Dead battery recovery

[richard at home]

I have a very dead battery which my standard battery charger won't even register on.

I just tried connecting up a bench power supply (0-30v, 0-2A) and found that the battery started taking current when I got the input voltage up to 18v.

It was charging at 1.5A at 18v then suddenly dropped (it's a constant current power supply) to 13.1V at 1.5A.

I put the big charger back on and there was some current registered very briefly, then nothing.

Put the bench psu on. Ramp up voltage until current is drawn, about 18v, charges for a about 10 seconds then the pus drops to 13.3v.

Is this a symptom of any particular fault or just a deeply discharged battery?

I am leaving the bench psu connected set a max V of 14.8 and max current at 1,5A to see what happens...

[Krikkit]

Save yourself the headache and buy a new one! I've never had a truly dead battery restored to decent condition again, even with clever charging etc. I presume it's a chemistry alteration during the deep discharge.

[Monkeylegend]

I would wager the battery is kaput.

Had similar on a 12 month old battery, suddenly went dead, wouldn't take or hold a charge, most likely a cell had gone down.

Time for a new battery, although there was an advert on the internet a couple of months ago about a new system for bringing batteries back from the dead. All you had to do was pay £39.99 instead of the normal price of £100 plus for the method you could follow at home and make an absolute fortune bringing every dead battery of any size back to life on a commercial basis.

Probably best to go for a new battery.

[richard at home]

Yes, probably right! I will see if eurocarparts is doing a special!

[eltax91]

richard at home said:

Yes, probably right! I will see if eurocarparts is doing a special!

They've got 35% "mid month madness" on for next few days

Code: MID35

[Le Vette]

Also try tayna.co.uk... good prices/guarantees/delivery (no I don't have any vested interest).

[richard at home]

I use Tanya for batteries. Very good prices.

I need a 096 and Tanya's cheapest is £45 + £8delivery.

ECP lion brand is £70 with the discount code.

Same Exide is £68 at tanya and £87 at ECP.

[caelite]

Whilst I agree with the above, once a battery has run completely flat it'll never really be the same.

However to get some life out of it I've found a lot of amps giving it a 'kick in the ass' works. Put the battery in the car. Run a set of leads across, leave them connected for 30mins or so, then jump start the car. I've found using the battery in a jump start as revived it when my trickle charger declared it well and truly dead.

[Dogwatch]

caelite said:

Whilst I agree with the above, once a battery has run completely flat it'll never really be the same.

However to get some life out of it I've found a lot of amps giving it a 'kick in the ass' works. Put the battery in the car. Run a set of leads across, leave them connected for 30mins or so, then jump start the car. I've found using the battery in a jump start as revived it when my trickle charger declared it well and truly dead.

But as you said it'll never really be the same and there'll always be a cloud of suspicion. If it's a Weekender that won't matter but for a daily it really isn't worth it.

[Monkeylegend]

caelite said:

Whilst I agree with the above, once a battery has run completely flat it'll never really be the same.

However to get some life out of it I've found a lot of amps giving it a 'kick in the ass' works. Put the battery in the car. Run a set of leads across, leave them connected for 30mins or so, then jump start the car. I've found using the battery in a jump start as revived it when my trickle charger declared it well and truly dead.

The danger with that is you know at sometime it is probably going to leave you stranded at the most inconvenient time and place. Not worth it for the sake of the cost of a new battery.

[richard at home]

Time to add it to the recycle pile I guess. It's 2007 battery so not so bad.

[texaxile]

carparts4less have a 15% off plus, if you use topcashback there's another few quid in it for you as well.

Their price for a Bosch 005 came in at £89 initially, less a tenner for the 15% less another £3 for the topcashback with free delivery. I've also used Tayna and admit their service is hard to fault.

11 years out of a battery, you've done well, mine lasted 4 but was a no name generic effort from Tayna.

[Mr-B]

richard at home said:

Time to add it to the recycle pile I guess. It's 2007 battery so not so bad.

Not sure of the value of lead these days but it might be worth weighing in, did a couple of batteries years ago and got £22.

[paintman]

eltax91 said:

richard at home said:

Yes, probably right! I will see if eurocarparts is doing a special!

They've got 35% "mid month madness" on for next few days

Code: MID35

That's roughly the percentage of Lion brand batteries one of their counter staff cheerfully told me they get back within the warranty period.
I'm trade & I think he thought the battery I was bringing back was a customers.
Was a few years ago so perhaps they've improved.......

Edited by paintman on Thursday 12th April 21:58

[227bhp]

If they have old style removable bungs which unscrew you can rejuvenate them, if not no.

[richard at home]

It's an original BMW battery so all sealed.

I did find that an Optimate 4 will recover a totally drained AGM battery in about 2 weeks... I could probably use about 8 of those here...

Oddly they sell for about the same as new prices on ebay, so not a cheap proposition, but cheaper than new batteries I guess...