Reconditioning 12V Batteries

[refuge2012]

Restoring Batteries:


FIRST THING IS YOU MUST BE CAREFUL!!! Battery acid can burn you!!!!! You’ll need Rubber gloves and eye protection!!!! No exceptions!!!

Things needed:

Rubber gloves

Eye Protection

Baking soda

EDTA (most health food stores carry this)

Distilled Water

Battery Charger or solar panel

Bucket

Battery acid (most auto parts stores will have this)

First remove the old battery acid from the battery by pouring the acid into a plastic bucket that has 1 cup of baking soda in it. Then fill the battery with distilled water, close the caps and give it a good shake. Then pour the contents of the battery in to the bucket.

Now your ready to chelate the battery. Mix one tablespoon of EDTA (can be had from any good health food store – open the capsules if that’s the only way you can get it) into one gallon of distilled water, then fill the battery with the solution.

Now you’re ready to put the battery on a slow, 24 hour charge. With the overnight charging done, check the battery voltage. If the battery does not come up to 12.5 volts at this point, putting the new battery acid in to the battery is a waist of time. If this is the case, the battery is beyond saving. If it does come up to 12.5 volts, empty the contents of the battery in to the bucket and replace it with battery acid. Then give it another 24 hour slow charge.

My track record for doing this is 9 came up to spec and one did not.

You’ll notice that most car repair shops have a place where they put old "dead" batteries. These are worth $8 each to them for a core charge.

Let’s say you buy 10 of these dead batteries and pay $8 each for them.

Cost of distilled water $1 per battery

Cost of Battery acid $2 per battery

Cost of EDTA $10 for a few dozen batteries

Total Cost for 10 batteries and supplies $84

Recondition 10 and get 8 up to spec and your cost per battery is around $10, not $75.



Contact us - We'd love to hear from you!

[Swami]

Is this process you mention called Desulfation...??

Even sulphated or heavily drained batteries can be brought back to life with a CTEK charger, thanks to the smart technology contained within each charger.

Very good and pretty cheap chargers

CTEK chargers are the smartest battery chargers in the World, designed and manufactured in Sweden. They are highly versatile, easy to use, compact battery chargers and proven award winners*.

http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk/

[sjkted]

Interesting. I always wondered how this was done. Do you know if this works for deep-cycle batteries as well?

--sjkted

[Anchor]

It works for lead acid batteries with liquid (sulphuric acid) electrolyte. If you have deep cycle batteries fitting that description then yes it does.

If you have AGM, or Gel batteries - sometimes referred to as "Sealed Lead Acid" then you are out of luck - but they tend to be longer lasting and resist the kinds of damage that EDTA helps resolve anyway (but they cost a lot more!).

I have used EDTA on a battery and recovered it. I just added it to the electrolyte in situ, but the above method seems more thorough.

John..

[Carmody]

when construction gear is battery powered, like scissor lifts, etc... they need to put full sets of new batteries in them. when they put new batteries in, which are usually $100-200 deep cycle 6 volt 75-80lb monsters (compared to the usual car batteries) ..they have the dead ones. Usually it is ONE cell on ONE battery that is at fault. After all, they are run in series so one bad cell in one battery is always the culprit. so they throw out three good ones and one bad one, as the batteries are in sets of four, most times -to reach 24V DC. The good ones are usually about 75% new, as they sit.

Now, they cannot use the old working batteries at all, they have to match brand new units in there, in order to make sure the given device says working properly. No mixing and match is ever allowed on this rental gear. So, you go to the industrial and commercial hardware renting places and they will GIVE YOU those 6V over-sized deep cycle batteries that are good enough, when re-conditioned, to run solar panel set ups. They are designed for that kind of stressing.

[Swami]

Posted by John (here)
If you have AGM, or Gel batteries - sometimes referred to as "Sealed Lead Acid" then you are out of luck - but they tend to be longer lasting and resist the kinds of damage that EDTA helps resolve anyway (but they cost a lot more!).

Nope,.......... not always........

Any models from within the range can be used to charge all type of lead-acid batteries including Flooded, MF, Gel and AGM. Even sulphated or heavily drained batteries can be brought back to life with a CTEK charger, thanks to the smart technology contained within each charger.

http://www.ctekchargers.co.uk/index.php

[Anchor]

Swami,

I have a ctek charger and I can vouch for the quality, but that is not the same thing - EDTA is a chemical additive, my comment was that EDTA could only be used on flooded (wet) lead acid batteries - which is correct.

There is a lot that can go wrong with batteries, but flooded batteries give you the most repair options.

IMO if you are spending a lot on batteries, it pays to spend a lot on the charger. CTEK is a good choice for smaller batteries. My main charger (for when the sun doesn't shine) is a 24V 75A charger - CTEK dont go anywhere near that power.