Characteristics of a Sulfated Battery

[Joster]

Hi All,

Question:

Will a sulfated 12V Lead-Acid battery charge up to 16.2V?

Observations:

I have a 7 circuit SG hooked-up to a cap dump circuit. The output of which pulses about 1.5 Amps every 500ms to the charge battery.

I have a few 12v B.B. Battery VRLA Rechargeable 7.2 Ah batteries kicking around (not new by any means). The first one started at 13.04V (took it right out of a conventional charger) and charged to 16.13V in about 2.5 hrs.

I tried a second battery of same type. I had charged it up using the same conventional charger but it had been sitting for a day or so (it was sitting around 12.81V). I connected it to the cap dump circuit, verified everything was working correctly and left it over night. I expected it would be at least 16V the next morning but it was only around 13.04V.

Is this because this particular battery is sulfated preventing the chemistry from completing?

[alman]

quit charging with conventional charger.

Joster,
I am no expert on the circuit, but my experience has been primarily with desulfating old batteries. You are charging fully charged batteries. A battery resting at 12.65 volts is fully charged. Even the Batteries charged with the Bedini Circuit. Discharge an amp from these batteries for an hour and let your machine rip. They may top out at 14.2Volts the first few runs, just keep at it and you will desulfate it. 20 runs does well, but I discharge it down to 12-12.2, and it will rest at 12.2-12.4. I takes time though. And document so you can remember what you have done. Al

[wrtner]

Joster,
I am no expert on the circuit, but my experience has been primarily with desulfating old batteries. You are charging fully charged batteries. A battery resting at 12.65 volts is fully charged. Even the Batteries charged with the Bedini Circuit. Discharge an amp from these batteries for an hour and let your machine rip. They may top out at 14.2Volts the first few runs, just keep at it and you will desulfate it. 20 runs does well, but I discharge it down to 12-12.2, and it will rest at 12.2-12.4. I takes time though. And document so you can remember what you have done. Al

Don't forget that the SG has a reputation for desuphating because of the high voltage spikes.

[Joster]

Hi Al,

Thanks for taking time to respond. This just clarified something that has been a bit of an obstetrical for me.

Until now, I haven't thought of a battery “topping out”. I used to think something was wrong if my SG wasn't pushing the battery up to 16.2 Volts. Now I know that depending on the condition of the battery , it will top out somewhere less than 16.2. I'm assuming most batteries top out at whatever the regulated voltage was of their conventional charger correct?

I figure I will layout my plan to recondition some of my 12V 7.2Ah batteries based on what I have just learned. If you could verify it for me that would be great! I also included some questions as I went along.

Plan to Complete Twenty Cycles of Charge and Discharge to recondition 12V 7.2 Ah Batteries for Use in SG Experiments

1. Charge battery until it tops out (I will do this by monitoring the voltage – I do have two data logging DMM's on the way but I'll will just monitor manually for now)

2. Discharge it to 12.0 Volts (What should the discharge current be? 1A? Or can it be more? Thus shortening cycle time. I could not find any info on this on the B.B Battery site just a Max. Discharge Current of 105A for 5sec. Perhaps I would be safe with a 5 Amp discharge current. I could connect my 700W inverter and just run some lights?)

3. Recharge until it tops out again and then repeat documenting results.

This process slowly breaks away the sulfation layers on the plates that where caused by the conventional charger correct?

To run the SG long enough to top out my “Battery to be Reconditioned” I need to cycle through 2 or three of these other batteries. I just keep them charged with the conventional charger. Just wanted to know if this is normal? I suppose once I complete the reconditioning of this battery I can use it on the run side of the SG and then get more Ah's out of it.

Just wanted to say thanks a ton. This information is very valuable to me.

Cheers!

[alman]

Joster,
Yes chargers regulate their top end or batteries would blow up when left on higher current charging chargers. Never being fully charged this increases the sulfation on the plates.
1. yes
2. You can discharge more than one amp, look up the c20 rate of your battery online to see how fast you can run it down without hurting it.
3. Yes
Al

[Guruji]

Hi guys I have a battery that turned like a capacitor. Is there a way how I can recover it?
Thanks.