Date: Tue, 23 Jul 2013 12:09:29 -0700
Reply-To: Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Flooded Cell Deep Cycle Battery De-sulphation. Risky?
In-Reply-To: <CAB2RwfhHRoaKsr8=7n9qz1pRSYOV2L3wV-01mCHNA+OjOH45jg@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
I'm no expert, but deep cycle batteries have more lead in them in the first
place to withstand deep discharging periodically, that's the whole point of
a deep cycle battery. If it takes a charge normally, it's fine. I would
not try this on anything other than a battery that won't take a charge, and
even then it's probably not worth it.
Stuart
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
neil n
Sent: Tuesday, July 23, 2013 11:13 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Flooded Cell Deep Cycle Battery De-sulphation. Risky?
Hi all.
My near new 100 AH flooded deep cycle battery (not AGM) has seen little use,
is on a charger when not used, but was recently discharged it to 11.15
Volts. Would this discharge create any appreciable amount of soft sulphate
on the plates? The charger does not show an error when connected to the
battery. (see below)
The charger has a "16V Boost" de-sulphation mode. Warnings in the manual
(quoted in part below) make me wonder if using the "Boost" mode to melt any
soft sulphate, carries a lot of inherent risk. (i.e.
electrolyte boil over or worse)
From reading elsewhere, AFAIK, this mode likely uses a pulsed voltage though
the manual calls it a "highly specialized" charging mode.
Have others used this method? Is this a bad idea?
Thanks
Neil.
From the charger owners manual:
"CAUTION. USE THIS MODE WITH CARE. THIS MODE USES A HIGH VOLTAGE AND MAY
CAUSE SOME WATER LOSS IN WET (FLOODED) CELL BATTERIES."
"The 16V BOOST mode is used to recover battery capacity from a stratified
(sulfated) battery by applying a specialized high 16.5V (17V Max) voltage to
soften and melt down sulfate from the battery plates so that the material
becomes usable again."
" 2.) Attach the battery clamps or eyelet terminal connectors to the
battery,.......
3.) Connect the battery charger's AC power plug into a suitable electrical
outlet. DO NOT FACE THE BATTERY WHEN MAKING THIS CONNECTION."
"TROUBLESHOOTING
ORANGE ERROR LED ILLUMINATES.......
. SULFATED, DAMAGED, OR POOR BATTERY This ERROR condition can be the result
of a sulfated, damaged, or poor battery. To properly diagnose a sulfated,
damaged, or poor battery, take the battery to a local battery store for an
evaluation. "
--
Neil n
Blog: tubaneil.blogspot.ca
'88 Westy http://tinyurl.com/c8rlw6p
'81 VanaJetta 2.0 "Jaco" http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/
Vanagon VAG Gas inline-VR Engine Swap Group:
http://tinyurl.com/d7gd5ej
