Salting a Battery--Ruined It?

[BFL13]

A camping buddy got hold of me (afterwards, natch! 😞 ) and said two 6s had some low cells when he went to check them after way too long, but I gather one low in one and two low in the other, so he was reading the Internet (oh no!) and he read that Epsom salts was the answer. So he did it.

I am working with him by email to see what if anything can be done about what is really going on with his batteries. What I would like to know in the meantime, is if there is any way to undo whatever the Epsom salts might have done (it did improve his hydrometer reading he says)

I told him that salt water is more dense than fresh, same as acid is more dense than fresh water, so the bobber will float higher, so he won't do that again. But if the batteries just need equalizing or whatever and might be ok, what about that salt in there?

Thanks.

[Chum_lee]

If you trust Wiki as a credible source, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93acid_battery

Go straight to the section on "Additives" (near the bottom of the page) if you are easily bored with science, facts, history, and other stuff like that.

Chum lee

[MEXICOWANDERER]

My dad's service station had a used car dealer next door. First order of the day -- change oil and brake and clutch pedal pads. They washed the engine then sprayed it with clear coat.

Bob Bellemore. A classic. Houndstooth coat, fifty brilliant white teeth a mustache, foot long cigar, and the secret got out. Buy then sell at 200 percent markup.

When something sounds too good to be true -- trust your instincts.

The real "miracle" is the incredible lubricity of them extracting cash from your wallet. Anytime you see print information along with an image of someone shouting the same info in your ear, it's a con job.

[philh]

I did build a battery desulfator. Used to to revive several dead batteries.

Large capacitor and rectifier. It works, but not without several risks, including the fact it could kill you.

[2112]

landyacht318 wrote:
I'd be interested in just how much improvement and for how long afterwards before cliff diving begins, that epsom salts make.

But this info would likely just be used by used car sellers and the like, hoping to not have to put in a new starter battery before sale.

But I guess there are plenty of integrity free, something for nothing folks everywhere, so magnesium salting of rv batteries before sale is not out of the question.

Legion has it used car salesmen use alum in batteries for this reason.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

One gearloose study had me pulling plates out of a destroyed L-16

Immerse in monel vessel with 1.300 density H2SO4 (2liters)

Add approx 4 oz of magnesium sulfate

Heat to 90 degrees celsius. Remain for ? days (I forgot it was several)

Under 10x loupe, no change in crystalline structure. Waste of time other than the test yielded a hard finding.

Some low intensity tests like maintaining 16.0 volts for 2 weeks with Magnesium sulfate yielded 100% plate shedding (stripping) of plate material. Hardened sulfate is some tough stuff. What may work is a noble metal catalyst. Beyond the scope of my ability.

[Johnny_G1]

What I like about this forum, there still is a Sucker Born every minute on this Planet?????

[GordonThree]

I don't believe it's snake oil, there's actual peer reviewed studies behind it the process. however it's not going to turn a destroyed battery back to new, which is pointed out in those studies.

Epsom "salt" has the disadvantage of being touted as a cure-all for a number of medical conditions as well, a tiny grain of truth mixed it with a lot of misinformation.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Mmmmmmmmmm...

Oatmeal and black pepper in the radiator. Quaker oats and Indian fresh Telecherry ground pepper are best. Trust me :R

[Chum_lee]

From 1st year college level general chemistry:

A salt (there are many) like Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt) is what is left over after you neutralize an acid, like sulfuric acid. (battery electrolyte) That's exactly what you DON'T want more of inside your wet cell batteries. The chemical engineers who have been designing and building wet cell batteries for over a hundred years all know that. I guess everyone else didn't get the memo!

Chum lee

[landyacht318]

I'd be interested in just how much improvement and for how long afterwards before cliff diving begins, that epsom salts make.

But this info would likely just be used by used car sellers and the like, hoping to not have to put in a new starter battery before sale.

But I guess there are plenty of integrity free, something for nothing folks everywhere, so magnesium salting of rv batteries before sale is not out of the question.

[DrewE]

wa8yxm wrote:
Water. PURE Lab grade distilled water. IS. believe it or not an insulator.

BUT WHEN YOU ADD SALE (Be it Epson or table) It becomes very conductive and .. Shorted his battery out.

Electrolyte needs to be conductive for a battery to work; otherwise, it cannot conduct a current. Battery acid is quite conductive on its own. Most things (salts and acids generally) dissolved in water will make it conductive due to the ions formed in the solution; exceptions are substances such as alcohols that, while miscible with water, do not ionize when dissolving.

It's not so much that the salt water shorts out the battery, but rather (according to those here who know the chemistry far more than I do) that the salt solution attacks the plates over time.

[GordonThree]

delete

[wa8yxm]

Water. PURE Lab grade distilled water. IS. believe it or not an insulator.

BUT WHEN YOU ADD SALE (Be it Epson or table) It becomes very conductive and .. Shorted his battery out.

There is one thing you can do about it.. Visit Costco or Sam's club and pick up a pair of brand new GC-2 batteries.. (Or Interstate or my choice is DEKA as well DEKA's are 100% US content and I like to support USA).

[BFL13]

2112 wrote:
Epsom salts is magnesium sulfate, table salt or sea salt is sodium chloride. Completely two different compounds. They share nothing in common but the word salt.

I thought the saw dust was for manual transmissions and differentials. It helps mesh worn out gears, as the folk lore goes. I remember an Andy Griffith episode when Barney bought a old car that had saw dust in the rear end.

I didn't know that it is not salt. Learned something. Mex mentioned magnesium.