Know how to extend the life of a lead acid battery and what the limits are
A battery leaves the manufacturing plant with characteristics that delivers optimal performance. Do not modify the physics of a good battery unless needed to revive a dying pack. Adding so-called “enhancement medicine” to a good battery may have negative side effects. Many services to improve the performance of lead acid batteries can be achieved with topping charge(See BU-403: Charging Lead Acid)
Adding chemicals to the electrolyte of flooded lead acid batteries can dissolve the buildup of lead sulfate on the plates and improve the overall battery performance. This treatment has been in use since the 1950s (and perhaps longer) and provides a temporary performance boost for aging batteries. It’s a stopgap measure because in most cases the plates are already worn out through shedding. Chemical additives cannot replace the active material, nor can cracked plates, corroded connectors or damaged separators be restored with an outside remedy.
Elevated self-discharge is a common failure mode with older batteries. With the shedding of the active material to the bottom of the container, a conductive layer forms that gradually fills the allotted space in the sediment trap. The now conductive liquid may reach the plates, creating a soft short. The shedding also causes the internal resistance to increase, reducing current handling.
Extending the service life of an aging battery can be useful as additives are cheap, readily available and worth the experiment for a handyman. These salts may reduce the internal resistance to give a sulfated battery a few extra months of life. Suitable additives are magnesium sulfate (Epsom salt), caustic soda and EDTA (EDTA is a crystalline acid used in industry).
When using Epsom salt, follow these easy steps to treat most starter batteries. Heat about 250ml (8 fl oz or a cup) of distilled water to about 66ºC (150ºF), mix in as much Epson salt as the water can absorb (a few tablespoons) and stir until dissolved. Avoid using too much salt because heavy concentration increases corrosion of the lead plates and the internal connectors.
When pouring the warm solution into the battery, the electrolyte level will raise. Do not remove electrolyte, and only add as much additive as the battery can take. Be careful not to overfill. Do not place un-dissolved Epsom salt directly into the battery because the substance does not dissolve well. In place of Epsom salt, try adding a pinch of caustic soda. Charge the battery after service. The results are not instantaneous and it may take a month for the treatment to work. The outcome is not guaranteed.
Batteries have improved, and additive treatments may be most effective with older battery models, expanding their life by a few months until a replacement is on hand. Modern batteries already include additives that reduce sulfation and corrosion. Industrial users seldom rely on remedial additives to prolong battery life as the system becomes maintenance prone.
Comments
To Keith, man thank you for your short story of the experience you had playing with that battery. You made me laugh my ass off and I appreciate it. I wish nothing but great luck and success for you in all your experiments. Lmao, and my e-mail if you feel like it is moserdavid28@gmail.com. Don't hesitate to holler at me man. Take care
To Keith, man thank you for your short story of the experience you had playing with that battery. You made me laugh my ass off and I appreciate it. I wish nothing but great luck and success for you in all your experiments. Lmao, and my e-mail if you feel like it is moserdavid28@gmail.com. Don't hesitate to holler at me man. Take care
Hello, I often read too much and have information overload in my mind which causes indecisiveness because of the many different factors that go along w a subject or topic or constructing things. So cuz time constraints w work and life and a gf I tend to make a quick decision on things. This quick decision was adding Epson salt directly into the flooded LA car battery I had. I think I may have or had a parasitic load on the battery due to my ignition system staying in a position that kept the starter energized. Or something. That part is still unknown. What is known is my successful or so far successful at bringing a flooded LA battery back from holding no charge. I bought a battery maintainer which I’m not happy with. It was a battery tender and maintainer 1.25 amps 12 volt. Bought it for my SLA batteries I had just bought 100amps 12 volts times four. Yes I know not the right thing to use but at the time I had little knowledge in lead acid batteries. Actually charging batteries in general. Typically people who don’t get all into it or who don’t care why or just accept battery decline and pre mature death and buy a new one usually just buy a charger if they even take that step, but buy a charger that say smart charger. Or revitalize or bring back to life or some dumb sales gimmick. The little I knew which is leaps more then the average person in relation to batteries in general, but I knew lead acid like to have a constant high state of charge. Therefore I did not concern myself w amps or stages. Or pulse or boost or desulfate or happy ending w reach around. It didn’t matter. But money became tight. And I refuse to throw anything away I know I can fix which leads us to the epson salt and the piece of crud tender I had. The tender charged the flooded battery to 14.5 and then a float charge of 13.5. I believe at first it did float 13.1-13.3. Which it was give me one or two starts for my truck. So obviously something wasn’t right. Why the explicit was it saying it’s charged and yet I get crap energy from it. On top of that in the very beginning it would say charged but lose the charge over night. So long story short. I whipped out my lifepo4 12 volt charger. Which is also a piece of crap for charging lifepo4 from what I’ve been reading a constant over charge is not good for lithium chemistry. What the crap did I know. But I did read about some epson salt and maybe that would work w the lead acid battery tender. I shook the battery. Mixed it up that way. Prob used the way wrong epson salt cuz later after reading the ingredients it read fragrance added. Ehh whatever. I didn’t give the cells too much salt. I gave the one cell that I thought was the worse of the 6 the most. Shook it up. Still not making magic. So here enters the constant 14.5-14.6 volt charge of the lifepo4 charger I had. Let me back up. So when I had starting trouble in my truck I just jumped it w one of my 20volt drill batteries. Worked alright. Did it again. Same result. Did it again and no go. Turned out to be a starter problem. Anyways. I had read to open the caps to release gas or vent it better when charging the flooded lead acid. So I did that. Did that for awhile. Might still do that. Might. Not. Won’t side track just yet on that. So as I was jumping my truck w the 20volt during the no go time I had left the battery from the drill on there longer. To try and get it more charged. And what I saw were little bubbles coming up from the cells. Thinking I was totally f’n the battery up I removed the 20volt drill battery and tried starting the truck. Nothing. Cuz the starter. Anyways. Fast forward. To the lifepo4 charger. Epson salt added. Attached the lithium charger. And sure enough the bubbles came back. So I’m like. F it. What’s the worst that can happen. Leave there for some time. Use it as well. Starts up the truck fine. But loses charge still. I take the bastard into my room and charge it. Open a window and turn on fans and my diy zeolite/coco activated carbon air filtration system. W m12 or some ish filters. That’s another story. Another time. Anyways. I leave the bastard charging on the constant 14.5-14.6 charge. I’m also smoking in the room w it. Knowing the full danger of hydrogen being released from the reactions going on inside the battery cuz I started reading about what to do to bring the battery back. I did see the flame act funny time to time when using it and at those times I left the room and aired it out. I live dangerously. Anyways. I charged this guy on and off for about 7-10 days. When it get hot I’d rest it. Or I’d put the crap tender on it and let it float. My dumbass even scraped the plates inside the cells w my dmm leads. I’m an electrician so electrical stuff doesn’t scare me anymore. But reading later about how easy lead toxicity and exposure is w these batteries does and did scare me. So I didn’t f w the plates anymore. I did scrape them tho. And my leads got corrosion now on then from the sulphuric acid. I later read not to add epson Salt. So that want and urge to add more was now gone. Until I read this article now. But anyways. The electrolyte went from cloudy from the Salt I reckon to clear. And the bad cell I added the most salt too took the longest. But became clear. The bubbles became less. And the gunk in on the plates became less. I’m writing this experience mostly because I never write anything but this past day I have done it twice now. So I figure keep it going. Maybe help someone. Maybe get a laugh or a shrill. Anyways. I know now that in need to give the battery a charge w current up to 10% of the total amps. And then at about 70% charge or whatever then reduce the current and keep the constant high voltage charge until 100 percent lowering currrent along the way. Basically. Current charge the. To voltage charge. Then to either w float charge or to an equalizing over charge to help break up those pesky crystals. Or so I think now. I have four sla batteries I’m messing w now. They didn’t hold up as well as I’d like this last power outage. That’s another story for another time. Something along the lines of break in period. Probably sulfates from improper storage practices. Etc. anyways. Back to the flooded la. What I noticed. Is this. As I desulphated it the float charge would increase every time. So what I believe happened was. Due to poor flooded la battery care the battery lost its ability to hold a charge even tho It was reading 13.4 volts when I charged it in the beginning before the epson salt and the high voltage constant charge. So it confused me. Don’t let it confuse you. It’s just sulfated. And I recommend getting a power supply you can adjust the current and volts on. It’s better then trusting a “smart” charger. Every battery is made differently. Go off of manufactures guidelines and adjust your power supply accordingly. From the amount of reading I’ve done people still argue what the best way to charge a lead acid battery. Flooded or sealed. Or agm. Go off the manufacturer’s guidelines. Do a constant charge to what it says. And then float it to what it says. May not be fancy but it will keep the battery working a long time. Just keep heat away from it and keep flooded flooded. Laters.
Looking for comments from the previous website?
Comments from the previous website are not compatible with our new commenting system but we have preserved them so our users can still reference and make use the information in them.
All right I agree based on my experience thanks.