How long should battery minder take, in conditioning mode?

Different battery minders have different color codes. If you can squeeze in a look t the Battery minder model number then post it here I'd have a better idea of colors and codes. 13.2 - 13.4 steady volts would be best float maintenance no matter what.

Gyro Gearloose claims of battery testing authority must come with a host of corroborating footnotes as to methodology, number of DUT, and comparison of the same type of DUT using a different desulfation format with similar kWh expended.This does not even cover authentication of test instrumentation accuracy nor images of both positive and negative plates before and after the test. Does this "test" even include cell to cell electrolyte densities?

100% of the tests I performed revealed exactly zero difference between pulse desulfation and constant voltage desulfation. Electrolyte density and 10X loupe plate autopsies confirmed zero advantage. Extremely high frequency >600 MHz with high current 7000 ma did affect sulfation but extensively damaged unsulfated residual plate material. Lead Dioxide was particularly vulnerable.

Wish for something hard enough and the human brain will tend to deform reality and make it so. Remember this: Hardened (lattice-binded) sulfation is many X harder, stronger and tougher than cured plate paste. Energy that is great enough to affect latticed lead sulfate will destroy plate paste. Even phased (variable frequency) and multiplexed frequencies (multiple frequencies to 6 simultaneous bandwidths) did not advantageously affect latticed sulfation.

I had 10Kw of adjustable frequency power at my command. And three channels to work with (30Kw total). Two Siemens four channel multiplexers.

Now, in your wildest dreams would you imagine any backyard tinkerer to have that plus $100,000+ lab instrumentation at his command? Ask yourself: Have any of these tests incorporated cell electrolyte density comparison? BCI load testing?

Yeah I had "visitors". I am bound by courtesy and professionalism to not reveal names or entities, but they managed to parade through. Everyone had opinions: Some were useless while others proved worthy to follow up on. After 4 years I declared the entire program a "wash". Eight thousand dollars worth of SCE power expended. I won't depress myself thinking of the man-hours expended.

Regular battery chargers pulse 60 Hz. High frequency chargers pulse at whatever frequency the devices oscillate at.

I will say this: Whatever charge source I use (especially on the lifeline) extra capacitors have been incorporated to absolutely minimize ripple down to the microvolt level.

It's wonderful we live in a free country and opinions can differ and be respected. But limit is mandatory when opinions become predatory.

If it's blinking blue, not blue and red, this is wrong. You should bring the cruiser back to the station and notify desk sergeant ASAP.

@Mex no, it's green. Why?

You won't find claims of fraud for any charger/maintainer. Battery is a chemical machine, electricity is a byproduct. This chemistry is rather complicated. Good luck proving that it was a particular charger and not your negligence that contributed to premature demise of battery.

Leave it run. Float/Recondition mode goes indefinitely and will not hurt a bit. Can only help the battery condition.

I was hoping someone with more knowledge would do the research for me -- I am lazy. But I stumbled onto a useful article:

Pulse rehabs truly dead batteries -- field test

The article is about car batteries, not deep cycle. And it talks about rehabbing a dead battery, not maintaining a good one. And it does not mention AGMs. So there is a lot of wiggle room here. But this article gives me hope that the pulse is not a complete waste of money.

I also did a search for lawsuits involving the Batteryminder that involve claims of fraud. I came up empty. So evidently the plaintiffs' lawyers, who are always on the lookout for class action fodder, have steered clear of this product. Absence of evidence is not necessarily evidence of absence, but in this case it might be.

Naio, is that blinking light a BLUE blinking light ?

Naio, disconnecting AGM makes sense - IMO - because you don't gain anything by keeping it floating. Float charge is necessary to prevent self-discharge in wet batteries, but AGM don't discharge much. Since nobody knows exactly what is going on inside that sealed black box, this is just my 2 cents.

I keep my AGM floating (and automatic daily 14.6V for a few seconds) because they've developed a huge self-discharge after a year. Must be a lemon from China.

Anecdotal evidence... it seemed to keep a really torn up 12 volt battery going enough to drive my macerator pump.

As for an AGM battery, I don't see how the pulses can help much, other than minimizing gassing, which isn't an issue. However, FLA, it makes a big difference, due to stratification as well.

profdant139 wrote:
Almot, please forgive this foolish question, but why disconnect it? Why not leave the battery on the pulse charge? (This assumes that the pulse function is not harmful to an AGM.)

I'm still hoping that someone really knowledgeable can chime in and tell us authoritatively if the anti-sulphate pulse is nonsense, worse than nonsense, or sense, for both AGMs and wet cells.

(Boy, I really hate this feeling of being ignorant. I am used to being an expert in my narrow field, and it makes me so uncomfortable to be fumbling around in the dark.)

Don't worry, even the engineers of these desulfators are still basically in the dark.
At one time, I met the patent holder of a desulfating battery charger. He had a brochure of 30 or so pages of case studies showing increase in longevity from using his desulfator in fleet based batteries. Yes, I believe the desulfation pulse helps to loosen sulfate from conventional FLA batteries. How much it helps compared to conventional charging schemes, especially those that employ equalization on various schedules, is debatable.
Desulphation circuitry with an AGM battery doesn't make sense to me as the recombinant nature may be skewed and an AGM can actually be left uncharged for an extremely long time without excessive discharge or harm to the battery. I left one 12 V AGM unhooked for 6 months and the SOC had depleted 0.2 DCV during that time.