profdant139 wrote:
One more thing about sulphation -- I have these two batteries charging in parallel on a BatteryMinder Plus, which pulses in order to reduce or eliminate sulphation. I know that there is some controversy over whether such a thing is possible. (Mexicowanderer is skeptical, and I value his opinion.)
But the manufacturer of the device has made a factual representation that the unit really can stop and even reverse the process of sulphation. (And there are quite a few reviews in which the review swears that the device cures sulphation.)
I don't have the expertise to evaluate this claim. But I can tell you that if this claim were demonstrably false, the manufacturer would have been sued for fraud.
I have checked, and no such suits have been brought. So my conclusion is that if no trial lawyer has challenged the manufacturer, these devices work as advertised.
Batteries actually act/behave like a huge "electrolytic capacitor" like you would see in the beginning of a old school transformer based linear power supply right after the diodes..
The battery actually smooths out the choppy 60hz/120hz (half wave/full wave rectifier) ripple present in a unregulated linear power supply.. That is how the old school linear converters worked, they didn't use any filter caps and used the battery to filter out the ripple.
It would take considerably higher voltage (and current) "pulses" which would have the potential of damaging or ruining every 12V device connected to the battery to really get past the battery acting as a filter capacitor.
"Pulse" charging has been wide spread used way before all of the fancy "smart" chargers.. Just look at ANY old school transformer based charger.. Not one stitch of a capacitor in those.. Just transformer, diode bridge and circuit breaker.. Batteries got 13.6-13.8V PLUS a heavy dose of AC ripple on top of the DC.
Even most old school NiCad chargers did the same and those often would severally overcharge and kill the batteries when left in the charger too long..
Because of this, I myself am highly skeptical many of those "pulse" charging claims.
Overcharging and undercharging are your two greatest enemies of any battery. It is most likely why the main reason so many folks are gravitating towards more expensive Lith battery solutions which have built in BMS. Lith batteries require a BMS which handles the charging and discharging aspects with no intervention of the user..
However, if you have a decent enough multistage converter you can do as well as Lith with FLA with very little baby sitting..
Just have to make sure you follow a few simple rules like recharge as soon as possible after discharge, keep the water level ABOVE the plates, never allow batteries to sit in a discharged state while in storage and your batteries will reward you with good life.
