New Battery Maintainers - Desulfation Mode

[H. L. Chauvin]

1. Battery maintainers have been around for decades; some generating enough heat to heat a small office; some sounding loud enough to drown out a baseball announcer on a radio station (2) blocks away; some catching on fire; some exploding; & many top brand battery maintainers only lasting a few months -- absolutely no doubt many of us have either experienced this or heard about this.

2. According to reports on the internet, in the late 1990's "Desulfation" technology came about in which a "few" battery maintainers incorporated a patent whereby desulfation pulses of about 1,000,000 per minute were reported to clean sulfates & double battery life. Many cardinals & bishops of battery religion dogma declared it heresy.

3. FWIW, in risking getting burned at the stake by cardinals & bishops of the Model A religions & the battery maintainer religions, I bought a red SP-1 6/12 Volt 2 Amp Schumacher SP-1 for about $29.00 offered on Amazon.com with a microprocessor "desulfation" mode.

4. I had an old 6 Volt battery that with my old 2A/4A 6/12 V battery charger I could never get it to register up to 6 volts on "either" of my two GE analog volt meters; however, after attaching my new little red SP-1 for 48 hours, this same battery got up to about 6.2 volts & has stayed there for 3 days unattended -- no noise, no excess heat.

5. The internet is full of pros & cons of "personal opinions" reports on battery maintainers with a later developed "desulfation" mode. Also has lab reports.

6. FWIW: Just sharing "one" (1) experience ...... on "one" (1) new battery maintainer ........ on "one" (1) battery. May not work for everyone on every battery.

[Jim/GA]

I have been using battery maintainers that automatically switch into desulfatation mode on all of my old cars for about 15 years now. I have gotten what I consider longer than normal life out of some batteries using them (8 years on a delco battery and 12 years on a walmart battery, for example). It did not seem to make a difference on another battery (3 years on a no-name battery;perhaps it was not made well).

[AlanD]

I'm very interested in this area to the point of almost building a desulfator circuit myself.

H.L. - have you tested this battery on a load yet?

[H. L. Chauvin]

Hi AlanD,

After reading a few internet "expert" comments on battery desulfation, (and even some highly technical pro & con comments on using Epson Salts), it leaves one wondering.

Anyway, the answer to your specific reply #3 question is no; not since this battery came up to over 6V a few days ago.

This battery was a bit sluggish a few years back, (probably while sitting idle while Model A restoration was being conducted), so I set it aside unattended & just got a new battery that is now in my Town Sedan -- then according to the voltmeter, looks like this set aside came back to life.

Years ago in the 1950's I used to hear barroom comments about battery desulfation "shock" treatments .... I guess similar to brain shock treatments for mental patients used extensively back then.

But then some proclaimed the high voltage shocks on batteries could twist or bend the lead plates & make them touch one another thus ruining a battery -- have no idea if the people reporting same had received brain shock treatments or not -- this was in the days when people sat next to a radio instead of a TV & put hog lard on toast bread in lieu of hydrogenated margarine ............... which incidentally "today", is supposed to cause high chlolesterol & guarantee a one way trip in a hearse -- don't even mention eggs -- one day good, next day bad.

Something tells me if you have the ability to build a battery desulfater, you will experiment & be able to shed meaningful light for all of us on this controversial battery maintainer desulfation subject.

[William Kelchner]

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Originally Posted by Jim/TX/GA

I have been using battery maintainers that automatically switch into desulfatation mode on all of my old cars for about 15 years now. I have gotten what I consider longer than normal life out of some batteries using them (8 years on a delco battery and 12 years on a walmart battery, for example). It did not seem to make a difference on another battery (3 years on a no-name battery;perhaps it was not made well).

Ditto - have one 6v on the A and a 12v on my 64 Impala for years. They are on everyday. They have been on so long I can't even remember where I purchased either battery....