How To Repair A Lead Acid Battery

Lead acid batteries oft die due to an aggregating of lead sulphate crystals on the plates within the battery, fortunately, you can recondition your battery at home using inexpensive ingredients.

A battery is effectively a small chemic establish which stores energy in its plates. They are chemically charged with an electrolyte which is a mixture of distilled h2o and sulphuric acid. When the battery is discharged, the pb active material on the positive plates reacts with the sulphuric acid and produces lead sulphate. When the battery is charged, this process is reversed and the lead sulphate crystals react to form sulphuric acrid over again. The battery fails when there is an excess build up of lead sulphate crystals which then do non allow sulphuric acid to make contact with sections of the plate. These crystals harden and eventually cause a chemic imbalance in the electrolyte.

crystals on battery plate

In most cases, hardened crystals tin exist removed using a solution of magnesium sulphate. This method doesn't restore a battery dorsum to original condition merely it will restore it to around 70-80% of its original chapters and can be repeated, assuasive you lot to become a few more years of employ out of your battery without having to replace it.

What You lot Will Need To Recondition Your Battery

The Damaged Bombardment
400ml (12oz) Distilled H2o – Buy Here
200g (7oz) Epsom Salts (magnesium sulphate) – Buy Here
A Syringe or Dropper – Buy Here
A Battery Charger – Buy Here

How To Recondition Your Bombardment

battery before

Take the battery out of the vehicle, motorbike or scooter and put it onto a solid work bench.

battery opened

Some battery'southward cells are clearly visible on top of the battery and are sealed with spiral in caps. Others, like mine, are protected by a "sealing" strip. You may need to cutting the edges of this strip to become information technology loose but it is nearly always removable. Look for the edge of this strip and try to pry it upwards using a flat screw driver, if it is glued into place, effort to cutting around the edges of the strip using a sharp arts and crafts knife.

Once this has been removed, you lot will also need to accept the caps off each of the individual cells in order to become to the bombardment acid. Some batteries take pocket-size condom caps like these, others (typically on larger batteries) have screw in plugs which tin can be removed with a large screwdriver, they're not usually very tight.

battery removing water

Using a syringe or dropper, carefully drain each cell one by ane until they are all around 50-60% full, if some cells are already lower than this then exchange some acid from the fuller cells. You don't desire to take also much out as you will then struggle to charge the bombardment again. The liquid you are removing is a strong acid so put it into a glass container and be careful not to mess whatsoever of it on your hands or wearable.

Make sure that you dispose of the removed battery acid in a safety and responsible style. The removed bombardment acrid is extremely corrosive and contains heavy metals, mainly pb.

epsom salt solution

Now yous demand to make a saturated solution of Epsom salts (magnesium sulphate) and distilled h2o. Do this past boiling h2o and continuously stirring in more salts until no more will dissolve in the water. And so fill each cell with the Epsom salt solution to the full level line using the syringe or dropper.

charging battery

When charging the battery while it is being reconditioned, some gas will be released, so it is advisable to go out the caps open up. Connect a battery charger to the terminals and permit it complete the charging bike. If the bombardment is heavily drained or damaged, it may have to be charged overnight with a trickle charger at a very low amperage. If you do non have a battery charger so replace the battery cell caps and covers and reinstall the battery in the vehicle. Jump start it so take it for a full hour or 2 bulldoze to let the bombardment to charge using the alternator.

clean up battery

The reconditioned battery should now last another 6 months to a year and can usually exist restored using this method well-nigh three to five times until information technology is no longer effective.

Edit: As some users in the comments section take suggested, the best solution would be to allow the reconditioning process run for a few days to properly "clean" the plates and then bleed the Epsom table salt solution from the bombardment and replace it with the recommended 35/65 acid solution. Make sure that your battery is discharged before removing the Epsom salt solution and replacing it with the acid solution.

Have you tried to recondition a battery using this method or a similar method? Let u.s. know in the comments section beneath.

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