Gold & Silver Forum - Battery and Pulse Conditioning Primer

Battery and Pulse Conditioning Primer

Pulse conditioning primer:

If the subject of recovering/restoring/protecting batteries via pulse conditioning is new to you, it is hoped that this cumbersome and lengthy posting will bring you up to speed a bit.

This forum is for beginners and the place to ask the questions and get some answers from some very talented folks around the globe. Your questions can be about batteries, desulfating pulsers, etc...

TERMS:

Electrolyte - A mixture of sulfuric acid (around 25%) and distilled water (around 75%)

Stratified Electrolyte - A battery that has not been brought up into the gassing stage periodically to mix the electrolyte will start to allow the acid to settle into the sediment trap area of a battery.

Cell - An assembly of negative and positive plates held apart by separators

Lead Acid Battery (flooded) - A cell or group of cells internally or externally connected in series, submerged in electrolyte and contained in a plastic case. There is a void at the bottom (sediment trap area) and room over the cells for reserve electrolyte.

Lead Acid Battery (starved electrolyte) - A.K.A. VRLA, Gel, AGM, Glass Mat. Same as above but usually in small UPS batts the positive plate is wrapped in separator material and the cell allowed to sit on the bottom of the case (no sediment trap area).

Engine starter Battery - Available in both forms (flooded or starved electrolyte) with relatively spongy plate material to increase it's surface area and ampacity.

Deep discharge battery - Available in both forms (flooded or starved electrolyte) with hard smooth plate material for longevity.

FAILURE MODES:
As you lug this thing called a lead acid battery around you may get the impression that it is a rugged device that will faithfully perform it's intended function until it goes BAD. That the only cure is to simply replace that awesome beast with a new one.

One can succumb to the false illusion that it is like a big bronze bell, whose singular failure mode is a crack.

Actually the truth of the matter is that it is an extremely delicate device prone to all sorts of ills if it does not have a comfortable environment and provided what it needs. It's a wimp!

There are many different reasons a lead acid battery will fail to perform, but the biggest reason in batteries that are in ACTIVE USE is simply sulfation.

THIS IS A REVERSIBLE PROCESS.

Many other things can go awry in a battery, some contributing to it's eventual early death. In this posting, I'll merely address sulfation as it is the leading cause of reported battery failure.

WHAT IS SULFATION?:
When a battery discharges, lead in the plates combines with sulfuric acid to form lead sulfate crystals. When you recharge the battery, the newly formed crystals will reconstitute into lead (back on the plates) and sulfuric acid (back into the electrolyte). The crystals are like insulators. The more you discharge a battery, the less capacity it has as the crystals begin to cover the plates and deprive plate area contact with the electrolyte.

You can actually see the effects of crystal growth with the naked eye if you shine a flashlight on the plates at night. See that diamond dust like covering??? Those are sulfate crystals!

When they grow thick enough they will appear like a white mossy coating (really bad). What is not apparent is that most of the heavy growths start at the bottom of the cell if your electrolyte is stratified. Batteries that are stored or too deeply discharged and/or alternative energy systems in which the batteries are chronically undercharged fall prey to this malady.

WHY?? Because as the acid content increases near the bottom of the cell it increases the conductivity in that area which makes sulfate crystal formation by deep discharging, self discharging and chronic undercharging easier.

WHY IS THIS A PROBLEM IF RECHARGING RECONSTITUTES THE CRYSTALS?:
In the case of,

--chronically undercharged batts where they are discharged and an incomplete charge is made

--batteries that are discharged too deeply (including batteries that sit and self-discharge)
**Ever leave your headlights on until the battery has flatlined???

the crystals can grow and increase their bonding strength and the voltage needed to break them down.

WHADAWEDONOW?:
If you attempt to simply raise the voltage of the charger, the battery will respond with overheating, warping and destroying internal components and will spit acid at you. It won't like it a bit and will throw a chemical tantrum! :)

On the other foot, relief came in the year 2000, Mr. Alastair Couper designed, tested and released to the planet a device that shook the alternative energy scene. An article in Home Power magazine, entitled "Lead Acid Battery Desulfator" described plans for a home built, simple, yet exotic circuit that could restore/protect expensive batteries and bring them back from the brink of early death by using a fast rising, high voltage pulse.

This circuit is conservatively estimated to having been built in the tens of thousands by enthusiasts planet wide. It now IS the standard by which other pulsers can be measured. We hear of many people spreading the word in their own little websites and it is not uncommon to see folks that have restored batteries and are ecstatic with their pulser to begin making them for friends and relatives as gifts.

As long as people are throwing out restorable batteries, you may never need buy another battery in your lifetime.

This ingenious circuit provides the high voltage needed to breakdown those stubborn, power robbing crystals. As this is not a continuous high voltage it sort of works like a pickpocket. The battery doesn't even know it is being hit by high voltage. No excess heat is generated and the crystals just start to slowly disappear. Sort of like your bank balance the closer you get to payday. :)

Part of the circuits secret of success is that the high voltage pulse rises so fast that it only affects (or is drawn to) the sulfate crystals. Sort of like a magic bullet for a disease the pulse only affects the crystals, none of the power is wasted on clean plate area. Or, if another analogy is to be employed, it is sort of how like lightening strikes through the least path of resistance to ground. Slick eh???

HOW FAST DOES IT WORK?:
Like a snail (about 1 day per pound)! Except for active use, starter batteries.

My wife's car battery died one winter morning (internal lights ok, but starter would not budge). She suggested we get a new battery. She immediately retracted the suggestion after I shot her a "If looks could kill" look. I had been tinkering with Mr. Coupers (A.K.A. Desulfator, AC on this board) circuit for a few years.

I connected a pulser and trickle charger and within 24 hours the car started and from that point on the trickle charger was no longer needed. Throughout the winter, as time went on, the starter would spin faster and faster as the battery was conditioned.

Other actively used, deep discharge batteries will exhibit a slow comeback as more plate surface area is exposed over time.

WHY THE BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN STARTER BATTS AND DEEP DISCHARGE TYPES?:
The average automotive/marine starter only draws about 100 amps. We traditionally put the biggest battery that will fit the tray in. These capacities can deliver up to 600 to 1000 amps on days that women complain about and children cower from.

As time marches on that new battery will begin to lose capacity from sulfation. Eventually it reaches the point where it will no longer freely spin that 100 amp starter. It's capacity at this point is 95 amp or lower. Although the pulser works slowly, within a day or so, it will recover enough plate area to allow the car to be started.

Is the battery cured at this point? No Way! If that was a 600A battery it is still 5/6ths clogged with crystals.

TEMPERATURES:
This is one of the biggest reasons that long lines are formed at the battery stores on fall (or early winter days).

Battery capacity is also governed by it's temperature. As capacity is reduced with time, temperature conspires to make us late for work. Sooooooooooo some early winter morning you will get the gahugahugaas from that battery that only yesterday started the car with ease. The internal temperature went down and with it the batteries capacity. Surprise!

RECOMMENDED USAGE OF A PULSER:
Starter batteries - Hang a pulser on the battery one or two months of the warmest months of the year. The battery is a chemical device and responds quicker to desulfation the warmer the ambient air temperature is.

Deep discharge - Permanently connect in alternative energy systems.

Batteries that have been stored or unused in equipment rarely used - This is a trickier prospect and beyond the scope of this meager primer. They must be exercised from time to time and gassed to mix the electrolyte.

MYTHS:
Deep discharge batteries should be discharged to a very low point before being recharged. NOT TRUE! You must discharge at least 10% of the charge before recharging to avoid dioxide clumping. The deeper you discharge, the less cycles the battery will last.

Soooooooooooo,

1. Trickle charge and pulse until voltage peaks (desulfates)

2. Continue until SG peaks (desulfates)

3. Discharge the 12 volt batt to 10.5 (eliminates dioxide clumping)

4. Charge or trickle charge for a full charge. Doesn't hurt to also pulse condition at this time.

If your eyelids are still open at this point, you really have to get out more often and mingle :)

Hey I'm hungry and it's time to root about the fridge for goodies.

Hope this helps!

http://leadacidbatterydesulfation.yuku.com/directory