Your opinion of Battery Desulfators

BFL13 wrote:
The 1996 will maybe have a 6300 converter at 13.8 volts, which is a bit low in voltage for winter Float in Michigan, but you can do the occasional boost with the Meanwell to maintain them. You can even use the Meanwell at a somewhat higher voltage than the 6300 to float the batts in winter temps plus do the boost now and then.

Edit--that kind of occasional boost is just for de-stratification to prevent sulfation, not for de-sulfation.

My 1996 is currently winterized and sitting unused, and not connected to AC. I don't recall what brand/model my converter is, but after reading all the horror stories about boiling the life out of batteries I have not used it at all except for short periods of time. Now that I have solar panels I've let the MPPT controller maintain the batteries. That seems to be doing the job, but I'm concerned that I need to boost the voltage up periodically to get a full charge, especially in view of the incident that brought the batteries down to 8 volts a couple months after they were purchased.

Gary,

Now that I have digested all of this thread, I may have some valuable experience to offer.

Some years back, I bought a "Desulfator" on Ebay. I ran it on several batteries. Some were already confirmed kills, and others just known to be losing capacity. This device coupled with a run of the mill flat charger managed to breath life back into about half of those that were just weak. The confirmed kills showed no improvement at all.

So, it was my opinion that these devices are a cr*p shoot in your case. If you primary charger is an Iota, Progressive Dynamics or other good charger that has a "burp" mode to break up the stratification, you may just recover that bank as it is.

Summary:
The pulse chargers do seem to do some good. They are not a cure-all. They do put sharp high frequency pulses back at the bank, and tests show that this can work, but if the fouling has had time to get good and solid, they just might not have enough kick to break that up and clear the active material.

Matt

I have not used that newer model of Battery Minder, but I've used the older ones for 20 yrs, and believe what you want to, but you won't find anything any better on the market for maintaining and desulfating a LA battery. You can spend a bunch more money, but that don't make it work any better.

GaryS1953 wrote:
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 lockup while parked and drew the batteries down to 8 volts before I noticed it. I managed to bring the batteries back, and they seem ok, charging appropriately when the sun is out to over 14 volts, then floating around 13.25 till the sun goes down. But I've been worried about how much I might have shortened the life of the the batteries by letting this happen. You people here are awesome, with an incredible amount of knowledge and experience to share, so I wondered what your opinion is of these inexpensive battery minder/desulfators is. They seem to get good reviews and people say they've extended the lives of their batteries. This is the unit I was Thinking of.

Nothing really will help a damaged unit... I recommend to just replace it. I've seen people talk about "Bedini" motors which are touted to not just fix batteries, but pull energy from the ether. Of course, I've yet to see about one of those powering an A/C or something significant from "ether" or "zero-point" energy.

On the other hand, I think the pulse units are great for keeping batteries that are in good condition going. The pulse charging minimizes bubbles and offgassing, which is good for long term storage.

I think that both Mex and BFL make valid points -- I really doubt whether the pulse units would resurrect a damaged unit. They may, however, be adequate for maintaining an already-healthy battery, assuming that the battery is properly maintained in other ways (enough water, not over-discharging them, etc.).

The 1996 will maybe have a 6300 converter at 13.8 volts, which is a bit low in voltage for winter Float in Michigan, but you can do the occasional boost with the Meanwell to maintain them. You can even use the Meanwell at a somewhat higher voltage than the 6300 to float the batts in winter temps plus do the boost now and then.

Edit--that kind of occasional boost is just for de-stratification to prevent sulfation, not for de-sulfation.

With all due respect...

Battery Minder's, claim to fame is as a battery maintenance device, not a damaged battery recovery tool. As such the Battery Minder does a satisfactory job of maintaining a properly charged battery against unnecessary degradation.

The few dedicated damaged battery recovery tools on the market are flaky. No consul in their right mind is going to pursue a shallow pockets wraith operation.

To prove in litigation the validity or lack of "pulse charge desulfation
efficacy would take hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars in sanctioned studies supported by expert testimony.

Pro Bono? I think not. Any case brought against a company like Battery Minder would face almost certain failure because if you read the nomenclature carefully it does not imply that the performance of its produce would any way recover or heal a damaged battery.

Some of the NDA's I signed are for 99 years. Foremost is prohibition against the revelation of identity. In order to fund these projects I had to partition and segment individual aspects so as to not present collusion.

I found not one hint of advantage of "pulse technology" over proper battery maintenance as I have outlined on this forum for many years. Head to head kWh consumption analyzed by 10x optical plate weight loss and sulfation occlusion percentage were indistinguishable in comparison.

Because I utilized technology that encompassed Kilowatts of energy and frequencies to in excess of 1 Ghz it eliminated pulse charging as a viable tool to remove hardened sulfation. I forfeited a lot of money because I declined to endorse the technology in any form. My boilerplate answer was, and is, "I have to live with myself".

Don't feel abused by my cutting remarks about attorneys. When I encounter a personal doctor that practices rote that endangers my health I poke with sarcasm. When they respond my response is "I have a scientific discipline -- you have a *practice". I am just as cutting with anyone who has a hand out for my money and is an incompetent boob. When I fail to resolve an issue I do not expect one cent of remittance. People who do not know me accuse me of having "ethics". How dare them.

Gary, Mex has a million times more experience than I do with respect to electricity. But I know something about product litigation and class actions. As far as I can tell, the folks who produce the BatteryMinder, a pulse desulphator, have had no -- zero -- litigation against them alleging that the product does not work and is a fraud.

I have faith in my fellow attorneys. They are sharks and will lash out if they smell blood. No one has so much as nibbled at the BatteryMinder folks. Maybe that is because the lawyers don't understand electricity and don't know it's a fraud. Or maybe there is no fraud.

PopBeavers wrote:
On my first trailer I was going to replace a pair of Interstate RV/Maring group 24 batteries, but instead I bough a charger and ran a desulfate and an equalize charge and the batteries were still fine 2 years later when I sold the TT.

My personal experience indicates that they do work.

Thanks for you thoughts. I went ahead and ordered the Mean Well power supply as it seems to get lots of Kudos online.

"And thank you, sir, for being patient. This is one long long subject.

Yes these things are power supplies. They have no power switch, indeed, no power cord.

Here's one on AMAZON, cord with switch...


BesMelody
BesMelody 2-Pack Power Cord with on / off Button Switch, 6 Feet
4.2 out of 5 stars 7 customer reviews
Price: $7.99

https://www.jameco.com/z/RSP-320-13-5-ME........Function-13-5V-23-8A-321-3W_2204672.html

I recommend using 10 AWG red and black wires from the power supply to the battery."

MEXICOWANDERER: I ordered both. Looking forward to playing with a new toy, and getting those batteries in good. Thanks again.