Battery Conditioner?

[mongrel jack]

Hi Folks,

About 12 months ago I purchased a 12v sealed lead acid battery from a big name electronics store. Unfortunately I have used the battery once (12 months ago) and left it on trickle charge (as advised to as charger was purchased with battery) ever since. Decided I wanted to use it a couple of weeks ago and it's dead. Asked the friendly man at the same big name electronics store that it was purchased from and he said the battery needs to be discharged regularly or calcium builds up inside rendering them useless. He said my best bet would be to get a battery conditioner - which he tells me gives the battery a quick high voltage "zap" to (hopefully) remove the calcium and bring it back to it's former glory. I then asked "do you sell them" to which he replied " yep at just over $100". Me being a tight ar$e thinks this is a tad expensive for something your gonna use once.

My question is (I know it has taken me a while to get to the point ), but can you take the battery somewhere and have this done? It's only $80 to replace the battery! I rang my local big name battery chain store and spoke to a "kid" who thought I was having a lend of him.... Is there another solution to my problem? Seems a shame to throw a "used once" battery away.

Cheers.

[shortie]

SLA batteries with mild sulfation can be restored but the work is time consuming and the results are mixed. Reasonably good results are achieved by applying a charge on top of a charge. This is done by fully charging an SLA battery, then removing it for a 24 to 48 hour rest period and applying a charge again The process is repeated several times and the capacity is checked with a final full discharge and recharge.

Me personally would go and purchase another battery. AS i dont believe you will achieve full capacity out of it again. Purchasing a good quality charder will aleviate this problem again in the future. Never buy a charger purely on Price, you definately get what you pay for. There is also a device that you can purchase external to your charger that may help

Take from wesite:

Description:

The Megapulse Battery Maximizer is a small unit that is fitted across the terminals of your battery.

During charging of your battery a pulse is applied to the battery which brakes down the sulphation on the battery plates. This sulphation is the major cause of most batteries failing.

MEGAPULSE is an electronic battery maintenance device that operates in conjunction with charging systems to keep your battery in peak operating condition. It will;

1) Keep batteries at optimum operating condition

2) Prevent possible problems with vehicle electronics.

3) Provide quicker starts

4) Prevent premature battery death

5) Extend battery life

6) Keep batteries in "like new" condition

7) Care for the environment, reducing the number of batteries going into landfill

8) Reduce the number of batteries you will discard in a lifetime

9) Restore 100% battery capacity

10) Reduce recharge time

[mongrel jack]

Thanks heaps for the info. I will take your advice and ditch the battery for a new one. The charger is a quality one and was purchased with the trickle charge in mind thinking I wouldn't use the battery that often but never planned on leaving it 12 months either. From what I have read it is not normal to not use a battery for that period so I need to take the blame..... I like the sound of the Megapulse Battery Maximizer - will do some research on it.

Thanks again.

[billythakid]

Before you chuck the old battery , chuck a light etc on it and drain it of power , re charge it fully and hook the light up again and re drain , Recharge it on full charge and see what happens .

What is the battery being used for ?

Find some one with dual battery set up in a car and run it on the auxillary side for a few days .

this should shock charge it as the alternator / solenoid will seee it needs charge and will crank it better than any trickle charger

Batteries usally only cark it when a cell collapses . If it is drained to many times it will not hold 100% charge

and thats the first sign its on its way out .