Megapulse Battery Conditioner

[snowleopard]

This is described in the 'New gear' section of YM this month but it looks as though the text is a re-hash of the press release. Does anyone know whether it actually works to remove sulphation?

When I bought my Sterling charger it said it had an 'Equalisation' cycle which I had always understood to mean rapid over-charging to blast off the Sulphate but Mr Sterling defines Equalisation as the top-up phase of the 3-stage charge process. Those who have had dealings with him can imagine the response when I queried it with him!

So - if I get one of these gizmos, will it revive my batteries or just the supplier's bank balance?

 

[nedmin]

I wouldnt bother. When I worked at the steelworks many years ago we had a DC mains supply and we used to reverse charge duff batteries thro a load, it brought them "up" a bit but was really a waste of time.if that wont shift sulphate nothing will.the problem nowadays is that the manufacturers craftily dont leave enough space at the bottom of the battery so that the deposits tend to discharge the plates.

 

[Alex_Blackwood]

Afraid that Mr Sterling is correct. Equalisation is the very small "Trickle" charge used at the end of the charging sequence to equalise the cells.
At least that is what I have been led to believe during the past 50 years or so.

 

[William_H]

Yes put your money toward new batteries. olewill

 

[pohopetch]

Maybe in the UK "equalization" means the same as float, but I think in the rest of the world equalization is a period of time (an hour or two) with a higher voltage (e.g. 15V) but limited current to remove sulphate. Normally only run once a month or so. The usual terminology for the 3 phases of normal charging are "bulk", "absorb" and "float" (aka trickle).
Cheers
Peter (NZ)

 

[Roberto]

If you google "desulphator", there is an interesting forum

http://www.flex.com/~kalepa/gbook.htm

http://p198.ezboard.com/bleadacidbatterydesulfation

where a lot of people seem very happy about a desulphator device; though they are most talking about a home made one (circuit is provided), which seems rather more powerful (and cheaper) than the commercial ones

 

[jkim1]

Compass sell one which seems good value. As a quickie they send a high frequency pulse to the battery the plates resonate and all the sulphation drops off to fall to the bottom. Some people swear by them others swear at them £40 is cheaper than a new battery may be worth a try.
regards