I have been researching ways to desulfate batteries, I am finding most people saying that it’s snake oil, that it can’t work… some that are saying that seem to be repeating what they have heard from others, they aren’t speaking from experience, I wanted to TRY something before blowing it off as snake oil… There are 2 main ways I’ve discovered to desulfate a battery, one is chemically, the other is electronically.
The chemical methods are pretty straightforward, you put a chemical into your batteries and after a period of time, it’s supposed to desulfate your batteries, I’ve seen commercial products, I’ve seen YouTube videos with people using Epsom Salt. I just didn’t know if I wanted to introduce another substance into my batteries.
The electronic method is also pretty straightforward, you attach a gizmo to your batteries, and using an electronic pulse, it desulfates your batteries. That seems more reasonable to me, though I have to say that I’m no expert, what I am is an off-gridder who is very hard on my batteries and have gone through a couple of sets of deep cycle batteries in the 7 years we have been off-grid. For most off-gridders, the batteries are the expensive part of the system, and the part that wears out and needs to be replaced most often.
I reached out to the Wizbang company, they graciously allowed me to test 2 Wizbang Plus units (Wizbang Plus Battery Desulfator
I was somewhat surprised to see the condition according to the hydrometer, it read between 1100 and 1125, that was pretty much what all the cells read. I say somewhat because, being fairly new batteries, I expected better, and yet, since we live with them, I know that they aren’t holding as much of a charge as they did when we first got them.
I attached one of the Wizbang Plus units to those batteries, one lead to the positive, and the negative on the other. Once attached, the green light came on and it immediately began to buzz, it’s a very soft buzz, not anything that will bother us. I attached everything back to the batteries and turned everything back on.
Next I went to the second battery bank, I hesitate to say “bank” since it’s only one battery, there are 2 batteries there, but only one is hooked up. This is the older version of the one above, it’ an Interstate Battery 29DC1, as you can see from the sticker, this one is from 2009. I figured this one was in much worse shape, it doesn’t hold much of a charge, when I tested it with the hydrometer it read just at 1200, I was surprised at that. We hooked up the other Wizbang Plus unit to that battery, the green light came on and it began to buzz, perhaps a little louder than the other one, don’t know what if anything that signifies, but there it is.
Now I’ll give these a few weeks and test them again, I expect to see an improvement in the hydrometer test, and in working. The Wizbang company suggested I get a battery load tester, for now I don’t have one, I’ll look into buying one in the future, perhaps I’ll be able to use it on another set of batteries to test, we have several sets of older, tired batteries that aren’t holding a charge.
That’s it for now, I’ll keep you updated on how everything is going, I have very high hopes for this desulfator. I also like the fact that these are made in America.
Purchased through Amazon is a better price than even buying it through the company themselves :)
20 Responses
There’s a new way called EZbattery (www-dot-EZbattery-dot-info) to bring nearly any type of old battery back to life so it’s just like new again. This method works with nearly every type of battery out there …and it’s simple and quick. In case you’re wondering, you’ll be able to bring car, phone, and laptop batteries back to life with this. It even works with solar/off-grid, marine, golf cart, and forklift batteries. Plus, many more!
Wretha, we are now making 2 new models of the Battery Extra specifically for off-grid solar systems. One is designed for battery banks from 12 to 48 volts up to 1,500 Ah, the second is for banks from 12 volts to 120 volts and up to 3,000 Ah more than happy to talk to you about advertising it on your site. You can check it out at http://www.recovermybatteries.com, or email me Dan Hornby at sakurabattery@btconnect.com
Just wondering what ever happened – was curious as to your results… It’s coming on a year, and I was wondering if you had any success with the desulfator.
Wretha, just checked again this works ok for me.
http://www.recovermybatteries.com
the Battery Extra really has worked for me. also managed to get an email address off the site.
sakurabattery@btconnect.com , might be worth you emailing them, maybe you could get them to advertise on your site.
Thanks Dan, I have it now, I’ll see what I can do about getting in contact with them…
Wretha
I have been using the Wizbangplus for over a year. I has worked with SLA batteries, I opened the battery and added distilled water and charged. I took approximately 4 weeks, it was amazing. I had one dead cell, the 12v 35ah battery would not get past 9v. 4 weeks it came up to 12v. It is on the battery now for a year, the battery has held up. Very impressive product, Great customer service, I mean Great.
I have been using a “Battery Extra” desulfator and it seems to work well, more expensive than your unit but It has a much higher output. Don’t know if it is OK but this is the web address
if its not OK just delete it.
Thanks Dan, the link doesn’t work so I removed it, if you can come up with the correct one, it’s fine to post here :)
Wretha
my experince with small units
are they best when applied to NEW batteries and left connected full time, so the daily solar charge cycle is helped by the desulfating pulse
the problem i encountered with 6v GC batteries in my RV was the out gassing during charge cycle caused corrosion on the Alu case of the DS i was using
i’m shopping for a high powered DS unit to use periodically as needed
12v batteries that can be used for off-grid are expensive, the marine grade dual purpose are No better than regular grade starting batteries
trojan makes a true 12v deep cycle battery and C&D technologies UPS AGM batteries are very good, but pricey..
i have four of those that are three yrs old and still hold 13.01 volts after charging is removed
139 ampHrs each at 20hr rate
weigh 100#’s each
how many times do you think this would work on old batteries? curious to know what kind of money it will save in the long run.
Notice any difference yet?
Hi Jared, yes there is a difference, it’s slow but working, I’m not ready to post a full review yet, I am waiting for the company to answer some questions I have first, if they don’t answer I’ll post what I have, that will happen soon.
I have been researching this myself through book info and other sites everyone so far claims its a must and now some of the newer charge controllers have them built in. Am very interested in the results. I will stay tuned. Good info thanks
Interested in test results.
I am planning on testing my batteries very soon :)
I’m interested as well. I live off-grid and use 4x6v golf cart batteries from Cosco that charge through a Midnight 150 controller. The batteries are 6 months old and now hold almost no charge. They are in an unheated shed and the temps here are single digits now but a 25 watt heating strip in the battery box uses more power overnight than the batteries will hold.
MrEnergy, these batteries are the ones I am using, I don’t have a good way to put a trickle charge on them without lugging them down the mountain to a neighbor’s house, I’d rather not do that, they are HEAVY! So I’m using them as I desulfate them, they are hooked up to my solar system and are being charged normally.
Wretha
It will work. The small units are just slow is all. Typically a 200 amp/hour 6 volt or 12 volt deep cycle will take about 6 months to recover with a small unit like that. Remember to put a trickle charge on them since those small units discharge the battery as they work since they have no internal charger.
Then come back in a few weeks and tell me IT WORKS! After I left MY ole interstate battery in VA. with some friends. It had Epson salt in it !
To say I am curious is an understatement.