battery rejuvenation

[Bogeybob]

Heard there are ways to rejuvenate batteries. This site recommended.

[RPW]

Yes and no. It depends on the type of battery. Generally it's better to just buy a new battery.

[ThomasH]

If you are talking about a standard wet cell lead-acid battery, and if it has sulphated plates, then yes a charger that does a high voltage reverse 'stinger' pulse will knock the crap off of the plates. If the acid solution is roughly what it should be, and if there are not physically broken lead plates, etc., then the battery will be good to go. The worst thing you will do by hooking up a charger with a function to de-sulphate the battery is that it won't help the battery. The next thing to check is the specific gravity, which you test with a simple battery tester (looks similar to a turkey baster with some balls floating in it) which should show it to be around 1.25-1.26.

Battery minder, save-a-battery, BLS, and others are common brands of chargers with the de-sulphating function. With that and a cheap battery specific gravity tester, you are good to go.

Oh, and it's best to have some outside ventilation where you are doing this, as the buildup of off gassing can be dangerous. I witnessed a guy lighting a cigarette while watching a battery bubble away about 15 years ago, and the battery exploded. He was immediately screaming about his eyes. Not a good thing.