A Charger that desulfates?

[Oneunder]

Does anyone have any experience with this? I was wondering if it works or was just a higher priced form of epsom salt.

http://pureechem.en.ec21.com/Purixel..._7077054.html#

oh no you said Epsom salt
the cart gods are going to come get you

a co-worker swears by his charger that desulfates batteries
i have not tried it but have thought about it

[Oneunder]

I hope the Cart Gods go easy on me. What I was trying to infer was epsom salts don't work.

LOL

i think i will take my old 12v battery (non salted) to my co-worker and see what his charger will do to it


ps.... i'm the guy that the salt worked for

[Volt_Ampere]

Desulphating does work but it takes a very long time if the battery is badly sulphated. I have recovered some old gel cells this way. Modern desulphaters apply short high voltage pulses to the battery to do the job. If you keep your batteries well charged, then they won't die from sulphation.

[JohnnieB]

The Sulfuric Acid combining with the Lead and Lead Dioxide plates to form Lead Sulfate on and in the plates is part of the normal discharge process and the Lead Sulfate returning to Lead, Lead-Dioxide and Sulfuric Acid is part of the normal charging process.

When first formed, the Lead Sulfate is in an amorphous state (soft - without shape or form) and readily reverts back to the original chemistry. However, the moment it forms, a crystalline lattice begins to grow and the Amorphous (soft) Lead Sulfate becomes Crystalline (hard) Lead Sulfate, which does not readily revert back to the original chemistry. Therefore the recharging process is not 100% efficient and the battery ages.

Basically, battery additives such as Epsom Salts and the like, erode the surface of the plates, exposing less sulfated surfaces, but weaken the already weak plate structure and slough off conductive material that is supposed to settle to the bottom of the jar, but can short between the plates on the way down,or at a later date when the battery is agitated.

At best, a battery with badly sulfated plates may be able to produce more amps for a short period of time before they fail completely. At worst, the sediment will short out the plates as it settles and the failure will be instantaneous.

Electrical gizmos that "desulfate" batteries work about the same way, except they erode the plate surface mechanically (High energy electron flow) rather than chemically. However, it takes time for Soft Lead Sulfate to become irreversibly Hard Lead Sulfate and some recovery may occur, but the same thing can be done with most regular golf cart battery chargers.

Just charging the battery repeatedly with your regular charger without discharging it, does about the same thing.

If anything, the battery desulfators do a pretty good job of preventing sulfation, but a float charging works as well.

Bottom line: Keep your batteries as fully charged as possible and practical, never add anything to them except distilled water, keep the tops clean and the terminals tightened to specs (about 8 ft/lbs)