12 volt battery rehab

[kantuckid]

Educated beyond their intelligence, a remarkably accurate description of some of our interns by one of my coworkers.

My life's experience is different. Over time and experience I've become certain that ignorance is amply distributed regardless of educational levels. My 5th grade grandad was capable of many, many skilled activities and was my mentor in life superbly. You name it, he could do it, period. Every one of my very highly educated sons is a shining e.g. of education vs. common sense. Some e.g.'s: The PHd son just got done completely redoing a long staircase in his McMansion. He borrowed my mitre saw, and small air comp and bought a small table saw and did well too. His twin brother upon the day of his graduation from US Navy Nuclear engineering School- I asked him just how many of these guys would you be comfy grabbing a beer with them-his answer, after a big laugh was maybe 35% of them. FWIW, that school is a calculus based curriculum for people who are also college graduates with high GPA's in engineering school. The enlisted aspect of Nuke school is algebraic based, neither one is for the uneducated among us. 
Lets play nice when we allocate common sense to only the less educated. 
That said, I too, (well educated in skilled trades and education) made fun of engineers as a mechanic/builder all the time, but I was "nice" about it too.  
Interns vary as do skilled trades and unskilled people is my story line. My own Mother was a stay at home most of her life and far smarter and common sensical than most folks including myself. She was a self-taught violin player who earned first chair in several large orchestras- try that one out. 
Pointing fingers is easy...

[doc henderson]

our goal is well rounded kids growing into adults.  part of the trouble now is kids are either academic or athletes ect.  most sports take up the whole year.  to be on the team, you need wight training and travel teams.  Having chores, helping around the house, farm even better, and going to school and going out for sports.  Having little time for fun, so making the best of it, not having so much time you are bored.

[snobdds]

I bought a NOCO smart charger that has a recover cycle for FLA batteries.  

Works amazingly. 

[beenthere]

FLA = flooded lead acid

The NOCO Company is an American, privately held, multinational corporation 

[nativewolf]

Sorry I just saw this, we did have issues with the very odd size battery in our Ponsse Elephant, one of the two batteries actually.  They form a 24 volt system. 

Anyhow, 1 cell was just completely dead.  Tried tricks to get it back to life, not go.  So did the Epson Salt thing and it finally held a charge long enough to get the pre heater through a heat cycle and then the engine would start.  Around the first week of January it got very cold here and so we dumped the epson salts and re filled with battery acid (still very cheap in a 5 gallon container).  Then charged that and it did just fine over January and February and March (to date).  It runs through a pre heater cycle and when it was 10 degrees in january we'd let it run quite a while before starting.  

I  like the idea of a recovery setting for FLA.  I suspect in the future we'll move to all glass mat  or even Li chemistry 12volt and this will be less an issue.  

[kantuckid]

Generally speaking, de-sulphating a well used batteries lead plates then adding fresh acid isn't effective toward getting to a battery that holds a usable charge. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it...  
You were lucky to get what you did. 

[nativewolf]

Generally speaking, de-sulphating a well used batteries lead plates then adding fresh acid isn't effective toward getting to a battery that holds a usable charge. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it...
You were lucky to get what you did.

I think we are fortunate it is just the 1 cell and that the epson salts and running through many cycles worked well enough to provide enough power in a 24v system.  The other cells are all doing well.  It is still weak but it got us through the winter.  We have new ones on the way but they arrive with the new harvester and tires and tracks.  I was really hoping to find a new fancy battery of the right size to fit in the space but it is an odd shape.
The new Bear has gee whezz battery drawers and power everything.  Quite a difference.  

[Hotrod RLC]

battery rehab // their are people like me in ky hills that were brought up to save a dime if possible . supe beans and gravy some winterd was a luxery . never learned to spell as you all can tell   now cleaning batterys with epson salt is working for me dont know why but i am saving dimes and they make dollers   everyone to each his own  setting here running my mouth the best to all of you 

[mike_belben]

Generally speaking, de-sulphating a well used batteries lead plates then adding fresh acid isn't effective toward getting to a battery that holds a usable charge. Thats my story and I'm sticking to it...
You were lucky to get what you did.

I disagree.  If not for rescued batteries i wouldnt have many.

My best recovery ever happened last week.  I put a 12v winch onto a 24v dozer using a cheap PWM step down transformer.  The winch motor is using 24volts and running 2x as fast.  The remote control and contactor switch is on 12v from the step down.  Trying to use just one of the two series batteries was ruining the one because it interupted the alternators charge circuit when needed most.


Anyways the little transformer draws all the time so i put it on a toggle and forgot which direction was off. it ran for a week.  This is a group 31 cheap fleet truck battery i bought new about 2 years ago, and it had .04vdc.  DOA.. Ive never brought one back from that low.  10volts no problem, almost always success.


When opened it was naturally low on fluid. maybe a half inch but not exposing the plates.  I read the epsom salt diys and said 'screw all that. Ill put a little in the deionized water im gonna top up with and see what happens, this one is a goner anyways'


So in keeping with my cooking by intuition style, i put an unmeasured pinch of coarse epsom salt in an equally unmeasured amount of room temp deionized water and swished around until most dissolved.  There were some granules still in the bottom. Ehh. Dont care.

Poured it in and boiled it on 220amp jumpstart mode for quite a while. Then half the day on 40amp then maybe 1.5 days on 2amp trickle.  

 2 days later it was holding just over 13vdc, my only one that high, and the pair have run the dozer and winch just great so far.


Hot charge your batteries and keep them topped up.  There is no such thing as maintenance free lead acid battery.  Thats a sales myth akin to lumber "shortages" and fictitious real estate bidders.

[Hotrod RLC]

rehabing battery using epson salt was posted feb 20 ,2022  i checked yesterday 3[28 battery up and starting tractor no problem temp yesterday 35 degrees  diesel tractor had ben setting since 2-20  to be clear i am not smart enough to come up with this idea but u- tube was 

[rusticretreater]

In depth articles on this process that I have read say you shouldn't be adding much fresh acid to a battery, only distilled water.  The acid doesn't evaporate much.  This is a general rule of thumb to keep people out of trouble and not messing with acid. Of course, checking the electrolyte specific gravity lets you know for sure and is the proper procedure.

Nothing wrong with a rehabbed battery. In older days, it was considered proper maintenance!