New life for dead batteries?

[Kerry]

Does anyone have experience with a battery additive such as this one carried by JC Whitney?
Motorcycle Battery Additive

It sounds like a reasonable (& inexpensive) way to delay the inevitable battery swap, but it could just be pink snake oil.  Any feedback -- positive or negative -- is welcome.

Also, I wondered if anyone has seen this kind of stuff at local auto parts stores.

[JohNLA]

never seen it :dunno:

[werase643]

battery theory

do you know what causes a battery to go bad?
do you know how the battery works...chemically?

basically without balancing equations....

the plates are lead
the acid is sulfuric acid
as the battery is discharge the sulfate(SO4) from the acid
is deposited on the battery plates...creating a lead sulfate layer on the plate
lead sulfate is...flakey and with vibration..... some falls off
as the battery is charged.... the sulfates are returned to the acid
problem.....
there is a layer of lead laying on the bottom of the battery
after time.....
the layer of lead gets high enuff to short out a couple of plates....
causing....shorted cell or dead battery.

if you are a total cheap ass and don't care about the environment.....
dump the acid
flush the inside of the battery to remove the loose lead
and refill with fresh acid....
it should give you a little more life at the expense if lead contamination
and acid burns wherever you dump the crud

I'd rather go buy another battery

wow, I do member lectron stuff..... :mrgreen:

[Blueknyt]

knew a guy who would turn the battery upside down and smack the bottom of the battery with a 2x4 and shake abit, then would pull the caps and drain and flush the battery,  into a 30 gal drum.  Then he would use a few rags as a filter and strain the acid being carful to not let any of the settled stuff in the bucket come out. i have seen him bring a few batteries back to life this way. he also uses the nasty battery acid for etching different metals.  he never passes up a car battery on the side of the road.  now and then he smelts the lead back into rough ingots and gets a few bucks at recyclers.    additives might condition the lead to keep it from sulfating but i dont know. im no chemist

[Rema1000]

[The Buddha]

Well werase's description is close enough.... and I am actually realiizing that a sealed battery will work better in its side than the right way up... of course in a selaed battery the lead cant drop to the bottom cos there isn't a liquid electrolyte... its a gel or fiber mat soaked with the acid working as electrolyte. So Forget this crap, and buy a sealed battery and drop it in the bike sideways... OH btw it doesn't really work... I have tried it many years ago. It weakens a good strong battery is what people tell me. Though I'd say it does nothign.
Cool.
Srinath.

[werase643]

and to think....unkle Sam sent me to a 1 week skool to learn about submarine batteries....and i passed

[pattonme]

but remember that probably most battery failures are of the sudden short variety which no amount of magic elixir is going to fix.