Anybody use a desulfator to "restore" old SLAs?

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coolio
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Anybody use a desulfator to "restore" old SLAs?

I saw this on another board about the Mongoose. Poster said that "desulfinator" restores old SLAs to 80% or original capacity. Said these gadgets were cheap. I PM'd him to ask about where to get one? No response yet. Google gave me a lot of technical stuff that I'm not sure I can use on two 12 volt batts.

Other questions: Can you wait til your SLAs are shot to get these gadgets? Or, do you have to use them continually?

There's no way I can carry my bike up 5 flights of stairs to recharge one one end of my commute. Running an extension cord is not an option either. I was dreading having to replace my SLAs so early because I pretty much drain them after every round trip.

davew
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Re: Anybody use a desulfator to "restore" old SLAs?

I have seen them work on flooded SLAs. I have not heard of them working on the AGM and gel batteries more common in the ebike world. Basically they work by encouraging the sulfur off the lead plates and back into solution. It does negligible harm to the battery so there is no reason to wait until the battery is dead to use it. The best solution would be to find some way, any way, to keep from running your SLAs dead flat. They really hate that. Even if the desulfinator worked I can't imagine it doing any better than doubling the life expectancy of the battery.

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Full time ebiker
BionX and Wilderness Energy

"we must be the change we wish to see in the world"

coolio
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Re: Anybody use a desulfator to "restore" old SLAs?

Thanks.

I saw some on ebay by entering the term "battery desulfator" (sorry about messing up the spelling above). They run about $25-$30 each. I emailed one of the sellers that sells a lot of them (there are currently 16 for sale). He said they will work. However, he said that one would be required for each battery.

Also, from reading some google forums, there are some folks that install the desulfator to the charger itself. All kinds of homebrew chargers that folks have put together, too. Here's an interesting link: Lead Acid Battery Desulfation Pulse Generator

wattsup
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Re: Anybody use a desulfator to "restore" old SLAs?

I've got a 12 volt smart charger from 'Vector', it has a desulfator function and restores batteries. I use it on my truck battery occasionally, and I've used it to restore several motorcycle batteries that I got from the recycling, brought them back to life and used them to run my cristalyte motor on my bike.There's some good info on desulfators on the veva site: http://www.veva.bc.ca/home/
It should work on gel cells as well a wet cells. There is also a small pulser that fits on the battery, uses the power of the battery to pulse a small current that keeps the battery from sulfating in the first place. Do a search on that one, as I have one on my truck but don't remember the name. I concur with another response, that you should try not to overdischarge your batteries, it will kill them DEAD!! fast.

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