How does a NOCO battery charger "desulfate" the battery?

[sixdogs]

Thank you for all the replies. So, it looks like I just hook up my battery to charge it and the desulfate action automatically happens?

 

[mllud]

If your battery is completely dead I hook up jumper cables and hook it to a running truck for a few minutes.
Some newer chargers will give a Bad Battery light if there is 0 voltage.

I recently saved three battery's with the desulfate mode that I thought they were dead forever.
I figure my new $300 battery charger has paid itself off. It works

 

[sixdogs]

If your battery is completely dead I hook up jumper cables and hook it to a running truck for a few minutes.
Some newer chargers will give a Bad Battery light if there is 0 voltage.

I recently saved three battery's with the desulfate mode that I thought they were dead forever.
I figure my new $300 battery charger has paid itself off. It works

I know guys that have done that. I've learned to charge batteries late winter and spring and whenever they don't get used much to keep a charge up. It's not uncommon that I have a battery go 10 or more years when I use my NOCO chargers.

 

[2515R Dude]

NOCO has a force charge mode. It will charge even if the battery is 0%. You just need to press the button for 6 seconds to enter this mode.

 

[mllud]

NOCO has a force charge mode. It will charge even if the battery is 0%. You just need to press the button for 6 seconds to enter this mode.

I'll see if holding that button down for six seconds for a dead battery.
I do need to maintain my battery's better.
They don't like setting for long periods. Especially with ecm's that draw juice slowly.
Parisitic draw.

 

[JRH02]

This whole thing about desulfating a flooded lead acid battery has always intrigued me. Surely you have removed the caps of and old FLA battery and seen the difference between it and a fresh, new one. I am on the fence as to whether a sulfated battery can be restored or not, regardless of claims. For the record I have a bunch of BatteryMinder maintenance chargers and use them regularly on EVERYTHING.

One thing that can be truthfully stated is that the best way to avoid sulfation and to get maximum life is to keep the FLA battery fully charged without overcharging it AND to USE it - as in a hefty load to no more than 50% SOC and a hefty recharge. Especially with deep cycle batteries. This is the best way to avoid sulfation in the first place. But ya know what? A FLA battery can not last forever even under the closest to perfect conditions. It has been designed as best as possible within economies but the battery still has a defined number of cycles. Period.

Lastly, your old battery is tired and won't hold up for use and fails a load test. It's been on a charger for days and days and ya still can't get the specific gravity up? Maybe there's a bunch of build up on the bottom and 1+ failed cells? It must be sulfated or shorted internally, right? Has anybody broke an old battery open to verify any of the above? I haven't. I haven't heard of anyone doing that either. Have you?

 

[bdhsfz6]

Lastly, your old battery is tired and won't hold up for use and fails a load test. It's been on a charger for days and days and ya still can't get the specific gravity up? Maybe there's a bunch of build up on the bottom and 1+ failed cells? It must be sulfated or shorted internally, right? Has anybody broke an old battery open to verify any of the above? I haven't. I haven't heard of anyone doing that either. Have you?

Reminds me of something I did many years back in my model building years. I had several small 6V lead acid batteries that I used in my model RC boats. They were used infrequently and after only 2 years, got to the point where they would no longer hold a charge. The battery cases were made of clear plastic and I could see white stuff covering the plates and black residue on the bottom. I didn't have much money back then and they cost too much for me to replace.

Being young and not knowing any better, I figured I could just clean them. I removed the cell caps, turned the batteries upside down in a pan and let the electrolyte drain overnight. I remember being surprised at all the crud that came out. I could still see the white coating on the plates though, so I got out the family Waterpik. I managed to get the nozzle through the fill hole and down between the plates of each cell. It took a little time but I managed to loosen and flush out most of, what I later found out was sulfation.

I took the batteries down to a local service station and for less than a buck, had them refilled with fresh electrolyte. The cleaning process actually worked! The batteries regained about 80% of their original capacity. I used this idea three more times and got more than 12 years of useful life out of them.

I don't think this would be practical with larger batteries though. It was the clear plastic which let me see what I was doing that made the process work.

 

[John_Mc]

When a battery is too far gone, there is just no recovering it. I have recovered several batteries (one of my own, two for friends) using the BatteryMINDer chargers when an ordinary, charger without the desulfation feature would not.

@JRH02 is absolutely correct: the best thing for a battery is to avoid sulfation forming in the first place. You can do their by keeping it fully charged. When the battery is discharged, even partially, the sooner to charge it back up, the better. (So when you bring that dump trailer with the deep cycle battery home after dumping a few loads, hook it right up to a good charger. Don't let it sit for a few days in that partially discharged state.)

 

[garry1p]

I had a fairly new battery that sat in a seldom used pickup for several years, at some point it went dead, wouldn't start the truck and tested at 6.2 V.

My high dollar, state of the art hi frequency battery charge would start at 15.5 volt charge and within a few minuets turn red go to 0 volts and indicated bad battery.

I found my 1970 6 amp Sears charger, connected it overnight, the battery was fully charged next day.
Moved the battery to the tractor and it has worked just fine for over 2 years. The Sears charger has a 3 pound transformer, no smart electronics and is going to put out 14.3 volts whether the battery likes it or not. The old school charger served me well for over 35 years and and probably cost less than $50.

 

[mllud]

I don't have any idea how much more use that I'll get from the three batteries that the disulfate mode recovered on my charger. It's a bonus right now. I could have given them better lifetime maintenance.
I see using the disulfate mode as part of regular maintenance. A well-maintained battery builds up sulfates on the plates. I have had daily driver trucks that the battery was never ran low or dead that were full of built-up sulfate.

When I bought the new charger with disulfate mode I considered it was it used as part of a regular maintenance, not just to fix bad batteries.

It just so happens that I had three batteries that were dead from sitting and thought I would see what happen. It brought them back into use for now.
I have seen what is in the bottom of old batteries. My uncle melted down old batteries into fishing weights by cutting them open. Sometimes the bottom of the plates were stuck in the sulfate that had flaked off.
I think I remember being told that over the road trucks had the same sulfate buildup from running 24-7.
I don't think it's only an issue of poor maintenance. Although. I Am guilty of battery neglect. I'm old, years ago batteries were more durable. Now. Batteries are cheap but expensive and need TLC.

 

[ArlyA]

Our riding lawnmower battery (mower now gone) would fail every 3-+ or so years. We got a Schumacher charger with desulfate built into it and its last battery lasted until we sold the mower years later, so I'd say it seems to work. Ironically, we got an battery powered riding mower after that.

 

[Sid Post]

Every battery charger desulfates. It is how the acid is restored. Some have a pulse charging cycle that supposedly knocks off hard sulfation from the plates. Most independent studies have shown little benefit to such modes. Hard sulfation does not readily recombine and just ends up as dregs at the bottom of the battery.

Depends on the batteries and the charger. A few kilowatts of solar panels on a 48V storage bank of large lead acid batteries that were maintained with water and acid as needed during their life ran 8 years of high duty cycle off-grid before storage capacity started falling.

We are talking about a lot higher currents than 1, 2 or, 4amps though. The acid would actually 'boil' when desulfating. Testing demonstrated that it actually worked well.

 

[JRH02]

Yup, that 'boiling' or gassing, under the control of a good temperature compensated charger, is necessary AND NEEDED for a flooded lead battery. Both for a discharge and for the recharge as best as possible. But I have changed with the times and use lithium blocks now (LFP04), but not in motorized equipment due to temperature extremes. Life is much easier now.

 

[John_Mc]

Depends on the batteries and the charger. A few kilowatts of solar panels on a 48V storage bank of large lead acid batteries that were maintained with water and acid as needed during their life ran 8 years of high duty cycle off-grid before storage capacity started falling.

We are talking about a lot higher currents than 1, 2 or, 4amps though. The acid would actually 'boil' when desulfating. Testing demonstrated that it actually worked well.

That actually sounds more like an equalization charge than a desulfating cycle.

 

[Paul_M]

Every battery charger desulfates. It is how the acid is restored. Some have a pulse charging cycle that supposedly knocks off hard sulfation from the plates. Most independent studies have shown little benefit to such modes. Hard sulfation does not readily recombine and just ends up as dregs at the bottom of the battery.

Most of the reviews I’ve seen find that desulfators, even cheap ones, do work, at least some of the time. Here’s a typical example:

It’s true that the sulfates flake off and end up at the bottom of the battery, but this does expose more of the plate to the acid. However, one consequence of the process is that batteries with more room below the plates Have a better chance of successful desulfation. I’ve had the same starting batteries in my bulldozer for over 14 years now, thanks to this technology. I should add that sometimes it can take a month for a small desulfator to restore a badly sulfated battery.

 

[MattB4]

Most of the reviews I’ve seen find that desulfators, even cheap ones, do work, at least some of the time. Here’s a typical example:

It’s true that the sulfates flake off and end up at the bottom of the battery, but this does expose more of the plate to the acid. However, one consequence of the process is that batteries with more room below the plates Have a better chance of successful desulfation. I’ve had the same starting batteries in my bulldozer for over 14 years now, thanks to this technology. I should add that sometimes it can take a month for a small desulfator to restore a badly sulfated battery.

Internet reviews are about as reliable as internet Polls. The battery acid gets depleted as sulfation dregs that ends up on the bottom occurs. More lead exposed would be good otherwise. Lead acid batteries can last surprisingly long in some instances and especially if they are properly cared for with routine charging to full and equalization charges.

Yes industrial batteries have more room below the plates that allows for dreg buildup that without which leads to shorted plates.

 

[1Mech]

I have two old batteries I removed from dead cars, one had been sitting dead for about five years, the other was in my van and died in use. I put both of them on a desulfating charger for a couple of cycles and now, I am using one of them in my daily driver, seems pretty reliable battery now, which was once dead. The other one is sitting in the garage, waiting for a need.

 

[jigs_n_fixtures]

The de-sulfation works by "pulsing" the electrolyte at a frequency to destroy, the sulfate crystals. I'm not sure that the sulfate wouldn't eventually break down the sulfate crystals completely. They would probably break loose from the plates first, but even laying on the bottom of the battery, the crystals should eventually break down completely.

 

[mllud]

I needed a new battery for my Ford 3550 backhoe.

I thought I would try get off to a fresh start with my new battery and bought a 12-volt solar battery maintainer.
Time will tell how long the battery will last.

This is a tractor that sits a while. between use. I wish I could keep it under roof but don't have room. It also is parked a distance from electric power.
I don't know how long the solar maintainer/ charger will last. My first one..

Solar charger/maintainer

New battery
Heavey duty cable ends

I would have done all new cables, but they look good accept the ends that a hammer mechanic beat to hell, he couldn't find a half inch wrench and a screwdriver to spread the connector.
Hopefully my battery won't get crusty battery guts.

The old girl runs and work like a champ, needs some paint
Used it yesterday.

 

[Too many Kubotas]

I needed a new battery for my Ford 3550 backhoe.

I thought I would try get off to a fresh start with my new battery and bought a 12-volt solar battery maintainer.
Time will tell how long the battery will last.

This is a tractor that sits a while. between use. I wish I could keep it under roof but don't have room. It also is parked a distance from electric power.
I don't know how long the solar maintainer/ charger will last. My first one..

I've had very good luck with Sun Energise solar chargers in 10 and 15 Watt versions.

At this point there's at least seven of them doing their thing. A couple also paired with PulseTech desulfators.