Battery desulphation?

[dnb]

Does anyone know anything about this? Some of the claims seems a little too good to be true to me, but there's always a chance of these things working!

Thanks.

[GJR]

Hi dnb,

I remember many years ago using some kind of tablets that you popped into the battery back when sealed batteries weren't so common. I guess the tablets chemically stripped off some of the sulphation. This lasted about a day or so on a particularly knackered battery of mine.

Battery de-sulfation using an electrical device (though I've never had to use one) seems ok in theory but as many of the writeup's suggest, how well it will work will depend on the condition of the battery. Once the sulpation process has started and lead from the plates is in solution with the acid it will form sulphate that will cling/form on the plates reducing conductivity.

The de-sulphation device may dislodge the crystals and even dissolve them, but once the device is switched off they will reform again. This takes a little time to happen again of course, which is why there is a sudden burst of life in the battery, albeit relatively short lived unless you religiously repeat the process.

I guess these devices are really designed to prolong the life of a dying battery over the short term rather than a one off solution to fixing a battery. I suppose it depends on your needs and what you are expecting the battery to cope with??

G

[steve-V8s]

Back in the good old days when the cells were sealed in with bitumen you could tip out the acid, lift out the cells clean them off, scrape out all the crud at the bottom and pop it all back together again good as new. Back then the plates were actually made of a decent chunk of lead, even if you could get them apart now I doubt it would be successful as the plates are so thin. A really rough charging voltage (most cheap chargers because they have no smoothing) can sometimes revive a sulphated battery by knocking some of the sulphur off of the plates but as said it will soon reform. The secret really is not to let the terminal voltage drop below around 11volts and if it does re charge promptly.