Rejuvenate a "dead" battery

[Wallythacker]

There's a lot of info out there about what constitutes a dead battery, can they be brought back to life, will they last and so on.

A few years back I bought a device to desulphate lead acid, likely gel cells and AGM styles will respond too. It was cheap, I think $19 or so at the time.

https://www.amazon.ca/Orange-Battery...08&sr=8-5&th=1

I used it a couple of times and didn't see any improvement. So I parked it in a corner of my toolbox. Fast forward to last week or so. I "rediscovered" it and thought what can it hurt? I have two powersport batteries, both for my 400 Suzuki Burgmans. One is AGM tech, the other doesn't state but it's likely just a cheap SLA. Both are 130 CCA AFAIK.

Neither battery held a charge for any length of time. Perhaps a week-1o days at best at 70F. After several cycles using the gadget both batteries responded nicely. The AGM, many years of age, maybe 8 years old? I forget, went from 78 CCA with overall health of 55% to 115 CCA and overall health to 81% It would not charge higher than 12.9v before to 13.6v now. It also seems to hold the charge.

The SLA wasn't as major a jump but it's, IIRC, close to 11 years old. It went from 122 CCA to 130 CCA and overall SOH from 68% to 78% It also now charges to 13.6v from just under 12v.

The biggest improvement, it's still being worked on, is a deep cycle RV/Marine battery. It's gone from 0.2v to 9.6v , CCA from 5! to 165, SOH, I forget the start value but it's now @ 15% I suspect it's going to need a lot of cycles but it's only costing me time so far and this battery cost well over $250 when new and it only saw 2-3 years of service before my Dad died and it was an orphan among his stuff.

I was a bit skeptical when I started but the concept was solid enough, it's been proven in other fields I just wasn't sure how well a $20 unit could do the job.

[Fummins]

I had a big deep cycle battery in a man-lift explode a while ago.
Boiling battery(just the gas in the air)+spark = big boom

[Wallythacker]

I had a big deep cycle battery in a man-lift explode a while ago.
Boiling battery(just the gas in the air)+spark = big boom

That's a good point, you don't need a huge battery under an intense charge to have a bomb on your hands, but this tool? Another level, I couldn't, I just couldn't watch this guy detonate himself on utube. Let's put a device with a sparking commutator, ie. the fan in the welder, right beside and as close to the hydrogen production as we can get!!!

No, when I realized what this knucklehead was about to do it was time to stop watching. Ugh. Darwin candidate except he probably has grown kids already, too late to remove them from the gene pool. I didn't see any disclaimers but like I stated, I tuned out quickly.

[Wallythacker]

I'm convinced these gizmos work, even on ancient batteries. Both of my powersport batteries are reporting nearly 95% HEALTH and 100% charge with full 130 CCA.

Even better my marine battery is now like new, back to 13.3v, 775 CCA and health of 88%. A few more cycles and it should be nearly like new. My used 27 behaves like brand new now. I should pull the 35 from my 2014 Mirage and see if it can come back to life. Knowing my luck, it will probably be fine and then I have a spare 27 with nothing to use it on. Oh well, better having extra batteries than not enough.

I ordered the 4A version and I'm giving my 2A to my neighbor, he's helped me out of some jams.

[ken2400]

Please keep us posted. I am come to the conclusion if one can catch a battery before it gets to used up you might be able to keep it a bit longer. Which means it needs to be tested from time to time and topped off once in awhile. Good luck with the batteries.

[foama]

When I repaced the stock battery with a similar after-market product, the bill came to €40.- (about US $ 40) for battery including freight...

[Wallythacker]

When I repaced the stock battery with a similar after-market product, the bill came to €40.- (about US $ 40) for battery including freight...

Wow. what brand and what ratings, CCA, reserve, etc

[foama]

Wow. what brand and what ratings, CCA, reserve, etc

The price went up to €54.17 ( US $60.-) since, but here is the offer and its data sheet:

https://www.autobatterienbilliger.de...sic-B63-EN.pdf

https://www.autobatterienbilliger.de...h-nassbatterie

[Mark]

The price went up to €54.17 ( US $60.-) since, but here is the offer and its data sheet:

https://www.autobatterienbilliger.de...sic-B63-EN.pdf

https://www.autobatterienbilliger.de...h-nassbatterie

Your batteries seem quite affordable. I still think of car batteries being a $50-60 item, but that hasn't been the case for quite some time here.

I used to buy most of my vehicle batteries (or help others replace their vehicle batteries) at Auto Zone. Their Duralast batteries were competitively priced, and they were really good about replacing them for you in their parking lot. Since you got a credit for your exchange, it was just a nice way to do it.

Last time I bought a Duralast battery for my Subaru Forester (which takes the same group 35 size as the Mirage), I thought spending over $100 for a mid-grade battery was getting expensive. Like a bag of Doritos (some may get that), a good grade battery is easily twice that at Auto Zone now.

Just looking at what is in stock (group 35 size only) at my local Auto Zone -

Duralast Platinum (3-year warranty) = $230
Duralast Gold (3-year warranty) = $210
Duralast (2-year warranty) = $180

Some others they keep in stock -

Optima AGM = $290
Valucraft (1-year warranty) = $110
Econocraft (3-month) = $80 (3-month warranty does display much confidence in one's product.)

Auto Zone is no longer the place to shop for batteries in my opinion.

Local Farm & Fleet -

Platinum Battery (7-year warranty, 3-year free replacement, 3-year emergency jump start) = $130 sale price
Gold (6-year warranty, 2-year free replacement) = $115
Titanium AGM (8-year warranty, 3-year free replacement, 3-year emergency jump start) = $220

Walmart -

EverStart Maxx (3-year free replacement warranty) = $120
EverStart Plus (2-year free replacement warranty) = $100
EverStart Value (1-year free replacement warranty) = $60

After watching the Project Farm battery tests, I wouldn't pay extra at Auto Zone & expect something better. Farm & Fleet would be an extra 20 mile drive (compared to my nearest Auto Zone) for me, but F & F's batteries seem like a much better value. These F & F stores in my area have a decent auto shop (multiple bays) that will also do tires, alignments, brakes, shocks, small engine/lawn mower reparirs, etc...

I would go to Walmart these days before Auto Zone for a car battery now, too.

I didn't list CCA, because I could care less about that. The battery has to start a wimpy little Mirage.

I just did some shopping from home, because it's snowing. Nothing better to do, and my battery is getting up there in age. My concern is the quality of today's batteries. I don't remember having to replace a vehicle battery more than once. Even when I drove my 1990 Ford Festiva for 14 years, I replaced the factory battery with an Interstate battery once.

[Fummins]

The price went up to €54.17 ( US $60.-) since, but here is the offer and its data sheet:

https://www.autobatterienbilliger.de...sic-B63-EN.pdf

https://www.autobatterienbilliger.de...h-nassbatterie

I have a relative who's mother in law lives in Germany and happens to be coming out this way for a visit soon. I'll see if they can ask her to smuggle me in a suitcase or sea can of those cheap 35 group batteries to resell for a profit. Retail for the lower cca(570) 35 group battery where I'm at is $129. Plus a refundable core charge of some kind.