Battery recondition

Gradywhite3535

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Dec 29, 2012
Messages
480
For some reason both of my batteries died one deep cycle and a car battery for starting. The car battery is old but the deep cycle is two years old and doesn't get used much. I have it on a manual charger at 10 amps to see if it can hold a charge but auto store said it wasn't good but the volta were low so I don't trust them lol. If it doesn't hold a charge do you know of any tips on getting back to life. I've a feeling it's not totally dead. Any gel would be great thank you
 

Texasmark

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Dec 20, 2005
Messages
14,544
Boats take a pounding as do farm tractors and OTR semis. Heavy duty batteries are usually required for such instances. Sulphate scale develops on the plates of batteries due to the electrical process of using and recharging and all. There are battery chargers designed to negate this buildup...pricy. The sulphate scale can be knocked off the plates and can pile up at the bottom of the battery, especially on densely packed batteries...lots of amp hours on a small case types where the plates are long and bridge across the cells allowing the charge to bleed off. If you have a white plastic case, you can put a flashlight on the other side of the battery and see the plate length.

The other problem is when the scale develops and doesn't fall off causing a reduction of the exposed plate surface for current carrying capacity....which doesn't seem to be your problem but it's a problem with batteries. A load test is where you put a resistive carbon pile across the battery and measure terminal voltage while pumping out a couple hundred amps. If the voltage falls fast and more than a couple of volts you are sulphated up which is easy to accomplish when using a deep cycle battery for engine starting....which you said you don't. In that case there is less surface area as plates are thicker so it's easier to coat them and reduce current capacity. Most service facilities have load testers that test terminal voltage with starting current amperage applied. I have one I bought from Harbor Freight years ago, about 50 bucks. Works great. Just clamp it on, get a voltage reading, turn the knob to decrease the resistance of the pile till you get to 200 amps (my number) and check the voltage. I like to have at least 11v of terminal voltage on a fully charged, stabilized battery at 200 amps to consider it good. Get the data and get the pile off the battery as it gets hot quick.

I'm not a battery designer, producer, nor seller. Just what I do with mine and it works for me.
 

savetexomabeaches

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jul 4, 2013
Messages
420
I pour epsom salt in my old ones.. shake them around.. sometimes it works, sometimes not.. mostly not.. they normally just turn into shop batteries.. Also, 10 amp them full, then hook up a light and drain them down, recharge, drain, recharge, drain
 

dingbat

Supreme Mariner
Joined
Nov 20, 2001
Messages
15,414
Do yourself a favor, buy two new batteries. No magic potent to revitalize a dead battery

The worst thing you can do to a deep cycle is to not use them much, then let them sit discharged. Does it every time.
 

porscheguy

Chief Petty Officer
Joined
Jan 17, 2013
Messages
441
If the deep cycle is from a reputable brand sold by a reputable retailer, you should still have some warranty left on it. Swap for a brand new battery with minimal cash outlay. Why take the chance or even bother with trying to recondition a dead battery? I?m sure you?ve been stuck with a dead car battery. It sucks a lot worse on a boat. I use AGM car batteries from advance auto. I think the deep cycle thing is marketing hype they?ve been pushing for years. The auto parts store AGM batteries produce a lot of amperage, can hold a charge for months, the stores sell a lot of them so they?re always fresh when you buy them. Rarely will you find them more than 2-3 months old. Most importantly, they have great warranty coverage. Usually 3 years before they?re pro rated. If you?re 500 miles from the store where you bought it, they can look up your purchase transaction and warranty it out, or they?ll just look at the date sticker and do it.
 

crazy charlie

Vice Admiral
Joined
May 22, 2003
Messages
5,352
Do yourself a favor, buy two new batteries. No magic potent to revitalize a dead battery.
There WAS......Long time ago but I had a stone dead battery in my car some years ago .With a charger on the battery and in the "boost" mode,not a click.Someone recommended some snake oil product called Gamma 2.A battery additive.I put it in each cell and left the charger on overnight and the next day to my shock it started right up.I should have bought a bunch of that stuff.Havnt seen it in many many moons but it DID work.Supposedly cleaned the surface of the lead cells and renewed the inside.
 

ab59

Ensign
Joined
May 10, 2017
Messages
979
I agree with the Epsom salts. I have a 1974 Sears 16ss garden tractor that has a battery slow drain. It sat to long that I could not charge it . After some research on the salts I thought , why not try it , the battery is gone anyway and if it doesn't work I would have to buy a new one anyway. I went and bought a plastic squeeze bottle , put about one ounce of Epson salts in it with some hot water to help dissolve it and put about an ounce in each cell then charged the battery again overnight. The battery took a full charge .
That was TWO YEARS AGO and the battery is still just as strong today as it was at first.
I also did the same to my wife's Rav 4 battery when it would no longer take a charge and it restored that one as well.
Do what you will but for my money I will keep using the Salts.
This of coarse won't work on a sealed battery and I would never recommend that someone try to tear one open to attempt repair.
 
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