Does An Electronic De-Sulfator Really Repair A Battery?? See Real Results

I found four 12 volt, lead acid batteries with four different problems. I tried to repair them with an auto battery desulfator. Two worked great and two did not work at all! Including a riding lawn mower tractor battery. Watch this video to see if this tool is right for you.

Steve is testing an electronic battery de-sulfator to see if it will rejuvenate, restore and repair lead acid batteries that don't work anymore and make them work again.

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[StevesSmallEngineSaloon]

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[EngDrewman]

I have some experience with Pb batteries, and here's my take:
Batt #1: Sealed batteries still vent gasses, and thus they will eventually run out of water. I have found that a sealed battery that holds a high voltage but has high internal resistance is dried out. If there's a way you could pry or cut the vent caps off to add a little water, it may come back to life.
Batt #2: It has multiple short circuited cells. I have never had any luck reviving a battery in this condition.
Batts #3&4: Minor shorts or excessive sulfation, which yes the desulfator can fix.

My #1 tip for reviving old batteries and significantly prolonging the life of good ones: Periodically remove them from whatever equipment they're installed in, fully charge them with a normal charger, then connect them to a float charger and let them sit on the float charger for a few days. Don't forget to keep them clean too, as the crud that builds up by the vents of flooded cell batteries can be conductive and result in a surface discharge.

[andhewonders]

I met an old man at a dump in Kalbar, I worked there, he used to get the failed car batteries, if the sides of the battery weren't bulging from plate expansion, he'd pour all of the acid into a bucket, he'd then fill each cell with water, then he'd drop a Denture cleaning tablet into each cell, he'd leave it over night, then tip the water out, give each cell a gentle rinse out with a hose, then put the old acid back in, and charge it up, he ran a backyard business doing that... That's another way to remove sulfation from a battery.

[Lulanda]

So glad to see some videos from Steve that are not paid promotions. This is the content that the people want.

[imperativeemarketing]

I'm dealing with several batteries that havn't responded the way I expected them to. I was a professional mechanic for 20 years, Smog Test and Repair mechanic licensed by the State of California and I successfully rebuilt about 20 or 30 automatic transmissions. I watched several youtube videos about De-Sulfator and Pulse Repair Trickle chargers and so far this one has the best information. I appreciate your brain work here. Thanks

[nealbowser]

Steve, we tried desulfators at the airport on airplane batteries, and with similar results. The thought of resurrecting a very expensive airplane battery was a VERY attractive option that we wanted to explore. We also called the manufacturer (Gill) for more insight, and the discussion was well worth the time. Here’s what we learned.

Batteries sulfate from a combination of two things. If the battery charge decreases to a certain point, sulfur will form on the lead plates in the battery, interfering with the reaction between the sulfuric acid and the plates. The longer the low-charge status, the more sulfate is formed. Making matters worse, the sulfate will harden over time, making dedsulfating difficult if not impossible.

If you can catch a battery before the sulfate hardens, you have an excellent chance of reversing the chemical reaction and put the sulfur back into solution. If you don’t, the hard sulfur can flake off of the plates and fall to the bottom of the battery, then short the plates. Also, if you “super-charge” the battery, you run the risk of warping the lead plates.

One of the best things that you can do is remove the battery when its not going to be used for awhile and bring it in the house. Put the desulfator on the thing every once in awhile to keep the battery charged. “Exercise” the battery by putting it through a charge/discharge cycle. BTW, the desulfator puts out a slow charge, and at a frequency that causes the sulfur to dissolve.

That’s it! My airplane battery is in my workroom now attached to the desulfator, and will swap places with my lawnmower battery shortly. Oddly, they’re the same exact size, but the airplane battery costs $400 more. Both are 12v, but the airplane battery can be inverted (-It has little lead weights inside the caps that will seal the breather vent hole). The temptation to use a lawnmower battery in the airplane is tempting, but the penalty that the FAA would impose keeps us honest.

[randomchopsuey]

Thank you for investing the time to do this Steve!! Cheers!!

[joeblogs]

Steve i watch you religiously ..i have been a car mechanic for 30 years and love small engines too ...i have learned many tips and tricks from you ! THANK YOU MY BROTHER from all the way from Cyprus. all the VERY BEST to you and your family .

[jonhunt]

When I worked at the salvage yard, I used to take batteries from the pile and test them. If they had a decent voltage 8+, I’d put them on a ‘boost to start’ changer we had there that had a 200 amp boost setting. Boils or froths the acid at 200 amp, do that for 2-3 minutes, then trickle at 2 amps overnight and next day, good battery. Get another year or two out of them.

[bobmcl]

Excellent video Steve. I always wondered about these, as well as chargers that claim to have a "recondition" setting. I am glad that you took so much effort to demonstrate that they can work, if the battery has the appropriate problem.

[ChiefLink]

I bought an automatic battery charger for my automotive job some time ago. It actually includes a desulfating cycle after reaching a certain charge level. There were a couple of times that another tech tried a regular old school battery charger and the battery still failed either by dying quickly or just not holding a charge. I took the vehicles and I left them on the charger for several hours without disturbing them and they came back and worked flawlessly! No parasitic drain from the vehicle, just a weak battery that needed help. I used that same charger on other batteries I eventually replaced, since some are beyond repair. I am impressed by your results showing similarities with a much cheaper tool! Cheers!

[allanegan]

FIND a better battery vid on this SPECIFIC you. FULL of honest & well presented gold nuggets. Well done.

[bkanegson]

Been using BatteryMINDer maintainers/ desulfators for more than two decades. Many lead acid and AGM batteries. Most of my batteries that idle (boat, side by side 4 x 4, trailer caddy) etc. last up to a decade, sometimes more, in the Fl heat. You're right. They can't save every battery, but desulfators do work more than enough to pay for themselves. Far superior to standard trickle chargers that cost the same or more. Batteries with normally expected 5 yr max life, stored on working desulfating chargers, remain reliable for at least double that.

[Niterider]

Never knew something like this even existed. This is a game changer, bc some of these batteries ain't cheap. Steve you are the man sir!

[winterzwolf]

One of the best and most thorough desulfator videos I've seen. Good Job. Based on your results, it seems the first two had individual cells damaged beyond the point of repair. The latter 2 had degraded cells, but still recoverable. VERY good information, thank you again.

[QuintTheSharker]

He’s like the cool uncle I take my broken machines to. Then he gives me a beer.

[charlesyurek]

Steve's saloon is a riot
Fun to watch and VERY informative.
Have used some of his fixes and what a difference they make.
Have shared a few things with friends and the are amazed

[boboala]

Right on, North Route! You're one of my favorite characters in my YT world - certainly #1 in the outdoors power tool fix/care/adjust/safety knowledge base! I'm down here in 'Righthand' Missouri (up in the old Ozarks mountains) where I've been watching for more than a few years & learning SO much useful info from your channel in an entertaining, yet frank, well-paced format you've created! A cognoscenti working man hoot! And then there's the pleasant tease of the brew variety AND the repair time estimate per job related in units of brew! I keep trying to get my friends/neighbors to check you out, but they have such short attention spans, are jealous of me because I learned to read & cipher, and/or they already know as much or more than you(!) When I used to have a power tool issue I fell for the neighborly advice 'Oh, you should let my cousin Shane fix your chainsaw...he can fix about anything!' Then a week later I get it back worse off broke - terminally (thinking 'how or why the F did this shear off!?' And didn't Shane drop out of school in 8th grade and he's been actin' flitchy since he got out of his 120 day shock last month!) So then, I just offer it back to them to keep it. Thanks for trying, but now only I break my own S^%$(!) Scrapyard & cigarette time, boys! A clever scam in reality. Oh, and speaking of that, here come a couple dudes down the river in a canoe - I gotta go get my bow and banjo reel quick-like! Bob out!

[mikeone]

We love what you're teaching us folks. I know how to keep a mower working for many years but, I don't know everything so, I'm always watching my friend! Knoxville Tn

[hikerJohn]

If you keep the charger on that first battery with the desulfator it should work but it might take a week or three. You can use the desulfator and the charger at the same time, just use it at 2-5 amps and make sure it does not boil dry. You can pop the top off the battery to get access to the water caps. I just bought one of these because my diesel truck 800 amp batteries (two of them) cost $160.00 each and they get sulfated every 4 years. I'm on my third set and I want to see if I can get an extra 3-4 years out of them. All these things do is sends a square wave AC current through the battery at a frequency that will break up and dissolve the sulfur crystals. Sulfur crystals (like all crystals) will break at certain frequencies particular to that element . . . It's just physics. You can buy a tester that does not put a draw on the batteries but checks for sulfation with AC current. My 800 amp batteries were testing at closer to 900 amps when new but after giving them an equalization charge last week they are now testing at 1099 amps. Equalization charging causes them to boil and lose water but these desulfators dont do that. And they are cheep.