battery restore?

[robertglines1]

has anyone had success with battery restore process? Baking soda with distilled water/filter and recycle acid...Electronic desulfurnation?  4ea group 31 or some other combo.2ea8D??? I'm not tight but getting old and will probably move bus on soon. Starting 60 series detroit that has a 12V starter.

[luvrbus]

I never had any luck Bob ,I have a friend that does it with good luck he hasn't bought a new battery in 30 years he buys from junk yards, my understanding if the case is not bulge they can be brought back to life

[robertglines1]

if it were just 4 I could afford. But for some reason have more in equipment that have died.. Worth a try. no buldge on cases. Thanks for input!

[Chaz]

There are devices called de-sulfators that are "supposed to" work.
Maybe someone has more knowledge than I do about them.
I do have a friend who swears by them and uses them on his Jet as I guess those battery's are expensive.

[Bearmtnmartin]

I have brought back quite a few with my own desulphating process. You need a 50 amp (start function) charger and a specific gravity tester. The testers a a couple bucks at NAPA.
-top up the battery with distilled water
-check the specific gravity per cell. If they are dead it will be very low and in the red on the tester.
-use the start function to get the battery boiling. (caps on or off doesn't matter but I usually leave them off). Doesn't need to boil hard and the 12 volt high setting might do it too. Just need to hear the hissing and see some very small bubbles.
-Don't leave the charger on start for more than about 10 minutes or you can burn it out.
Let the charger cool down for 15 or 20 and repeat. Keep doing that until the specific gravity is back to where it should be. Anything over 1.25 is pretty good. If you hit it a few times and the specific gravity doesn't improve then you will have to toss the battery.

[Bearmtnmartin]

I forgot to mention if it is a six volt battery you can get them boiling by using a 12 volt setting on the charger without using the start function. When they boil the sulfation gets broken up and lifts off the plates.

[windtrader]

Old wise man once said "If it's so easy, everyone would do it."


Maybe it is just environmentally not possible or safe enough to do on a commercial scale but DIY, go for it, get acid on your arm or put out exploding battery fire. All I have seen that I'd try on LA is the revive/restore cycle on the more advanced chargers these days. It worked on one battery I had written off.

[luvrbus]

If a battery is coming back to life it seems like the pluse charger works best for me or it does on the AGM's I thought were history

[robertglines1]

I have plenty to experiment on..was strange all 4 in bus craped at same time--Maybe one failed and took others with it. I do have one that showed 60%..I am reading 2 boards I posted on and weighing info...I am understanding what is happening inside batteries much more. I will make a drainage (safe) system. Would a 5 gallon plastic buckett be safe? I will ck to see if one of my chargers is a purge charger.

[buswarrior]

I am a fan of the smart chargers that "massage" the battery, if it needs it.

Watched a 3/4 amp Noco Genius maintenance charger take 3 days to ramp a sad car battery up and down in voltage, and finally eased it up above 15 volts, equivalant to an equalization charge, I suppose. Fascinating to watch the multi-meter i was spying on it with. Battery went on to be useful for another year, and was sold with a car.

I rotate these Noco around all the lawn care, generator, tractor, bus, cars. The 2 i have are always attached to something, i get a couple more years out of those damned lawn mower batteries by keeping it snugged up, the mower doesn't make enough voltage for healthy battery maintenance...

If there was a decent way to recover batteries, the commercial folks would be all over it... cost/benefit, etc...

For us lowly consumers, getting the voltage up, and seeing if an equalization voltage gives it some life. Or shakes the bad cell into some life again, take the safety precaustions about exploding acid spray, and give it a whirl?

Checking specific gravity of each cell is the truth, and takes the gamble out of things.

Voltage measurements take a lot more time and fooling, to be sure you have a resting voltage, and not left over high float charge.

Be safe, while you have fun.
MONO GOGGLES, please... glasses aren't good enough for acid projectiles...

Happy coaching!
Buswarrior

[Bearmtnmartin]

What I described is just doing what the expensive four stage chargers do, but manually. You will not blow anything up or get a face full of acid unless you boil it way too long and too hard. Anyway, you should stay away from them until you have shut the charger off and given them a couple minutes. The battery should never get more than warm.

[Dave5Cs]

You do know there are battery chargers that will let you set a schedule to de-sulfate them regularly. Which is a good thing.

[freds]

The de-sulfate process is a device that sends hi voltage spikes into a lead acid battery to cause the surface layer to sluff off and get partially reabsorbed. Net effect is the battery lasts longer.

I have such a device and over the last couple of decades I have used it on: Aircraft, car, snowmobile and truck batteries.

Dead neglected battery hook it up!!!

[TomC]

Virtually all trucks are 12v. Series 60 with a 12v starter will start just fine with 3- size 31 batteries. My 3406B starts just fine with 3- 31 batteries, but I also switched to the MT39 starter. Good Luck, TomC