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MG MGB Technical - SKAM. ???

I HAVE BEEN SENT AN E MAIL THAT SAYS ?
I CAN RESTORE ANY BATTERY LIKE NEW FOR YOU?
JUST E MAIL ME AT ..............

IS THIS A SKAM OR HAS ANYONE TRIED IT

THANKS BILL
Bill Mason

Bill - "IS THIS A SKAM OR HAS ANYONE TRIED IT"
It might be, but it could also be someone with a legitimate business - hard to say. I do know that there are legitimate businesses who do restore batteries. That said, I have never take (or sent) a battery to one of these businesses for the simple reason that I have always experienced battery life to be quite reasonable and am not interested in a restored battery.

The biggest thing that causes premature failure of a lead/acid battery is not getting sufficient exercise (kind of like us humans). We have 3 vehicles one of which doesn't get a lot of exercise, particularly in the winter months, so I purchased a Battery Tender Jr. and am faithful about plugging the car (TD) when ever we park in the garage (even during the summer when it gets it's most use). The Battery Tender is like a trickle charge with a brain. The BT charges the battery until it reaches the optimum charge, then shuts off and lets the charge until it reaches a preset lower voltage, at which time the BT start charging the battery. This cycle of charge/discharge is what keep the battery from developing a coating of sulfate on the plates, which is the main thing that causes a battery to fail. Cheers - Dave
DW DuBois

I ran across an advertisement for a battery rejuvenation system stated any battery regardless of type could be brought back to live if you just bought the info on how to do it. Other sites ratedit as a scam. I did read on another site that batteries crystalise and no longer take a charge but the crystals can be freed from the plates by humping with higher voltage. I tried that on an old 7.2 volt Makita battery. It did take a charge which it would not before, but it only took one charge, would not hold a chage again after I ran it down.
K Hawkins

"IS THIS A SKAM OR HAS ANYONE TRIED IT"

I don't know.

Email them and see what they propose.
Dave O'Neill 2

be careful on here. just had an email sent to me this morning from someone wanting to buy an item i put in the classifieds. want my details then will send me cheque for more than the amount to give them back excess after. well known SKAM so watch out for these. dodgy everywhere lately.
bob.
bob taylor

Some modern conditioners have a 'recovery' program that can restore a large part of the capacity of batteries that have become sulphated through the continual trickle discharge from the electronics of modern cars unless they are used daily, or where the battery has been flattened by leaving lights on, for example.

In the latter case the Lucas Fault Diagnosis Service Manual states:

"If the battery should become fully discharged, it should not be left on the vehicle in the hope that it will become fully recharged by the vehicle's charging system. Unless the battery is charged by an external source it will probably never become more than half-charged, and even though it appears to be working satisfactorily, the plates will harden and the life of the battery will be considerably shortened."

Full capacity can be recovered by using higher voltages than can be obtained from alternators and dynamos, up to 20v (in pulses) in the case of the conditioning units mentioned above.

I suspect a lot of batteries are being junked when they could be 'recovered'.

As to your email, if you have a battery that might benefit from the process, Google 'battery recovery' or similar for loads of pages and videos on the subject.
paulh4

Depends on the battery and the type of battery.

I have seen companies that take old car batteries and rebuild them. This would be for concourse vehicles to have the correct battery.

There are also companies that will put new batteries in your power tool battery pack. Some of these will come back even better than new as they use higher amp hour batteries in the rebuild.

I have tried the higher voltage trick on power tool batteries. My experience was similar to Mr. Hawkens response. It worked but not for very long.

Now for lead acid. I recently tried one of the youtube videos on rejuvenating a 12 v. lead acid battery by emptying out the acid, adding baking soda and flushing the battery to remove sulfates from the plates and then adding a mix of Epsom salt and distilled water back in. I was very skeptical, but it worked. I was able to get 12.6 volts after charging and it seems to be working over time.
Bruce Cunha

MGOC sells tablets, sort of Vi*gra for batteries. I remember them being around in the 60s, then they seemed to vanish for many years.

Had to substitute the asterisk before this post would appear :o)
paulh4

Hey Bruce


Just curious as to the distilled water you used..did you buy it in a plastic gallon jug at the store or did you make your own from the house/home A.C. UNIT or distill it into a glass container from a tea pot boiling water from a tube into a glass container

Just curious as to how pure the distilled water needs to be...ive seen this on YouTube and am considering doing this on my daily car

Thanks

Prop
1 Paper

One I saw used tap water, I used distilled from the grocery store.

Not a chemist, so I have no clue why Epsom Salt would rejuvenate a lead acid battery. Seems if you take the sulfate of the plates, adding new acid would also rejuvenate the battery.

Looks like this is currently a hot item on the web. Google adding sulfate to batteries.

But I also found that this issue has been debunked by the National Bureau of Standards. A person by the name of George W. Vinal, was a scientist at NBS and did extensive testing of battery solutions. Here is the web page. https://www.nist.gov/sites/default/files/documents/nvl/SP925_08_CHAPTER_TWO-_TESTING_CAN_BE_TROUBLESOME.pdf

The article says

"Not only did the Bureau test batteries for other agencies, but it also tested battery
additives. Introduced as early as 1915, these were proprietary chemical preparations of
assorted kinds reputed to have beneficial effects on various aspects of battery performance.
Some were solids to be added to the battery electrolyte, and some were liquids
(usually sulfuric acid solutions) to replace the electrolyte. Testing of these products
began in 1919 and continued until 1957,25 although the Bureau continued to provide
expert witnesses until 1971. Never was an additive found that had a beneficial effect.
Many of them were simple mixtures of magnesium and sodium sulfates (Epsom and
Glauber's salts, respectively), and were uniformly found to be without merit, but not
necessarily harmful.26 Indeed, the ineffectiveness of these compounds had been known
since 1902.27"

All I know is that I took a battery that would not charge, cleaned it, added epsom salt, recharged it and it produced 12+ volts.

I have not recharged the battery in some time. Will hook it up and see if it still charges.
Bruce Cunha

Charging to get 12v is one thing, but if it doesn't have the capacity to crank an engine, or hold that capacity for a reasonable length of time, it's no good. But these things have been around so long it's difficult to see how "Never was an additive found that had a beneficial effect" can be completely true. Unlike tin pellets in petrol their effectiveness or otherwise can be gauged pretty-well instantly.
paulh4

Never really understood how you "rebuild" a car battery. I was under the impression the lead plates disintegrate and/or warp rendering the battery defunct.

The chemicals in the battery become weakened over time thus losing its capability to hold a charge. So by replacing the chemicals I get how that would rejuvenate the battery, but that doesn't answer the question about the condition of the lead plates being able to conduct power.

Having moved from New York to Florida in August 2013, I quickly learned how the hot climate shortens the life of a battery. The battery in my MGB took a dive two months upon arrival here. The "birth date" of that battery was December 2000. It's replacement gave it up two weeks ago with a "birth date" of July 2013.

Cheers
Gary
79 MGB
gary hansen

Many years ago there was a place near me that bought old batteries, broke them up, and used the lead etc. to build new ones.

Whilst there is a chemical process involved there are no chemicals as such to 'weaken' over time, if there were they could simply be replaced. There is the electrolyte of dilute sulphuric acid of course, but ordinarily the acid content remains constant and it is the water contain that evaporates (on non-sealed batteries) and has to be replaced. A lead-acid battery has a lead-dioxide cathode and a sponge metallic lead anode in the electrolyte.

During discharge, the lead dioxide (positive plate) and lead (negative plate) react with the electrolyte of sulphuric acid to create lead sulphate, water and energy.

During charging, the cycle is reversed: the lead sulphate and water are electro-chemically converted to lead, lead oxide and sulphuric acid by an external electrical charging source.

If fully discharged or left in a partially charged state over time the sulphate hardens which makes it harder for the charging process to convert it back again, and you lose capacity. Boost or pulse charging can reverse that process and so restore capacity, perhaps these pills are supposed to do similar. Of course, battery companies and the like don't recommend them!

If a battery becomes fully discharged the on-car charging system will never restore more than 50% of the capacity (Lucas Fault Diagnosis Service Manual) as they don't charge at a high enough voltage. Even long-term low charge rates i.e. idling with lights, heaters etc. operating will reduce the capacity over time Alternators charge at lower levels than dynamo systems, and the voltage regulators in alternators have a tolerance and those at the lower end have been known to cause repeated battery failure with 'normal' use. With so much electronics these days vehicle manufacturers in some cases have had to select those with higher output voltages.

Batteries can suffer mechanical deterioration, but as an owner there is not much you can do about that.
paulh4

This thread was discussed between 26/10/2017 and 18/11/2017

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