Dead Batteries After 8 Months? Surely Not!

[Maine Sail]

Originally Posted by stevensuf

but the batteries were also periodicaly desulphated using a sterling desulphator.

Considering I have had one of those on test for over six months and there have been ZERO measurable changes in the batteries performance please do not count on "desulfators" to do any such thing.

Both myself and BTrayfors have rather exhaustively tested "desulfators" using industry standard analyzers to measure any changes in battery condition. Neither of us have been able to discern any improvement in battery condition or any level of "desulfation" that results in any sort of improvement.

Contrast these devices with a simple two or four hour equalization where I do and can measure improvements in as little as 2 hours. I have one "deulfator" (same as yours) that has been on the battery now for over 6 months. In that six months zero improvement or change in either MCA, CCA or capacity as tested with a Midtronics analyzer, Argus analyzer and a 20 hour capacity test.. The sister battery that came out of the same "paralleled" bank went through three equalization cycles and had a 130 CCA improvement... 6 hours and 130 CCA improvement vs. 6 months and zero measurable improvement....

Funny that every desulfator I have purchased and tested has a company behind it that has not used any sort of test equipment or A/B analysis to measure changes in actual batteries. Many of them come out of China and are re-branded by "reputable" companies so people think they are getting quality gear.. Unless folks like Bill & I, who have quite expensive analyzers, actually do some physical testing owners never know the difference and the placebo effect compounded with the lightness of the wallet makes them think they are working.

I've been looking for a desulphator that actually works.. As of yet I've found no such beast.. Bill and I have not been able to find one that does anything but make your wallet lighter.....

Trust me I would MUCH rather a simple gizmo that desulfates batteries as opposed to a vicious equalization cycle. Until I see verifiable test results that show measurable improvements I am going to have to remain in the "they are snake oil" camp..

[stevensuf]

I'm sure I have seen test evidence that high voltage spikes does desulphate batteries, perhaps the ones being sold are rubbish.

It should be easy to build one, a 555 timer with a small power transistor on the output, linked to a small coil, with a rectifier , pulse high frequency square waves through the coil, rectify the back emf pulses to get very high frequency high voltage pulses and dump the output into the battery, though make sure it is not connected to anything else at the time.

[btrayfors]

Originally Posted by stevensuf

I'm sure I have seen test evidence that high voltage spikes does desulphate batteries, perhaps the ones being sold are rubbish.

It should be easy to build one, a 555 timer with a small power transistor on the output, linked to a small coil, with a rectifier , pulse high frequency square waves through the coil, rectify the back emf pulses to get very high frequency high voltage pulses and dump the output into the battery, though make sure it is not connected to anything else at the time.

stevensuf,

There is a whole cult which has grown up around the "desulfation" issue. Lots of circuits posted on the Internet and shared in the groups building homemade devices. Lots of testimonials from this group and others, claiming all kinds of great results.

Problem is, wherever the commercially-produced "desulfators" have been rigorously tested using laboratory equipment -- including a series of tests by a nationally recognized laboratory -- the claimed benefits have not been observed.

In my own testing of ten such devices from several manufacturers over an 18-month period, using a protocol established by three professional marine electricians, we found no evidence of benefits from these devices.

Using oscilloscopes and spectrum analyzers we did find that the devices were all different, one from the other, in terms of their output signal. There were wide variations in amplitude, frequency, duration, rise and fall times, and other such parameters. Since the supposed mode of action was to hit the battery plates with a signal resonant with the PbSO4 crystals, we wondered how they could all work with such different outputs?

In the end, we concluded that in the main these devices DO NOTHING in terms of measurable improvements to battery condition or battery life.

By contrast, a single equalization treatment (i.e., 15.5-16.5VDC for several hours) showed a marked, measurable improvement in battery capacity....and this in batteries which had been under the desulfator treatments for over a year without any improvement.

Still, I'm sure there are folks who will continue to believe in the supposed benefits of desulfators, including one experimental "cult" guy who built a super high power desulfator and complained that whenever he turned it on his TV went bonkers :-)

Bill

[stevensuf]

Bill,

I don't know if you have ever heard of the adams motor? Supposedly a demonstrated free energy device, which when debunked, was debunked by the claim that the high voltage back emfs were desulphating the batteries and this was where the supposed free energy came from, it was from this "motor" that the desulphator idea came from.

[levm]

I had similar problem and the culprit turned out to be the battery cut out switch which had a bad connection. if you have such swiches check them out. Also recommend to chech all other batteries connections.