Your opinion of Battery Desulfators
Hi All - A while back, only a couple of months after I installed my 2 GC2 245 AMP hour batteries and solar panels, I had an accidental removal of the breakaway pin which caused our 5th wheel brakes to...
Forum Discussion
To think these gizmos work is like believing children can be sent to school where a teacher can impart values, honesty, social graces, as well as an education. The education system is a babysitter -- put the little monster on the bus...
Not Going To Happen...
I guess for the hundredth time I shall repeat this: The lead acid battery is a chemical laboratory in which electricity is a curious by-product.
Guesswork -- the responsibility of proper battery management is totally up to the individual. There is no "automatic device" in battery management. There are helpful aids. One has to remember the (then) not inexpensive VX-66 miracle engine renewal kits sold in magazine ads...
"Simply drop the pellets into the gas tank and pour the liquid into the crankcase and while you drive the cylinder walls and bearings will be plated with a smooth sealing renewal that will dramatically improve power and performance"
The public bought into this by the hundreds of thousands. They believed in the process whole heartedly. If challenged they would become defensive, often aggressive, ridiculing the idea that their miracle was not real.
A person cannot see, hear, or smell electricity. It takes instrumentation. For many people that first step alone is too much to bear -- for lack of education, interest, or even showing disdain, they will revert to opinion, derived conclusions, and seek fellow travelers in the process. With a storage battery, such warping of reality is easy to do -- no two environments are the same, like the blind men describing the elephant, they tout their opinions with enthusiasm.
There is only one single solitary way to properly manage a flooded lead acid battery -- when in doubt examine battery chemistry. Determine what's actually going on inside the cell. By measuring battery acid density -- with an instrument.
Measuring acid density will provide an anchor point. Like the necessity of re-zero'ing an amp hour meter, battery gravity will zero out guesswork and will establish "way-points" to ease the learning of battery characteristics.
Once a battery has had a chance to make equal the density of acid in all cells, then instrumentation can be used to manage the battery until another "zero-reset" becomes necessary.
By PICKING ON the habitual weak sister, the cell that sulfates first, a hydrometer needs to be used only once. If that cell is up and running properly the remaining cells will also be operating OK. And again (how can I make this even clearer?) the dipping of the weak sister cell only needs to be done when doubt exists about battery performance.
Like recovery from a discharge that has taken the battery to "8 volts"
The only sane and sure way to correct a sulfated battery cell is to follow the regimen that has been used for the last 100+ years. Physics has not changed -- attitudes have.
Find out the capacity of six cells. It can be one or two batteries (working with three cells is more difficult due to lack of a means to charge the three cells)
The formula is simple. Achieving the formula is less simple but it is easier than it appears on the surface...
A constant current, current meaning amperage of close to 5% of the rating of total amp hours (the 20 amp hour rate) is impressed on the battery following a regular charge to get the battery as full as possible.
Constant current means exactly that.
Let's use a badly sulfated 100 amp hour battery as an example.
5% of 100 is of course 5.0 So five amperes is the magic number.
Vary from this formula is then the results will be like guessing at how to bake a cake...
350 degrees for 25 minutes does not mean
1,750 degrees for 5 minutes
nor
Five hours at 70 degrees.
A battery charging device is needed that can attain 16.0 volts. Sixteen volts at however many amps is called for in the 5% formula.
And amperage must remain constant. No starting at 40 amps dwindling to 2 amps at 14.9 volts.
This means a GENUINE battery charger must be used.
Like with many chemical processes, some cheating is permitted.
A Megawatt or Meanwell power supply can be used. To throttle current to a reasonable "near five amps" a 12 volt light bulb can be connected inline with the battery charger's positive charge wire. This is a connection done in "series". Positive wire in, positive wire out.
With the Megawatt it cannot reach 16.0 volts, so the adjustment "knob" must be turned up to maximum -- around 15.6 volts. It's cheating but the reality cops will permit a little deviance. With a 15 series Meanwell the adjustment pot has to be set with a meter to 16.0 volts. The 15 series can exceed 16 volts and a tiny bit higher than 16 is OK but is limited to one or two tenths of a volt.
Charge the battery as full as it can get with your converter, then disconnect the battery ground cable.
Pop the cell caps off and note all cells should not have the plates exposed to air.
Connect the Meanwell or Megawatt using the 12-volt lamp in series with the positive charging cable.
A FIFTY WATT 12-volt light bulb is close enough for 6 cell RV batteries.
A HUNDRED WATT 12-volt bulb is close enough for a pair of golf car batteries connected in series to make a 6-cell 12 volt circuit.
Power up the Mega-Meanwell. Note the electrolyte in all cells. You will be monitoring the presence of bubbling.
If it takes one hour or ten, one of two things must happen...
1. Rechecking the weak cell with the hydrometer indicates it is fully charged.
2. 16.0 volts is reached.
Either way the charging is to be stopped.
Allow the batteries to cool down to room temperature. The electrolyte will CONTINUE to equalize for almost an hour while the batteries are cooling down.
Then hydrometer check all cells. Those that have not reverted to original density are going to be a persistent problem -- live with it or buy new batteries.
This is the age old BATTERY COUNCIL INTERNATIONAL equalization formula and it was used on hundred ton battery banks on submarines in World War II. Physics does not change. Nor does chemistry.
HOW TO RADICALLY DELAY THE ONSET OF SULFATION
Once per 20 cycles of 50% discharge OR 3 months of maintenance by a smart charger or converter...
TOP CHARGE THE BATTERY
Set the Meanwell or Megawatt to 15.0 volts and allow it to charge for a half hour with a single 6-cell battery, or one hour with golf car batteries. No current throttling light bulb need be employed for Top Charging.
If you follow the top charging regimen it will eliminate the need for about 95% of the full, elaborate equalization charges needed.
AND MIND YOU
Power Post Princess, lightly used batteries may NEVER need to be equalized. But their lifespan will be shorter than it could be.
Trying to compare experiences gathered between a heavy battery user (boondocker) and a weekend warrior or a few weeks per year camper, both having permanent power after their trip is like...
Hearing someone belittle and argue with a chef "when a package of Twinkies is so easy to tear open" is all too common and it is frustrating. The remnants of "slip the tablets into the tank and pour the syrup into the crankcase" mentality.
Not Going To Happen...
I guess for the hundredth time I shall repeat this: The lead acid battery is a chemical laboratory in which electricity is a curious by-product.
Guesswork -- the responsibility of proper battery management is totally up to the individual. There is no "automatic device" in battery management. There are helpful aids. One has to remember the (then) not inexpensive VX-66 miracle engine renewal kits sold in magazine ads...
"Simply drop the pellets into the gas tank and pour the liquid into the crankcase and while you drive the cylinder walls and bearings will be plated with a smooth sealing renewal that will dramatically improve power and performance"
The public bought into this by the hundreds of thousands. They believed in the process whole heartedly. If challenged they would become defensive, often aggressive, ridiculing the idea that their miracle was not real.
A person cannot see, hear, or smell electricity. It takes instrumentation. For many people that first step alone is too much to bear -- for lack of education, interest, or even showing disdain, they will revert to opinion, derived conclusions, and seek fellow travelers in the process. With a storage battery, such warping of reality is easy to do -- no two environments are the same, like the blind men describing the elephant, they tout their opinions with enthusiasm.
There is only one single solitary way to properly manage a flooded lead acid battery -- when in doubt examine battery chemistry. Determine what's actually going on inside the cell. By measuring battery acid density -- with an instrument.
Measuring acid density will provide an anchor point. Like the necessity of re-zero'ing an amp hour meter, battery gravity will zero out guesswork and will establish "way-points" to ease the learning of battery characteristics.
Once a battery has had a chance to make equal the density of acid in all cells, then instrumentation can be used to manage the battery until another "zero-reset" becomes necessary.
By PICKING ON the habitual weak sister, the cell that sulfates first, a hydrometer needs to be used only once. If that cell is up and running properly the remaining cells will also be operating OK. And again (how can I make this even clearer?) the dipping of the weak sister cell only needs to be done when doubt exists about battery performance.
Like recovery from a discharge that has taken the battery to "8 volts"
The only sane and sure way to correct a sulfated battery cell is to follow the regimen that has been used for the last 100+ years. Physics has not changed -- attitudes have.
Find out the capacity of six cells. It can be one or two batteries (working with three cells is more difficult due to lack of a means to charge the three cells)
The formula is simple. Achieving the formula is less simple but it is easier than it appears on the surface...
A constant current, current meaning amperage of close to 5% of the rating of total amp hours (the 20 amp hour rate) is impressed on the battery following a regular charge to get the battery as full as possible.
Constant current means exactly that.
Let's use a badly sulfated 100 amp hour battery as an example.
5% of 100 is of course 5.0 So five amperes is the magic number.
Vary from this formula is then the results will be like guessing at how to bake a cake...
350 degrees for 25 minutes does not mean
1,750 degrees for 5 minutes
nor
Five hours at 70 degrees.
A battery charging device is needed that can attain 16.0 volts. Sixteen volts at however many amps is called for in the 5% formula.
And amperage must remain constant. No starting at 40 amps dwindling to 2 amps at 14.9 volts.
This means a GENUINE battery charger must be used.
Like with many chemical processes, some cheating is permitted.
A Megawatt or Meanwell power supply can be used. To throttle current to a reasonable "near five amps" a 12 volt light bulb can be connected inline with the battery charger's positive charge wire. This is a connection done in "series". Positive wire in, positive wire out.
With the Megawatt it cannot reach 16.0 volts, so the adjustment "knob" must be turned up to maximum -- around 15.6 volts. It's cheating but the reality cops will permit a little deviance. With a 15 series Meanwell the adjustment pot has to be set with a meter to 16.0 volts. The 15 series can exceed 16 volts and a tiny bit higher than 16 is OK but is limited to one or two tenths of a volt.
Charge the battery as full as it can get with your converter, then disconnect the battery ground cable.
Pop the cell caps off and note all cells should not have the plates exposed to air.
Connect the Meanwell or Megawatt using the 12-volt lamp in series with the positive charging cable.
A FIFTY WATT 12-volt light bulb is close enough for 6 cell RV batteries.
A HUNDRED WATT 12-volt bulb is close enough for a pair of golf car batteries connected in series to make a 6-cell 12 volt circuit.
Power up the Mega-Meanwell. Note the electrolyte in all cells. You will be monitoring the presence of bubbling.
If it takes one hour or ten, one of two things must happen...
1. Rechecking the weak cell with the hydrometer indicates it is fully charged.
2. 16.0 volts is reached.
Either way the charging is to be stopped.
Allow the batteries to cool down to room temperature. The electrolyte will CONTINUE to equalize for almost an hour while the batteries are cooling down.
Then hydrometer check all cells. Those that have not reverted to original density are going to be a persistent problem -- live with it or buy new batteries.
This is the age old BATTERY COUNCIL INTERNATIONAL equalization formula and it was used on hundred ton battery banks on submarines in World War II. Physics does not change. Nor does chemistry.
HOW TO RADICALLY DELAY THE ONSET OF SULFATION
Once per 20 cycles of 50% discharge OR 3 months of maintenance by a smart charger or converter...
TOP CHARGE THE BATTERY
Set the Meanwell or Megawatt to 15.0 volts and allow it to charge for a half hour with a single 6-cell battery, or one hour with golf car batteries. No current throttling light bulb need be employed for Top Charging.
If you follow the top charging regimen it will eliminate the need for about 95% of the full, elaborate equalization charges needed.
AND MIND YOU
Power Post Princess, lightly used batteries may NEVER need to be equalized. But their lifespan will be shorter than it could be.
Trying to compare experiences gathered between a heavy battery user (boondocker) and a weekend warrior or a few weeks per year camper, both having permanent power after their trip is like...
Hearing someone belittle and argue with a chef "when a package of Twinkies is so easy to tear open" is all too common and it is frustrating. The remnants of "slip the tablets into the tank and pour the syrup into the crankcase" mentality.
