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Sulfated Battery

tiredretired

tiredretired

The Old Salt
Or at least it was, I guess.

I bought a Battery Tender for the Crossfire to use during winter storage. After, being hooked up for about 12 hours, the bad battery LED came on. A quick check of the paperwork that came with the tender indicated that the battery could be sulfated, which means it is not taking a full charge and putting out the proper voltage. Damn, only a year old battery and expensive as hell.

Tried it again and lo and behold the big Green blinking LED came on this time after a short time of charging indicating the battery was up to snuff and the tender had switched to maintain mode. :clap: Oh, happy day.

My guess, is that the battery was just starting to sulfate and the charger reversed the process on the plates. Anyone ever have any experience with this or versed in Lead Acid Battery technology?

sc2.jpg
 
I use an electronic tester now I like carbon pile testers but to do a 4 d battery you would need a forklift to move it around I believe in the hydrometer but they are useless with sealed batterys and agm style the best thing you can do is charge the battery slow some times you need to put a small light for a load on it.
 
mla2ofus said:
Best battery diagnosis tool I have is a HF resistor style load tester.
Mike
Click to expand...

Thanx Mike!
Snowtrac Nome said:
I use an electronic tester now I like carbon pile testers but to do a 4 d battery you would need a forklift to move it around I believe in the hydrometer but they are useless with sealed batterys and agm style the best thing you can do is charge the battery slow some times you need to put a small light for a load on it.
Click to expand...

Putting a small light bulb across the terminals while charging was going to be my next step, but apparently this tender, in charge mode, is not very high so it did the job on its own. All is well now and the battery goes right to maintain with no issues. Sitting around a long time with partial charge is not the best thing for lead acid batteries. I'm glad I dodged the bullet.
 
With all the electronics in vehicles today it's best to have a float charger on them all the time in extended down time. The clock in the radio is one culprit that will gradually draw a battery down. I use the HF float chargers on all my batteries that will sit all winter such as an outboard, riding mowers, etc.
Mike
 
mla2ofus said:
With all the electronics in vehicles today it's best to have a float charger on them all the time in extended down time. The clock in the radio is one culprit that will gradually draw a battery down. I use the HF float chargers on all my batteries that will sit all winter such as an outboard, riding mowers, etc.
Mike
Click to expand...

Agreed. But also consider a ground switch, of high amperage. :flowers:

Stops off season drain, and if mounted with consideration, a theft deterant as well...

East to disconnect, or connect. Some even have a key you remove for security.

Caterpillar equiptment comes standard for the most part with a master power switch. I think they know what they are doing. :whistling:

Regards, Kirk
 
300 H and H said:
Agreed. But also consider a ground switch, of high amperage. :flowers:

Stops off season drain, and if mounted with consideration, a theft deterant as well...

East to disconnect, or connect. Some even have a key you remove for security.

Caterpillar equiptment comes standard for the most part with a master power switch. I think they know what they are doing. :whistling:

Regards, Kirk
Click to expand...

I'm very reluctant to disconnect the battery as the car is equipped with the Flexible Service System or FSS for short. This monitors both milage and TIME. Disconnecting the battery will screw up the time keeping aspect of it and I would rather that not happen. Even though the car is an 05 it only has 22K on the clock so I am still following the service schedule as if it were still new, which it is so to speak.
 
disconnecting battery's will also reset the adaptive learn memory and sometimes the cause short term drivability issues
 
My boats have great battery chargers. Small, compact, smart enough to heavy charge, trickle charge, and level off the batteries. Completely ignition protected, and electrically protected.

Not cheap, but I would suggest them to be better than thing pictured above.

I can picture an internal short in that thing shown above, and it exploding into a ball of flames as a result of the available fault current in a 12vdc battery.
 
TiredRetired said:
Or at least it was, I guess.

Anyone ever have any experience with this or versed in Lead Acid Battery technology?
Click to expand...

My experience with these kind of devices. Wife's 2004 BMW showed weak battery at 3 years (2007). I went to Harbor Freight and bought a 24/7/365 electronic device that hooked to the battery posts and sends out an electronic pulse anytime the battery was receiving a charge (driving down the road). Never again did I have a low battery message. In 2015 my granddaughter, who is now the driver, took the car to the BMW shop and they said she needed a new battery. She told them "this is the original battery." "NO way" they said. Service manager checked the date on the battery and low and behold, the battery was in fact 11 years old. The service manager was beside himself. These electronic pulse devices do in fact work, and will reverse the sulfate problem.

YMMV
 
waybomb said:
My boats have great battery chargers. Small, compact, smart enough to heavy charge, trickle charge, and level off the batteries. Completely ignition protected, and electrically protected.

Not cheap, but I would suggest them to be better than thing pictured above.

I can picture an internal short in that thing shown above, and it exploding into a ball of flames as a result of the available fault current in a 12vdc battery.
Click to expand...

I'm not into spending big bucks right now for high end charging systems. I hear what you are saying and I installed a spare arc fault outlet along with a GFI for the 120V. The unit is sitting in a 5 gallon metal pail so fire prevention paranoia overcame me momentarily. I am OK now. :yum:

deand1 said:
My experience with these kind of devices. Wife's 2004 BMW showed weak battery at 3 years (2007). I went to Harbor Freight and bought a 24/7/365 electronic device that hooked to the battery posts and sends out an electronic pulse anytime the battery was receiving a charge (driving down the road). Never again did I have a low battery message. In 2015 my granddaughter, who is now the driver, took the car to the BMW shop and they said she needed a new battery. She told them "this is the original battery." "NO way" they said. Service manager checked the date on the battery and low and behold, the battery was in fact 11 years old. The service manager was beside himself. These electronic pulse devices do in fact work, and will reverse the sulfate problem.

YMMV
Click to expand...

Great news! Seems to have worked for me as well. These European car batteries are big bucks.
 
Benz bats are about 135-150 bucks and they generally last 8-10 years for me.
Last time I bout one it was 135 and the time before that was 95 bucks.
They last a long time.
 
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