EDTA to extend battery life?

[Justin B.]

After being on a 2 amp charge and the desulphator for a week the battery is still not in a condition to start a bike.  Perhaps a 5+ year old BMW Mareg battery that sat un-sharged for a couple of years was an extreme test.  After this treatment the specific gravity of only 2 cells were acceptable, 2 abysmally low, and two in the fair range.  Readings were taken with an American Optical refractometer so I am fairly certain of the values.

This morning I added a little EDTA solution to the 4 weakest cells and threw it back on the charger, we'll see how it goes and if there is some improvement I'll add a little more EDTA.  I did find some acid out in the shed left over from a YUASA battery from years ago so maybe I'll drain the two weakest cells and put in fresh acid after the EDTA has had a chance to clean off the plates.

[mikethebike]

I do appologize if my question sounds a bit stupid, but I would like to know the following:

 Is the desulphator kit ( the high frequincy loader) really needed - in other words, could EDTA not be
 used without the high frequincy loader ?

Regards

Danie

PS. I am also interested in trying to get hold of this stuff .


Reply from Mike

My battery would be almost dead after a week of standing.  After using EDTA it will stand for a couple of weeks and still start the bike.  I had just one cell which lost power when standing which I identified by checking the voltage between individual cells rather than the overall voltage.  I may just have been lucky but a couple of £'s worth of EDTA was cheaper than a new battery of £50 plus.
Mike

[Danie]

Thanks Troy. I decided to try Epson salt, because it is also freely available locally.

Unfortunately I did not have any luck so far. I tried to rescue three batteries, and after I have added Epson salt yesterday, I drained the batteries today, and refilled all with new battery acid today.

The voltage seem to be slightly more on two of the  batteries,  while the voltage on the third battery is much better - however, none of the three batteries seem to hold current - after a while the voltage start dropping again.

I must admit -the first two batteries were lying around for a couple of years, and I did not expect a miricle.....

Regards

Danie

[Justin B.]

Several hours after adding the EDTA my charge current had increased from about 1 amp to 5 amps!  I unhooked everything to let the battery cool down but it almost seems that an internal short has developed in the battery...

[Justin B.]

I have decided to give up on this battery, it was most likely too far gone to save.

I hooked the charger back up and it pegged at 8 amps, I smacked the battery and it dropped to 2 amp draw and slowly started increasing!  I drained the battery and a lot of dark grey/brown sludge came out with the electrolyte so I flushed the cells with water for a while until the water that was poured out was clear and used my remaining supply of acid to refill the cells.

I hooked up the charger and the ammeter pegged so smacked battery again and current draw dropped to a jittery 2-3 amps.  I looked int each cell and 4 were bubbling and 2 were not and a "buzzing" sound would emit from one cell when the current spiked up and go away when I whacked it...  Looking into that cell with a good strong light revealed the tops of the plates were kind of crumbly looking so I suspect the plates were falling apart and shorting out the cell.  Maybe the "sulphation" was the only thing holding them together and after the EDTA dissolved it they disintegrated!  

I ordered a new AGM battery from Gruber Power Services...  

Hopefully I will come across a weakened battery that has not been so severely abused to give the desulphator a more fair test.  Prpobably expecting it to resuce a battery that is falling apart internally is a bit much to ask.  [smiley=evil.gif]