So I am going to try my hand at reconditioning lead acid batteries...

[Supervstech]

Please document everything you do.

Be honest and thorough.

Test capacity, charge time, and voltage.

Trust us though... you are wasting your time and money.

If you want to experement, try opening up the battery and installing carbon plates... search youtube for lessons.

Epsom salts restore surface voltage.
Frequently enough to get a big battery capable of starting a car/tractor whatever.

Deep cycle have THICK heavy lead plates, and once they corrode and short out, you CAN drain the electrolyte, rinse out with water, flush with distilled water, then install freah sulphuric acid electrolyte to regain some capacity...

Epsom salt treatment is NOT what you want to try with a storage battery.

You have been warned.

 

[Crowz]

I found a full proof way to refurbish lead acid batteries. This method is what I discovered after years of using lead acid batteries.

Its complicated so excuse this being a long post. But at least is absolutely fool proof and ANYONE can do this with guaranteed results every time.

Always works.

Ok here it goes.

Buy lifepo4 batteries and get rid of the lead acid ones forever

 

[yachtdr22]

I support your experiment... PPE ...
What else can one do with old expired Lead Acid Batteries besides send to recycle?
I have a LiOn bank, but also have a pallet of dead Lead acid ?

 

[Checkthisout]

I support your experiment... PPE ...
What else can one do with old expired Lead Acid Batteries besides send to recycle?
I have a LiOn bank, but also have a pallet of dead Lead acid ?

They are worth good money.

 

[seneysolar]

I work alot with Concorde batteries in the aircraft world. ( I run an aircraft maintenance company.)

Concorde also makes RE batteries... though they dont get alot of attention.

When a sealed VRLA battery fails its capacity check of 80% its rated AH capacity they recommend a "condition charge".... for a 24v battery this is 10% of its capacity in amps (ie 40A battery = 4amps) @ 34v for 16 hours. We have had good luck raising capacity 20-30% with this process.

Never have I dumped out a battery and flushed out electrolyte like described above in previous posts.

 

[Checkthisout]

I work alot with Concorde batteries in the aircraft world. ( I run an aircraft maintenance company.)

Concorde also makes RE batteries... though they dont get alot of attention.

When a sealed VRLA battery fails its capacity check of 80% its rated AH capacity they recommend a "condition charge".... for a 24v battery this is 10% of its capacity in amps (ie 40A battery = 4amps) @ 34v for 16 hours. We have had good luck raising capacity 20-30% with this process.

Never have I dumped out a battery and flushed out electrolyte like described above in previous posts.

Swapped a couple T28's over to dual optima. $2600.00 Gill or Concord batteries are a painful failure.

 

[seneysolar]

IMO Sealed gills are garbage, the vented lead acids are ok but require frequent maintenance and cleaning. Concorde sealed are decent as long as they are used for their intended purposes and the charge rates are correct. On average i see customers getting 4-5 years out of them. Similar to your car i suppose. Yes certified/approved parts are expensive. I do have an optima in my truck going on 6 years.... we'll see how long it will go.

What i was going towards on my previous post was the condition charge procedure. Similar to some equalization charges but the current is controlled at a low rate and the voltage is higher but again limited. They want it ran like that for 16 hours. The manual even allows for 2 more attempts if its not successful. I doubt anyone is going this long at that high of voltage.

 

[DXHum]

It's not that "it may not work", more like it will not work. Take it from someone whom has tried all forms of reconditioning. EDTA, epsom salts, rinse wash and repeat, etc. Once they're sulfated they're dead. The Pakistanis know it which is why they replace the plates and trust me, if there was a more economical and reliable way of doing it that would be the route they would take. As someone else pointed out, the Duralast batteries aren't the greatest to begin with as they're not a real deep cycle battery. I'm all for experimentation though, so have fun!

Perhaps the Duralast are not ideal. But for $99.00, I thought they were good enough for storing power to be used during a power outage.

In mission critical stuff (my saltwater aquariums) I have a VMAX AGM Deep Cycle that will support the entire tank for 6 hours and more depending on if the heaters come on.

So what would you recommend to someone who wants to reliably store power for emergencies?

 

[DXHum]

Question: How will cold impact charging.

I've set myself up under the deck on the concrete. It is there that the work will take place.

I plan to charge outside and am wondering how the cold air (35 degrees) will impact charging?

 

[sunshine_eggo]

Question: How will cold impact charging.

I've set myself up under the deck on the concrete. It is there that the work will take place.

I plan to charge outside and am wondering how the cold air (35 degrees) will impact charging?

All lead acid batteries require temperature compensation. Higher absorption voltage when cold, lower when hot.

For FLA and normal charging, -0.03V/°C for each degree of variation from 25°C, e.g., at freezing (-25°C from 25°C), -25°C * (-0.03V/°C) = +0.75V above standard.

This does NOT apply to equalization charging in cold. Equalization charges should never exceed 16.4V, but it's sensible to apply it at higher temperatures.

 

[Checkthisout]

Question: How will cold impact charging.

I've set myself up under the deck on the concrete. It is there that the work will take place.

I plan to charge outside and am wondering how the cold air (35 degrees) will impact charging?

Just make sure the battery is charged before it gets below freezing.

Uncharged batteries freeze.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

This is the Rolls guide to SoC/SG and freezing for FLA:

 

[Zwy]

If I wanted, I could easily drive to the store and buy two new batteries. This is more about educating myself.

At least you won't be disappointed with the results because it will be a learning experience. Only 3 things belong in a lead acid battery. Lead, water and acid.

DC welder method works best, second place is long EQ charge and discharge to break sulfation off the plates.

I've recovered the batteries in the golf cart I purchased. Owner said it needed new batteries. 4 batteries recovered to over 90% capacity, 2 only 80%. I mothballed the 2 and purchased a pair of new ones from Costco to get by for a few years. Eventually it will be LFP. I used EQ charge voltage and several discharge cycles. I spent about a month and half boiling the water in them, that is why the DC welder method works better, it is much faster.

 

[Hogheavenfarm]

I did try this with two batteries, plus a Trojan 150ah one. No success with any. One of the batteries , a DEka I think, would finally take a charge, but on any load it would drop right off a cliff. On the plus side, I have a years supply of Epsom Salts now.

 

[Zwy]

I haven't begun the process. I'm waiting on my safety gear.

There are many ways to go about reconditioning a battery. And I would be interested in hearing what your procedure is for reconditioning a battery.

Start here: https://diysolarforum.com/threads/refurbish-process-for-forklift-batteries.51436/post-654855

Lastly, if there is something wrong with my process, I'd like to hear your thoughts.

The process I've selected has yielded satisfactory results for others who have tried this. And for $50.00, it was worth a chance.

 

[DXHum]

UPDATE:

So I reconditioned the Duralast Deep Cycle battery I mentioned earlier in the thread. The results weren't good.

After recondition and a full charge, I was able to run a 60 watt lightbulb and a box fan for 50 minutes. Also, now I am saddled with the job of responsibly disposing of the old acid.

Not worth it.

 

[sunshine_eggo]

UPDATE:

So I reconditioned the Duralast Deep Cycle battery I mentioned earlier in the thread. The results weren't good.

After recondition and a full charge, I was able to run a 60 watt lightbulb and a box fan for 50 minutes. Also, now I am saddled with the job of responsibly disposing of the old acid.

Not worth it.

Looks like you got about 8-10Ah out of it. If you were on a farm, broke and had a desperate need to start a tractor, it would probably work. For energy storage, that juice ain't worth the squeeze.

Respect for conducting a meaningful test after the process.

If you have a youtube channel, post something to compete with all the misinformation.

 

[Checkthisout]

UPDATE:

So I reconditioned the Duralast Deep Cycle battery I mentioned earlier in the thread. The results weren't good.

After recondition and a full charge, I was able to run a 60 watt lightbulb and a box fan for 50 minutes. Also, now I am saddled with the job of responsibly disposing of the old acid.

Not worth it.

Thank you for sharing your results. Worth a shot for learning but as you can see, generally not worth it.

Hit the acid with baking soda until bubbles stop then just dump where you don't want weeds.

 

[Zwy]

UPDATE:

So I reconditioned the Duralast Deep Cycle battery I mentioned earlier in the thread. The results weren't good.

After recondition and a full charge, I was able to run a 60 watt lightbulb and a box fan for 50 minutes. Also, now I am saddled with the job of responsibly disposing of the old acid.

Not worth it.

Recharge it a few times, it might break the sulfation off the plates.

 

[Checkthisout]

The plates are so thin in automotive batteries that it's just not worth it.

All the busted off plate and sulfation chunks get dumped back onto the underside of the plates when you turn it upside down to get the acid out.