Is this snake oil

I have had really good results with a Sterling Battery Desulphator-revived battereis I thought were just scrap. In more detail 5 out of 6 batteries in 2 banks were rejuvenated i.e. low and variable battery SG's uplifted to correct levels and consistant across cells, higher fully charged battery voltages and battery capacities over doubled. The one battery that would not respond was I suppose just missing some of the plate paste rather than being sulphated.

A word of warning I leave the desulphator connected when I am not at the boat (solar & wind chargers) and it works away when the battery voltage reaches (I think) 12.8 volts. The desulphation works by a reverse pulsing voltage of something higher than 20v. I had my LCD tv fail when I was using it and the desulphator was running. It may have been a co-incidence but I now disconnect it when I am on the boat as I do not wish to risk LED or other equipment failures through this unusual pulsing voltage.
There is a whole and large industry set up providing a desulphation service to traction batteries for pallet trucks and similar in industry.
 
ahabdonal said:
I have had really good results with a Sterling Battery Desulphator-revived battereis I thought were just scrap. In more detail 5 out of 6 batteries in 2 banks were rejuvenated i.e. low and variable battery SG's uplifted to correct levels and consistant across cells, higher fully charged battery voltages and battery capacities over doubled. The one battery that would not respond was I suppose just missing some of the plate paste rather than being sulphated.

A word of warning I leave the desulphator connected when I am not at the boat (solar & wind chargers) and it works away when the battery voltage reaches (I think) 12.8 volts. The desulphation works by a reverse pulsing voltage of something higher than 20v. I had my LCD tv fail when I was using it and the desulphator was running. It may have been a co-incidence but I now disconnect it when I am on the boat as I do not wish to risk LED or other equipment failures through this unusual pulsing voltage.
There is a whole and large industry set up providing a desulphation service to traction batteries for pallet trucks and similar in industry.
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I leave items permanently on
nasa navtex
bilge switch ( water witch)
cassette radio memory
aerogen + dump resistor / regulator
that could be a problem
 
As an aside, if I may and if anyone knows...can sulfuric acid be added to wet lead acid batteries instead of distilled water? It has always seemed to me that that adding water would dilute the electrolyte?
 
You should not need to add acid unless you physically lose some.

Water is lost through gassing....... hydrogen and oxygen as in electrolysis ( remember the Hoffman's voltameter from your school days) You therefore add distilled or deionised water to replace the lost water
 
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charles_reed said:
Based on the pulse theory of desulphation it has as nearly many fiercely in support as totally against it.
As most modern chargers have a mode for replicating this, the item is probably redundant.
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Which of course could be worrying to those who think it may destroy equipment left connected. I doubt very much a battery charger would have a negative pulse as part of it's regime without some method of warning the user. A 20V reverse pulse over a battery at 13.2 or 14.5 volts still gives minus 5 or 6 volts across the system...
 
nigelmercier said:
There was somebody on this forum doing some long-term tests on one of these devices, this one I think:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/12V-HP-Ba...y_Chargers&hash=item2c65f6a549#ht_1161wt_1111

Perhaps if your title was a bit more descriptive, you would have got a reply from him.
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That may have been me! In any event I tried one of those for several weeks and tested and measured my heart out.
Results were sadly inconclusive.

An old battery which had been completely flat for over a year appeared to be revived by a small amount. But how much of that was simply because it was charged up a few times, and how much because of the desulphation device is impossible to say. Whatever the case, the battery was still not a much use.

A reasonably good battery which was three/four years old showed little/no sign of improvement. Full charge/discharge cycles showed no real measurable change.

I came to the conclusion that, at best, it would delay further deterioration rather than revive a battery.
 
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The evidence I observed that it might work is based upon charging voltages. The maximum the batteries would accept before desulphating was 14.1, regardless of duration of motoring. Afterwards they would go to 14.4V.
 
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