battery got weak...

[monty101]

What I am disclosing I am not aware that I have ever seen it on a Harley
forum..   I am hoping that what I have learned will save some of you guys some cash.

A while back I  needed two batteries on a spare car and a 1989 Jimmy that I don't drive but occasionally need to move.   Went down to a battery recycler and he wanted 25 bucks for a used
battery.  It had a 1 month guarantee.....I went home pulled a old walmart battery out from under my bench where I put it there 2 years ago when it would only charge up to 9 volts. It was dead and 7 years old. I put 6 tablespoons of epsom salt and distrilled water in it and charged it up.  No problem but it still would not start my truck. Took it to walmart and they said it only had 24cca. 

Then I did the same thing to the battery in the spare car that would not turn the car over.  I took it to autozone and they said it was bad too.

After further checking I found out I needed to discharge the batteries to zero and then recharge them.  So, that is what I did. I also put a few more tablespoons of epsom salt in the big Walmart battery,   I got busy and I never got around to putting either of them back on the vehicles though.

Finally I gave up and decided to get a new walmart and get a new $124 battery .  I  took both batteries with me because I needed a trade in.  They put their machine on it and the lady turned
around and said the battery is good. Its got 550 cca.....I took the other battery by autozone
Their machine said it was good too....Both are on the truck and car. Both start each up about once a month now......


I asked my scooter mechanic friend if he had ever tried it on a scooter sealed battery. I told him I hated to drill a hole in one and he said you don't need to do that and he showed me that there is a cover on sealed batteries that has stamped on it "do not open". You can take a knife and pry it open.

I  decided to try to recondition the Big Boar batteries that were giving me the same starting problem. Both were $150 Big Boar 350cca batteries. One would start my scooter that
has 180 lbs of compression but would not turn it over unless I pushed in the compression releases. The other battery would not turn over the other scooter that has 165 lbs of compression.

The battery on the scooter with the compression releases did not improve much after I put the epsom salt and distilled water in it. I had to discharge to zero before it would spin the motor fast even with the compression releases pushed in.

This morning I went out and the battery on the scooter with the compression releases spun up fast and started right up when I had the compression releases pushed in. If I didn't push them in it would not turn the motor over. Well this afternoon it is a lot more powerful.  I started it twice without the releases pressed in, Then started it again with them pressed in. Ran it for about a minute shut it down and checked the voltage. It had 13.0 volts......

I've done the same with the other battery. I discharged it to zero and its been charging for 3 hours and it shows already 12.9 volts .   I'm betting it is going to start the scooter with 165 lbs of compression.  I already tried it before I discharged it to zero and it did spin the motor fast for about 10 seconds and then it seemed to be too weak to do it again.  Since this was the same thing that happened with the other scooter I discharged it to zero too and like I said I am charging it back up.  Sometime this after noon or tomorrow I will try it again..

Next time you guys think you need another battery take a close look and I bet you too can
open up the top and try out the epsom salt fix.  If it worked for me on two car batteries and two scooter batteries it may work for you too. Epson salt and some distilled water is a heck of a lot cheaper than a new battery.

I hope this saves you guys some money. Xmas is coming up...

[76shuvlinoff]

hmmm I have a weak battery in my Polaris 4 wheeler right now .....

Mark

[sfmichael]

doesn't cost much to try and it does work with varying levels on effectiveness

[Ohio HD]

       

[JohnCA58]

Shows you step by step.

http://www.ehow.com/how_10076192_desulfate-battery-epsom-salts.html

[monty101]

Well I read the step by step instructions. I didn't have them.  I just read how to do it after I googled it. I went about it a little different.

I didn't pour the acid in the car batteries out.
I did not put on googles.
I just dumped one teaspoon of epsom salt in each hole and finished filling the battery with   
   distilled water.
I gave each battery about 4 or 5 moderate whacks  with a 2 x 4 too. This is supposed to knock
   off the sulfate on the plates.
The Big difference is I had to discharge the battery and recharge it to get it to develop enough
   cold cranking amps. Before I did that even after charging it neither battery had enough cca to
    turn the motor over.
  I ran into the same crap with the scooter batteries too but they both were bone dry. So, I had
     to put a lot more distilled water in them and I mixed that water with about 6 teaspoons of
     epsom salt.  I had to discharge both of them to before they had enough cca to turn the
     motor over.  I put the water in with a syringe.

  I had to discharge both my big boar 350cca batteries twice and recharge them before they had
      enough cca to spin the motors. The battery in the scooter with 180 lbs of compression will
      easily spin the motor and start it now without having to push is the compression releases.
      the last time I recharged it it took 4 hours to get fully charged. 

  I had some other problems to I had to deal with to get the batteries back into shape:
  I also had to use my air grinder to grind off one of the connectors on each of the batteries.
     They had been abused over the years and were busted up so bad I could no longer use them
      to mount my cables. Most of the connector had cracked and had come off. After I removed
      the old connector. I drilled a 1/4 inch hole down into the  battery about 1/2 inch right below
      where the top hole had been on the connector. If you drill down you will actually drill through
      the lead post that is directly under this connector. When you do stop or you could get into
      the plates. I then  tapped it and used red loctite on an all thread bolt I screwed in the hole. I
      had already put the nuts and washers on the bolt before I red loctited it in. Then i cut the
      head off the top of the bolts and now I got some good bolts to use to bolt the cables too.

I also have heard that if you charge it for a time at high amperage from a charger that you use to start a motor it will knock a lot of the sulfate off. I did not do that because I did not have a charger that would do that.

I have not secured the cover I pried off yet. When i do I will use a hot glue gun to do it.
As it charges it does weep out around the cover but I doubt it will be necessary to seal it
again. When i pried it off it appear to just be stuck on the top of the battery. So, it may not
be necessary to glue it back down.

I have no idea why this worked for me but it did.