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Most manufactured devices do not last a lifetime. Machines, for example, wear out over time and have to be replaced either partly or wholly. In the same way, car batteries get exhausted too. It is, however, possible to bring back a dead battery back to life. A reconditioned battery may not regain its full performance, but 50-70% of its original performance can be restored saving you a lot of money in replacement costs. We are going to take you through some steps on how to recondition dead batteries.
Different types of batteries ranging from the deep gel to the most common car batteries can be reconditioned. It is advisable that one does enough research on how to go about handling the type of battery that he or she intends to recondition. This way, one will achieve the desired results and probably regain a high efficiency in the refurbished battery. Here are the steps on how to recondition dead batteries. In this case, we shall discuss the refurbishment of a lead acid battery that has been sealed, but before then, you need several things to actualize the procedure.
These apparatus are:
• A multimeter or voltmeter.
• Goggles
• Chemical gloves
• Power supply (battery charger)
• Syringe (3 cm)
• Crocodile cords
• Distilled water
Simple Steps on how to recondition dead batteries.
1. Preparation of the dead battery.
- For a sealed battery, remove the cover on top of the battery using a flat screw.
- Locate some three holes and remove the rubber caps (lids) that cover them.
- Proceed to measure the voltage on the battery using a voltmeter
2. Filling the battery with distilled water. Here we are going to use distilled water to fill the dead battery. Distilled water will reactivate the acid in the battery.
- Use a syringe to add distilled water to the three holes until the water overflows.
- After the three holes are full of the distilled water, measure the battery's voltage. You will notice that the voltage has increased by order of some millivolts. At the same time, do not think that you are doing it wrongly if the voltage does not rise.
3. Mix distilled water with battery acid and then charge the battery.
This step aims at ensuring that the distilled water mixes with the initially dry acid in the lead-acid accumulator thus reactivating the dead battery.
- Charge the battery with a DC (Direct Current) battery charger. The battery charger in use must provide voltage not exceeding 12V and not below 9V.
- Wait to see bubbling in the three holes after approximately five minutes from the time charging begun. Do not worry if you can't see bubbles coming out any of the holes. Just reverse the positive and the negative and wait up to a maximum of three minutes.
- After you have waited for the three minutes, you will notice fast bubbling from the holes. Disconnect the battery charger from its power source immediately.
- Now proceed to reconnect the battery with the correct polarity once more
- Suck the overspill from the top of the battery using a syringe.
- Connect the battery charger to the power source and start charging again.
- Measure the voltage at the end of every hour. Do not replace the lids to the three holes until the battery has been charged to, at least, 6.9V.
If you have followed these steps on how to recondition dead batteries to the letter, you can proudly say that you now own a reconditioned lead-acid battery. In the process, you have saved some money that you can use elsewhere. The good thing is that you can also make money if you master this art. People always dispose of dead batteries. This way, you will get dead batteries for free and sell them at a profit after reconditioning them.