BATTERY DESULFATOR

[artfuldodger]

I learned while boondocking in the Arizona desert about the plates in a battery sulfating after many deep cycle charges, causing the battery to not charge fully to 13.5 volts and eventually rendering the battery useless. solution seems to be to desulfate the battery plates by attaching a battery desulfator device to the battery. There are many brands available at many different prices. Does anyone out there have experience with this process of restoring their batteries?

[Art-n-Marge]

The voltage should be about 12.6 to 12.8 volts on a fully charged battery. A battery reads 13.5 (or so) volts when it's being charged. I can't add anything about what to do after sulfation has started, and preventing it would be best. I understand overcharging can be bad, so ensuring that your converter has the device to prevent this could help.

[K0LCB]

I doubt if you can desulfate modern lead acid batteries. I believe the plates are to thin, just my opinion

[Ishler]

I have a desulfator that I use on the RV battery and the lawnmower batteries over the winter. I rotate it between batteries when their charge level gets low, about 2 to 3 weeks for the mower batteries and a month for the RV battery. The RV battery is going on 6 years old and still tests to a capacity greater than it's rating, the mower batteries were only lasting a year and now I'm on year 4. I bought it from Wizbangplus.com they're made(or were) just outside Rochester NY (Local to me)

[1retired06]

Never used one, batteries have always lasted normal life span or better based on battery specs.

[jcurtis934]

I have always maintained my batteries by keeping the plates well submerged, well charged, and only using distilled water. If you take too much of a charge out, you are on the road to reduced life period. Just look to the battery/s in your vehicles...they are kept well charged, mostly ignored by a lot of folks, and they still give you 4-5 years...a normal life span. Yes, keeping the plates from being crusted in sulfates will prolong their life...however you do it. John

[drknapp]

I may be wrong, but you may already have some protection. I believe the Progressive Dynamics Converter that is in some of the Montana's (ours had one) has what they call "Charge Wizard technology". According to their website:

The Charge Wizard constantly monitors battery voltage and battery usage then selects one of the following four operating modes to properly charge and maintain the battery.


BOOST Mode 14.4 Volts - Rapidly brings the RV battery up to 90% of full charge.

NORMAL Mode 13.6 Volts - Safely completes the charge.

STORAGE Mode 13.2 Volts - Maintains charge with minimal gassing or water loss.

EQUALIZATION Mode 14.4 Volts - Every 21 hours for a period of 15 minutes prevents battery stratification & sulfation - the leading cause of battery failure.

[kdeiss]

Trojan Battery Co does not recommend desulfucation addative or desulfucation process which is using a non automatic charger to the battery and basically boiling it.

[Starmaster]

BatteryMinder ( http://www.batteryminders.com/ ) has a lot of good info related to battery sulfation on their web site. I have used their products to restore two sulfated batteries and had good results. They have de-sulfating chargers / maintainers ranging from about $50 to $150.

I have a couple of their chargers and de-sulfate the 5er batteries and my other stuff (but not car or truck) about once a year.

This link: ( http://www.batteryminders.com/knowledge/ ) provides access to several articles related to batteries, including info on sulfation, how to test your batteries for sulfation, AGM batteries, and 5 stage charging.

I'm not affiliated with BatteryMinder, just a satisfied customer.

Dave