The most effective way to restore your battery

Greetings, friends. Today I will tell you about the most effective way to restore the capacity of lead-acid batteries.
Even during the most correct use, the battery loses its capacity every day. And at one point, its charge is not enough to start the car engine. This example worsens with the arrival of cold weather.
The most effective way to restore your battery

Naturally, the car enthusiast puts the battery on charge and after some time sees that the battery is not charging, and the charging voltage is as normal - 14.4-14.7 V or higher (12.6 without a charger).
The most effective way to restore your battery

Then, if there is a load fork, it is checked and it turns out that under load the voltage drops significantly. Everything points to a loss of battery capacity. The reason for this is sulfation of the plates.
The most effective way to restore your battery

Usually, with proper use, this occurs after about 5 years. This is a very good indicator. And here there is a solution - buy a new battery. But, if you want to save money (since batteries are not cheap now), and extend the life of the battery for another couple of years, then it is necessary to carry out its maintenance.And not a simple one, but a special one that can revive the battery.

What batteries can be restored?


This method is suitable for batteries that have not been subject to serious current or mechanical damage during their operation. And they became unusable as a result of temporary, natural sulfation.
This method is not suitable for batteries that have internal shedding of plates, internal shorting of cans, swelling or other mechanical damage.
The method is excellent for desulfating plates and is popularly called the battery “reversal” method.
I will divide the battery recovery into three stages.

Battery recovery process


Stage one: preparation


The first thing that is not necessary, but you need to do it, is to clean the surface of the battery from any dirt. Wash the entire surface with detergent.
Next, visually verify that there is no damage to the case, that there are no swellings or bulges on the sides.
Second, open all the caps of the cans and make sure there is electrolyte. If one of the cans does not have it, then you need to make sure that there are no cracks in the body.
Then, use a flashlight to inspect the plates inside - there should be no shedding. Here you can clearly see sulfation - a white coating on the plates.
The most effective way to restore your battery

If everything is in order, add distilled water to each jar to the level. It would be a good idea to measure the electrolyte density of each compartment.

Stage two: the classic recovery method


Before proceeding to reversing the battery polarity, it is necessary to test the usual recovery method, which has already become a classic.
Step one: charge the battery until it is fully charged at 14.4 V.
The most effective way to restore your battery

Step two: Using a halogen light bulb or other load, we discharge the battery to 10.6 V (the voltage is measured under the same load).
The most effective way to restore your battery

We repeat the cycle of these two steps 3 times and charge the battery to full. We check the capacity with a load fork or starter while the machine is running. If the battery is restored - good - continue operation. If not, or not enough, then move on to the third stage.

Stage three: reversing the battery polarity


This battery restoration method is the most effective of all existing ones. And it revives the battery in almost 90% of cases.
Step one: We hang a load on the battery in the form of a halogen lamp, and discharge the battery to zero. The lamp will go out in about a day (it all depends on the initial capacity of the battery). We leave the battery with the lamp connected for another 2-3 days to completely discharge the remaining residues.
Step two: charging the battery with reverse current. We connect the charger in reverse: plus to minus, and minus to plus. To avoid damaging your charger (or to prevent short circuit protection from tripping), we connect the same halogen lamp in series with the batteries. And charge the battery in reverse polarity. After the voltage has risen to 5-6 volts, the lamp can be removed from the circuit. It is advisable to set the charge current to 5 percent of the battery capacity. That is, if the capacity is 60 ampere-hours, then we set the charge current in the reverse direction to 3 Amperes. At this time, all the jars with electrolyte begin to actively bubble and hiss - this is normal, since the reverse process is taking place.
The most effective way to restore your battery

We charge for about a day, until a voltage of 12-14 V appears. As a result, you have a fully charged battery with a positive output - minus, and a negative output - plus.
The most effective way to restore your battery

Step three: Again we completely discharge the battery with a halogen lamp for a couple of days.Then we charge correctly, plus to plus, minus to minus. We charge fully up to 14.4 V.
This completes all actions.

Result of battery recovery


Usually the result helps to increase the battery capacity to 70-100% of the factory one, of course there are exceptions.
Specifically, in my case, I managed to increase the capacity by 95% - which is an excellent result. The white sulfate coating disappeared from the plates, and they became black, like a new battery. The electrolyte has become more transparent and pure.

Battery recovery video


I recommend that you watch a video where a completely “dead” battery that is about 10 years old is restored.
At first there is a “swing” with a change in the polarity of the power supply, and almost at the very end a full cycle of polarity reversal is already given.
come back
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Comments (23)
  1. Oltaviro Oltaviro
    #1 Oltaviro Oltaviro Guests December 24, 2017 12:13
    7
    Will it ride on gel?
  2. Dimasik
    #2 Dimasik Guests 24 December 2017 14:33
    12
    Let's look again
  3. Sergey
    #3 Sergey Guests December 25, 2017 09:56
    16
    For a gel, this method can completely kill it.There are special chargers for them so that the gel filling does not boil and bubbles do not form, reducing the capacity.
  4. Valery Ratnikov
    #4 Valery Ratnikov Guests January 1, 2018 12:59
    7
    I did this on acid 55a, everything worked out, but then they poured some white granules into the jars and I left the reversed polarity. Akkum was 8 years old, he plowed for another 8 years, then the machine left and the story was lost.
    1. Sagat
      #5 Sagat Guests 22 January 2019 14:08
      7
      Good afternoon!!!
      I don’t understand 8 and another 8 are only 16 years old, I doubt it.
  5. Pavel Skvortsov
    #6 Pavel Skvortsov Guests January 14, 2018 06:00
    7
    helped. I drive a restored one :-)
  6. Novel
    #7 Novel Guests 20 January 2018 19:38
    15
    A waste of time and effort. The result is practically zero.
    1. Nick
      #8 Nick Guests March 13, 2018 09:40
      3
      well, not exactly zero, but about +5 years of operation after such a restoration =)

      I have an Opel Akum 12 years old, I restored it twice, there is enough capacity in any frost, so far there are no problems.
  7. Guest Yuri
    #9 Guest Yuri Guests 20 January 2018 23:43
    50
    Having worked as a battery technician for 15 years, I came to the conclusion that a battery that has worked for 5 years should be erected a monument. From practice: if a battery sits idle for 5 years, then it becomes sulfated. What to do? - hand over to non-ferrous metal! If the battery was in use, the lead grid of positive plates rots and the active mass crumbles. Here, all the recommendations described above are like a poultice for the dead. 50% of cases of failure in the operation of a battery section is a short circuit of the torn part of the positive plate to the negative in the area where the negative plates join into the block. Repair is just opening a section of the battery... But if you are a fan of standing on the highway in bad weather with your hand outstretched, asking for a “light”, this article is suitable for you.By squeezing a couple of pieces of paper onto a new battery, you and your passengers will experience all the delights of the ideomatic genre of Russian conversational etiquette!
    1. AlexPanych
      #10 AlexPanych Guests 22 January 2018 13:14
      9
      Something doesn't add up. My dad and I have never had a single battery in our entire history that lasted less than 5 years. And there were a lot: a Zaporozhets, 2 Muscovites, 3 Ladas, a Ford Tourneo, a Kia Carnival, a Citroen Berlingo. In time it is more than 70 years. The batteries were changed, of course.
      Of course, the statistics are less than those of the battery worker))
      But how we were not included in the statistics is amazing!
    2. Guest MICHAEL
      #11 Guest MICHAEL Guests July 21, 2019 06:02
      2
      I HAVE THREE BATTERIES MY ENTIRE LIFE, - I NEVER HAVE PROBLEMS WITH STARTING... + I USE THESE BATTERIES ON A BOAT WITH AN ELECTRIC MOTOR... HAVE OVER 50 YEARS OF CAR OWNERSHIP. BOAT OWNERSHIP 23 YEARS )))
    3. Alexander Vasiliev
      #12 Alexander Vasiliev Guests 25 September 2019 15:02
      4
      For the sake of scientific research (in 2015), I cut several dozen batteries of different capacities, dead, half-dead, with a cracked can, swollen, and, of course, several completely new ones. If the battery was used carefully (this can be seen from the terminals and its appearance), and was not left discharged, then 99% of the time it can be restored. In all batteries, in addition to sulfation, the positive plates are destroyed. At the same time, negative ones are always as good as new, not counting the sulfate. Naturally, even slightly crumbling plates (crumble from below) can be turned into completely new ones by reversing the polarity. That is, good negatives will become brown positives, and crumbling positives will restore the lead lattice and sponge filler.
      This principle allows you to create an eternal lead-acid battery, but not due to polarity reversal, but due to the fact that it is made collapsible. That is, when the positive platinums begin to deteriorate, they can be pulled out and negative ones from another battery that has become unusable can be inserted. Actually, this is what many people do now, buying up old ones and putting together one new one from two batteries.
      Even in production, both negative and positive platinum are absolutely the same. They are molded in bulk, i.e., they are made into positive ones from negative ones (roughly speaking).

  8. Grandfather
    #13 Grandfather Guests 3 February 2018 19:58
    5
    All this is wonderful! But where can I get a charger WITHOUT reverse polarity protection!???? Apparently, these can ONLY be homemade devices. Or can anyone tell me how to disable (permanently or temporarily) this Protection!!!! That would be great!!!
    1. another grandfather
      #14 another grandfather Guests 19 April 2018 18:23
      0
      elementary protection - connection through a 12 volt 50 watt light bulb, if the charger tolerates a current of 5 amperes, it will do nothing.
    2. Guest Evgeniy
      #15 Guest Evgeniy Guests 6 August 2018 15:13
      3
      Read carefully - the battery must be completely discharged
  9. Stas
    #16 Stas Guests 22 October 2018 17:44
    6
    In a battery that is discharged to zero, the sulfation process begins literally after a couple of hours. – coating of plates with lead sulfate. The deeper the sulfation, the less likely the battery will work at all. So, immediately after the discharge - charging. Preferably with low currents. If you are not going anywhere in the next few days, that’s ideal.
  10. Viktor Fischer
    #17 Viktor Fischer Guests 17 March 2019 14:34
    8
    If the battery is discharged to 0 volts, there is no point in messing with it; the battery capacity will not be restored to its original capacity.