Batteries and desulfators - I needs ta know!!

[boogiethecat]

Yeah welders are great- constant current up to about 45 volts or so.  Just don't go too high in current!

[Lin]

Of course, the charger itself could be an ignition source.

[Chaz]

Well shoot........ I was hoping for the magic bullet here. 
I have plenty of welders I could use but...... I believe I will pass. That makes me a little squimish. I think I still might like to take a chance on a desulphator if someone has one that they really feel works. Jerry told me, quite awhile back, that they do work but they are not all created equal. He made his. (I'm not that smart)
I am also of the impression that just keeping them "up" is the single best thing to do but that Heart let me down, as well as both batteries, and may have hurt them. Dang.
I also have the disconnect switch but I had to leave it on for the Heart to work. Now it seems the batteries go down with the switch off.
What's a poor boy to do................... 

Happy New Year all!!!!
  Chaz

[uncle ned]

Jerry Lieber is a electronics expert if you can get him off politics.

He has made several and gave them to good bus nuts.

He also has the neatest bath tub in his coach. Also has good air conditions and inverter that keeps him cool with a 15 amp plug.

best battery info around just have to talk to him.

uncle ned

[Chaz]

Yeah, Jerry is an absolute Guru when it comes to electronics!! He has helped me immensely over the years. I just didn't want to bug him more than I need to.
But I didn't know he was all that political. We had never discussed politics.
I may have to give him a call again but I hate to bug him. He lives about 2 hours from me so maybe one day I can drive down and have him look over my coach. I have been to his place in my car.

[Lin]

An update on my desulfator tests:

After several weeks, I have removed them from the two 8D's and tested the batteries with a hydrometer.  All cells of one battery test very high.  On the other battery, 5 cells test very high, and one cell, the one that was testing bad before has not really improved and tests at the very top of the bad range.  I might have to replace that battery if I do not find another magic solution.

I have now moved the desulfators to the house AGM bank and will see if there is any noticeable change in the next couple of weeks.

[pvcces]

A one amp charger used with a desulfater gives me thorough desulfating in about three weeks. We never have to buy batteries because I can get all the good batteries I need out of the scrap pile.

However, if one cell is low, I have never had success. All cells must be free of shorts or leakage, and that is how I pick them out.

When a battery has set for a week or so, all the cells will show the same charge if it is a good candidate.

We have been desulfating batteries for nearly ten years, and I have some that are around twenty years old. I don't have the time to pick out a desulfater now, but I'll try tomorrow if I see another request.

Take care.

Tom Caffrey

[Oonrahnjay]

(snip) I don't have the time to pick out a desulfater now, but I'll try tomorrow if I see another request.   

      I'd sure appreciate it if you'd post the name of your de-sulphator or recommend one that has similar specs to yours.  Thanks,  BH   NC

[Chaz]

Second that!! 

[Lin]

I had trouble with this battery last summer on the same cell.  I had read that shocking it could possibly clear out a short.  I hooked it up to a 36v charger I have.  It blew the charger fuse as soon as it was connected, but did get some shock.  After that, when I put the battery on a charger, the bad cell began bubbling like the rest of them (it did not bubble at all before).  The cell also tested in the good range, and I was a happy busnut/camper.  However, the fact that the same cell has failed again makes the fix rather questionable.  I may try doing it again, but I am a bit concerned about damaging the charger.  Further, it would seem that even if it works for a bit, you could not call it a dependable battery; it could go bad at any time.

[gus]

I just recently had an 8D fail on a trip and by the time I figured it out it proceeded to cause the other one in parallel to fail.

I assume the first failed one was shorted out and caused the second one to fail.

An expensive lesson in batteries.

I replaced them with 4Ds which are less expensive and plenty powerful for engine starters. Easier to handle for an old wimp like me too!!

[boogiethecat]

Interesting idea of Lin's... if you hook a smallish 24 or 36 volt charger (for example one that maxes out at 5-8 amps) to a 12 volt battery in need of conditioning (that nasty overcharging process that seems to work really well at desulphating- although it's dangerous 'cause of the gasses generated)
...well, the charger would simply think it was hooked to a discharged battery of it's [higher]rated voltage and thus would continue to charge the 12 volt batt at it's max current forever... until you manually intervene.  It's a good solution to not having to purchase a lab-style supply for this purpose...

[Chaz]

Sooooo, if you have one of these chargers, a person could hook it up outside and plug it into a timer for say 12 hours at a time (??), let it do it's thing and just check the water??

[pvcces]

Try eBay's item nos. 150438219961 and 280801698658. The Malaysian unit we have has worked well for us and the Battery Minder has  a good reputation. There's even a kit available on eBay from the same part of the world that ought to work.

Good luck.

Tom Caffrey

[artvonne]

  Someone tell us about the welder trick? Do you tap it a few times or actually make a hard connection and burn it for a bit?? Im always curious about batteries. I have an old Miller DC stick welder if that would work.