Desulfating a Battery

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I just got a Battery Minder 2012 and I am curious if it would do a more efficient job desulfating a battery if one was to purposely bring down the level of charge on a battery before charging it to extend the time that the battery is receiving the 2amp charge.

If the battery is in float mode desulfating wouldn't the pulses be less intense than at a higher current level or am I looking at this wrong.

I definitely feel having a battery maintainer with temperature compensation is a necessity here where the temperatures vary from -15 degrees to 100 in summer.

I use the Battery Tender jr.on my daughters original power wheels battery that is 4 years old and still going strong, and my lawnmower batteries last many years where it's common for folks here to need a new battery every few years.

Maintenance charging is definitely the key to a long battery life even if it's not temperature compensated, at least in cold weather which is where I typically have the tender jr. going for months during long periods of storage.
 
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You are looking this wrong. Bringing down the level of the battery just shortens its lifespan. Sulfation isn't much of an issue unless the battery is left sitting at partial charge for long periods, which you are effectively reducing by using the float maintenance charger during off season storage.

You also don't really need a battery maintainer with temperature compensation. If it's a built in *free* feature, sure why not have it but you can just use a float charge level that ends up very low mA at the float charge voltage so you aren't cooking off electrolyte. Temperature compensation is far more important for faster charge rates.

Unless the charger/maintainer is defective towards its purpose, all you need to do is hook it up when you are about to leave the battery stored/unused then disconnect it for periods where there are not long periods between normal recharge events. I suppose if you want to go the extra effort, you could use a normal faster charger to get it near 100% before hooking the float charger up, but these aren't huge batteries so the amount of time at relative charge level isn't that long for a little float charger.
 
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I do have a battery that is sulfated that I am trying to get some more life out of. I'm curious how well the desulfating charger performs. I took cca and milliohm readings before I started it as a baseline.
 
Originally Posted by 5AcresAndAFool
I do have a battery that is sulfated that I am trying to get some more life out of. I'm curious how well the desulfating charger performs. I took cca and milliohm readings before I started it as a baseline.

I have not had any luck desulfating one. I even tried epson salt. No dice.
 
I have one of those Battery Minders that I use all the time on one vehicle or another. I know it sounds impossible, but I use it on our 87 VW Cabriolet and the battery is a Wally world battery dated 11-02. I just can't believe they work so well. As 5 acres says, they can make those lawn mower batteries last a long time. My youngest sons truck has sat for a year without being started. Used it on his battery and it now starts that 4.9L Ford.
 
I've been using a Schumacher Battery Maintainer in the Firebird in my signature since 2000.
Prior to buying the maintainer, I replace the battery faithfully ever 5 yrs as the battery wouldn't hold a charge any longer in that 5th yr.

When I bought another battery in 2000, I also bought this maintainer and connected it directly to the battery and mounted the maintainer under the engine compartment(atop the battery). This battery is now(drum roll)...20 yrs old and still kicking.

There is no crusties on the battery terminals EVER although I always check. And (A BIG AND), I often remove the battery caps regularly to make sure there is proper acid level above the lead plates and fill with distilled water if needed.
 
AFAIK, "desulfation" of a battery is done by such chargers via an algorithm. If the resistance is too high, the charger applies a series of "jolts" to shock the sulfate back into the electrolyte and then alternates with normal charging voltage to try to restore state of charge. I've heard those "jolts" applied are in the 15-16V range before returning to 12-14V.
 
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