Battery Maintenance

Lead Acid Battery Maintenance

Lead Acid batteries are the most economical battery.  Their construction is simple compared to the construction of say a Lithium Ion battery.  The down side of lead acid batteries is the weight and the fact that they go dead when they are left discharged for even short periods of time. The maintenance of a lead acid battery is just the opposite of a cordless drill battery because the technology is different. Lead acids do best when left with a full charge.

The reason why a battery cannot hold charge after being stored for while without being charged is because the lead in the battery is exposed to uncharged raw acid when the battepsom-saltsery slowly discharges over time. The lead in the battery simply rusts, thus blocking the flow of electricity and ability to charge properly. Luckily there is an affordable, readily available household compound that will reverse this. To breathe new life into your lead acid battery you will need to first purchase the chemical Magnesium Sulphate (EPSOM SALT).

To recondition your lead acid battery you will need Epsom Salt and distilled water.  Do not use tap water! Warm up the distilled water to about 65 degrees (very hot but not boiling).  The temperature doesn’t need to be exact and will still work even if the water is at room temperature, it just won’t work as well. Mix 10 heaping table spoons full of Epsom Salt into the quarter litre of water and stir until most or all is dissolved.
Then simply pour this warm solution into the individual cells of your dead battery just as you would normally put water to maintain the acid levels. Then charge your battery over night.

Note
Do not attempt to put Epsom Salt directly into your battery because it will not dissolve properly into the battery acid, only water will dissolve Epsom Salt. 

Most dead batteries will be low enough on fluid that adding this solution will not over flow the battery. If your battery is already full of fluid then you will need to drain some of the acid to allow for the Epsom Salt solution. After adding the solution put the caps back on and shake the battery a bit to mix all the chemicals. Then charge battery overnight. If battery does not appear to have good capacity after the overnight charge, don’t give up. Sometimes it takes a week to 10 days for the Epsom Salt solution to “work” on the battery plates. Agitation is important. It is difficult to get the Epsom Salt solution to thoroughly mix with the acid in your battery because of the battery plates and baffles. One of the best mixing methods is to simply drive the vehicle (if the battery works at all) Some batteries have caps that come off the top to maintain the acid levels easily but maintenance-free batteries require a bit more work to recondition.

A maintenance-free battery has its top sealed shut to prevent evaporation but it also prevents easy reconditioning.  These batteries can still be reconditioned but you will have to look for the “shadow” marks on the top plastic that shows the holes into the cells.  Simply drill holes in the plastic to get access to the cells then pour in your warm solution.  You will then want to plug these holes with plastic plugs that can be found at most hardware stores.  When purchasing a new battery it is recommended to look for the batteries that you can easily repair in the future should the need arise.  It is also recommended to purchase a small solar or battery maintenance charger to keep your unused batteries charged over the winter to prevent this problem from happening in the future. This method works most of the time but not all the time. It depends on how bad the cells are decayed.

Note
This process can also only be done 3 to 5 times before the cells are worn out, prevent battery damage with a maintenance or solar charger! 

So how does this work, and what is the success rate? When a battery loses its state of charge it has become more of a base than an acid, so the electrical power it generates through the chemical reaction of the magnesium sulphate and the lead plates inside the battery has been reduced. By adding water instead of the proper chemical solution you are accomplishing nothing. So, unless the lead plates inside your battery have broken off, which is rare, this procedure almost always works. The success rate is about 98% (on batteries that have never had this treatment). Considering the cost of materials is only a few hundred shillings, I think this is well worth trying.

WARNING
ALWAYS WEAR SAFETY GLASSES AND GLOVES WHEN WORKING WITH ACIDS!!!!!!!

You can read more on batteries on http://www.batterystuff.com/

Comments 42

    1. Post
      Author

  7. “This is very interesting, You are a very skilled blogger. I’ve joined your feed and look forward to seeking more of your excellent post. Also, I have shared your web site in my social networks!”

    Reply

  10. I just want to say I’m beginner to blogging and site-building and absolutely loved this blog site. Almost certainly I’m want to bookmark your blog . You actually come with beneficial writings. Bless you for revealing your website page.

    Reply

  15. I was excited to get this website. I needed to many thanks for
    ones time because of this fantastic read!! I definitely appreciated every part of it
    and that i do you have book marked to see new information on the blog.

    Reply

  17. Good – I should definitely pronounce, impressed with your web site. I had no trouble navigating through all the tabs as well as related info ended up being truly simple to do to access. I recently found what I hoped for before you know it in the least. Quite unusual. Is likely to appreciate it for those who add forums or something, website theme . a tones way for your customer to communicate. Nice task..

    Reply

  18. Hello very cool blog!! Guy .. Excellent .. Amazing .. I will bookmark your website and take the feeds also…I’m satisfied to find numerous useful information here in the post, we want work out more strategies on this regard, thanks for sharing.

    Reply

  19. Hey there! I could have sworn I’ve been to this website before but after browsing through some of the post I realized it’s new to me. Anyhow, I’m definitely glad I found it and I’ll be bookmarking and checking back frequently!

    Reply
    1. Post
      Author

  21. It’s actually a cool and helpful piece of info. I am happy that you simply shared
    this useful info along with us. Please stay us informed like this.

    Thanks for sharing.

    Reply
    1. Post
      Author

  24. Amazing blog! Do you have any helpful hints for aspiring writers? I’m hoping to start my own site soon but I’m a little lost on everything. Would you advise starting with a free platform like WordPress or go for a paid option? There are so many choices out there that I’m totally overwhelmed .. Any suggestions? Thanks a lot!

    Reply
    1. Post
      Author
    1. Post
      Author

  29. I do not even know the way I ended up right here, but I believed this post was once good. I do not understand who you might be but definitely you’re going to a famous blogger should you aren’t already 😉 Cheers!

    Reply

  32. I simply want to mention I am very new to blogs and actually enjoyed this web blog. Most likely I’m going to bookmark your blog post . You certainly have amazing articles. With thanks for sharing with us your web page.

    Reply

  33. Hello Web Admin, I noticed that your On-Page SEO is is missing a few factors, for one you do not use all three H tags in your post, also I notice that you are not using bold or italics properly in your SEO optimization. On-Page SEO means more now than ever since the new Google update: Panda. No longer are backlinks and simply pinging or sending out a RSS feed the key to getting Google PageRank or Alexa Rankings, You now NEED On-Page SEO. So what is good On-Page SEO?First your keyword must appear in the title.Then it must appear in the URL.You have to optimize your keyword and make sure that it has a nice keyword density of 3-5% in your article with relevant LSI (Latent Semantic Indexing). Then you should spread all H1,H2,H3 tags in your article.Your Keyword should appear in your first paragraph and in the last sentence of the page. You should have relevant usage of Bold and italics of your keyword.There should be one internal link to a page on your blog and you should have one image with an alt tag that has your keyword….wait there’s even more Now what if i told you there was a simple WordPress plugin that does all the On-Page SEO, and automatically for you? That’s right AUTOMATICALLY, just watch this 4minute video for more information at. Seo Plugin

    Reply

  34. I have fun with, cause I found exactly what I used
    to be having a look for. You have ended my 4 day long hunt!
    God Bless you man. Have a nice day. Bye

    Reply

  36. This article and many other on your website are very interesting.

    You should show your content to bigger audience. There is a big
    chance to go viral. You need initial boost and visitors will
    flood your website in no time. Simply search in google for:
    Juuri13 viral effect

    Reply
    1. Post
      Author

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *