by a heavily sulfated cell to a shorted cell. usually sulfation tends to happen uniformly between all cells. My guess would be you have a shorted cell and should just get a replacement battery.
I used to piss in my batteries when they got low. Gave 'em that golden touch and enough cold craking amps to start a forest fire in a rain storm.
lead acid batteries will vent is you charge them with too high of a voltage. if you keep the charging volts down to 13.5 it will still charge the battery and not vent, and also extend the life of the battery.
That is a new model "6-THN" battery,,replaced lots of the old type back in the day,, I have a old 2, 1/2 ton truck that still has 2 in it of the old type "6-THN's" that could be rebuilt. May try this just for chits and giggels !
can you please teach me how to build a desulfator? thank you.
The battery I currently use for my trolling motor gets warm near the negative terminal around the 2nd cell block, Is this due to sufation or is it cracked plates that cause this heat?
I have some very large 24 volt forklift batteries that are in bad shape, do you have a de-sulfator that will work with large batteries??and not take 3 or 4 years to do the job? one battery weighs 1200 lbs.
Sharkracer, I have a Kinetik HC1800 - its an 80AH AGM battery, and it weighs about 50 lbs.. Do you think I would be able to desulfate it and bring it back to new condition with one of these chargers? I use them for work, and replace them about once a year due to heavy use..
Some years ago a japanese company was selling electronic desulfators for 300$ that could be left on connected to the battery to keep it conditioned. could this homemade version be set up to do the same thing while hooked up to a solar panel for power source? Also, would you sell those sulfators, and what asking price?
Hi just come across your channel great informative videos well done. I have a question as I am new to the concept of sulphated batteries. I understand that you use a trickle charge to get the battery voltage higher so that the desulfating process can be achieved. Once you have the voltage high enough to start the process of desulfating do I understand you that you leave the charger and de-sulfator working none stop for up to 2 - 3 weeks without a break, [my battery is a normal 56A car battery] I will be checking the acid readings as you instruct in your later videos. Thanks,
Dear Sir,
I am trying go build desulfator with charger to charge 12 v lead acid battery.
Thanks for sharing the circuit for desulfator but plz can you also advise how you connected 6 am dc-dc charger to your desulfator circuit.
Sorry for asking daft question but I am quiet newbie in electronics.
About 1 amp sorry. 17V will burn the cathodes a bit, but you got nothing to lose with hard sulfated anodes. 15V will not be high enough to burn off the hard sulfate. You need 16V minimum.
njsharkracer -
Do you think I can pull off restoring an Optima Red Top AGM with this desulfator?
awesome video!
I have a question. im using a 12v lead acid car battery to power my amplifier in my bedroom. im using a 2amp /or 15amp battery charger on it. my dad told me lead acid batteries vent and can be harmful for my health. should i buy an AGM battery and charger to be safe?
can you make a video on how to build the desulfater
Thanks for your response! What is your opinion on using one of these in a car? Would the brief pulse it puts out be any danger at all to the car's electrics? or are they sufficiently protected? I just bought a desulfator and want to hook it up in my car to keep my batteries like new, but not if it will damage my computer or radio :P
Would you prefer electron storage media for batteries instead since you want to use literal terminology?
and your desulfator help? your battery as I understand your desulfator does impulses which break sulfation?
How much time you need to restore as new? how can I get a desulfator like you? can you know the some models that can be ordered on ebey?
so its bad if it boils at all? or it means the cells are good if it boils
my battery is covered and is hot now. Also do you think the reconditioning mode on a Optimal charge logic charger will do the same job as yours?
One more thing I forgot to ask. What do you think of adding Epsom salt to a dead cattery and revive it that way instead running the desulfating gadget? Will it make sense to combine this two methods?
spyder64 - i agree with you but i can get away with it since we're only renting the townhouse and the carpets aren't part of the lease agreement since we opted not to have them replaced. If you cared about your carpet, might i suggest to anyone else that has a garage use the cement floor with the battery propped up on a piece of wood.
How many amps/ma does your power supply put out.?
Well, I think all four of these 6TLs are bad. Any idea where I might find more of them that are used. If not I will have to go with the civilian batteries as the 6TLs are over $200 each. Thank you for your help.
I think it started gassing below 13V. One thing I ran out of room to ask was about specific gravity. I had no reading. I replaced some of the fluid with new acid and I got a reading but not good enough. Does the gassing issue have any correlation to the SG? I dont want to replace all of the acid if it won't help. Is there another way to contact you to discuss further? Are you a member on the Steel S...... forum? I ordered a pulsetech charger that will desulphate 100% of the time.
PERIEsh - I personall would never add anything to a batteries electrolyte. When a battery is sulfated it's just the sulfuric acid that is normally suspended in the electrolyte is now bonded to the plates in the form of lead sulfate. When you add salt or anything else to the electrolyte your disturbing a very delicate balance. The desulfator will revert the lead sulfate back to sulfuric acid and restore that delicate balance.
Superhawkn - you won't know till you try. Desulfating is not a precise science. As long as the battery isn't internally damaged there's a good chance it will come back to life.
75 days! good job your not in a hurry!
Thanks for these interesting videos. Are you making any of your desulfators and DC DC converters available for sale? If so, where?
I have a couple 8D batteries that I can only get to about 12V and I'm not sure if there is a shorted cell or just sulfated. Any hints? I'd rather gamble than buy these expensive batteries again (I let them sit too long - thought they were trickle charging with a solar batteryminder, but it could not keep up with some hidden loss.
Give it a shot but usually once the plates are exposed to air and no longer submerged some form of damage happens to them. Regardless let us know how it works out for you.
I have no clue what type of circuit the Optimal charge logic charger is using for it's "desulfator".
hey!!! make me something for an industrial battery :D very glad to see this!!
You have to know the basics of making a circuit on protoboard first and be able to read a schematic. If you can do both the overview of the circuit is in part 2 of this video series.
Can you use "Rain Water" rather than distilled?
I pulled 4 6TLs like the ones you have out of an M817. The first battery was 6V. I added distilled water to the proper level. First night on a batteryminder 2012 brought it up to 11.4V. 2nd night 11.8V and I had to remove about 3/4" of acid from each cell as the level increased. third night I noticed a bubbling or gurgling sound from battery so I disconnected for 12 hours and checked voltage. now at 12.3V and removed 1/2" of acid. No SG showing. Am I on the right track?
tell me if I buy at ebey desulfator you recommend to buy BLS-12/24B or 12V Infinitum? who do you think would be better to thank you for is responsible..
i would have never thought of using urine to get a battery to work in an emergency situation. hopefully i never get the chance to test this theroy but if it does work i can assure you that will finish off the battery pretty quickly.
Excellent. Nice work.
Well it has been my experience that battery desulfators won't really help with CCAs as much as it will help with reserve capacity/Amp hours... I have the original battery from an '04 Volvo S60 and while it's a 600CCA battery, due to previous poor charging methods, it's effectively a 500cca battery now and because of that, it technically "fails" on the load test. However 500CCA is plenty and so I desulfated this battery and it now retains its 12.7 resting voltage.
So you are saying if ANY of the plates are exposed at all, then the battery is permanently damaged? Why? Why can you not just add pure H20 to cover the plates and then begin the process? What damage does "air" exposure do? Thanks!
Air exposure causes strong crystalized sulfation to form. It may be possible to desulfate under that condition but don't assume you'll be successful.
Hi friend I have battery Depp cycle 200 ah. I'm test on battery analyzer. 12.7 and 890cca 3.4 I'm. I have problems sat cca. Go down wat this problem 😇
And remember to always charge batteries inside your home. It's best to do so in your bedroom...
when using desulfators, together with a charger, remove the chargers capacitors. it will just shut the spikes to ground!
Can you eliminate the sulfate?
Why not buy a charger that also desulfates, like the BatteryMinder ?
thanks for the reply ilike all your vids! I tried my charger and it didn't work from 3v in reconditioning mode it oscillates from 10-16v. then at 15A it went up to ~11v and kept it there for 8h voltage didn't move up, it smoked. wont keep a charge; went right back down to 3v. if you have on ebay i'll buy! any item # similarr to yours? thanks!
no it has dust and other particulates not to mention air pollution it has picked up along it's journey from cloud to ground.
You may have shorted cells then. If this is the case there's no saving the battery.
I have used the system for fast battery charger that radiant dead back to life.
what would happen if you use regular tap water ?
I save the water from my clothes dryer. Or dehumidifier
Tbemickytdi - I have to agreement with your comments. In the last 6 months I have had roughly a 1 in 10 success rate desulfating "starting" batteries. Deep cycle batteries with their much thicker plates work much better. Out of 4 deep cycle batteries I tried, 3 came back up to new condition and 1 didn't only since it had a shorted cell.
it was cycling for good reason too
Yeah you can hear the hum from the desulfator.
Boiled off! funny you should mention that. It does appear that is what happened. I'll try it anyway. No harm no fowl thank's
i have a car battrey in my shed it dose not holed it charge for long i am not shore what to do with it i do not want to put water in it becuse i have no idia what i am do in i pluged it in got up to 12v then by the nexted day it was low agen
@SuBLiMeXGoLd rather than use a battery at all if your any good with fixing things take apart an old computer, the power supply for them is 12v and can easily supply enuf power for your amplifier
OK Thanks
Great Video. However, it seems I might have the same money invested "your" tools as in a new battery.
great video came over via imstillworking saw this hoping to help with my truck battery but unfortuneatly my battery has buldged :-( hey but i do have 2, 12 volt deep cycle rv batteries i need to measure hmm thanks for the inspiration ;-)
how do I know when the battery desulfator complete?
Here in BC Canada (right from the horses mouth) Under the Residential Conservation Rate, customers pay 6.80 cents per kWh for the first 1,350 kWh they use over an average two-month billing period. Above that amount, customers pay 10.19 cents per kWh for the balance of the electricity used during the billing period. $5? are you sure? More like 70c, here....
No you want level around 1/4 inch below plastic lowest point through hole. Reason is because boil over at least golf carts do.