Quote:
Originally Posted by Oer Al
That is not that strange: the batteries are regaining some of their capacity because they are being used regularly after having been in storage for who knows how long. Some of the lead sulfate which was clogging up the plates has fallen off, increasing the available active plate area and with that the capacity.
Reading this thread from the beginning and only still being halfway I don't know if this will come up but... have you considered adding a battery rejuvinator/desulfator to your batteries? Those things are easy to build and seem to work - especially on older, partly sulfated batteries. Like yours...
There's plenty of schematics for these things on the intertubes. Not having built one myself I can not verify the claims of efficacy but since the operating principle - high-current pulse to dislodge lead sulfate from plate - seems plausible I'd consider making one if I have the need. You can scrounge most of the required parts from discarded electronics. Dead computer power supplies are a good source for the required ferrite cores. |
Hey, thanks for reading this long and boring thread!! If there is one thing I have learned about lead/acid batteries it's that I still have a LOT to learn. They are really fascinating to me. Each battery seems to have its own personality. I knew that my biggest challenge in my super-cheap conversion would be the used batteries; that's why on of my biggest expenses was for new battery chargers. I figured that would help the most, and I think it was a very wise decision in retrospect. I am extremely happy with the chargers. Also, I've looked into desulfators a little and decided to buy one ready made rather than building my own. I got a WizBang from eBay, and I am having great luck with it:
Everstart Enersys Exide Battery Desulfator 6V or 12V - eBay (item 330436558588 end time Jun-22-10 16:35:02 PDT)
I think it's really fun to make my car go on people's discarded junk!