[PSUBS-MAILIST] DESULFATORS

[HUNTR2@aol.com]

In a message dated 8/6/2003 10:17:42 AM Pacific Daylight Time, buchner@wcta.net writes:


> Speaking of which: what do you know about the latter? Am I thinking 
> correctly, that these are the gizmos connected to the batteries which 
> use a high-frequency pulse or somesuch to loosen sulfation on the 
> plates? I've always been curious about them -- it seems like they'd pay 
> off if it's really true that the main thing requiring deep-cycles to be 
> replaced is loss of capacity due to sulfation.

Hi David.
You are exactly right about what a desulfators do.   I'm checking them out for my farm equipment, but they would be valuable for a psub battery system also.  They come in lots of different sizes and prices, and there is a good website where you can get plans to make your own.  I bought a little one just for single 12 volt batteries but haven't used it enough to see results yet.   The best desulfators use high freq. pulses to send the sulphate crystals back into solution rather than knocking them off the plate to fall to the bottom of the battery, which is what happens when you hit battery with a powerful (50 amp) charge for a few minutes.  That can cause other problems.  I'm no expert, just done a little research on the web.

Sulfation happens every time a battery discharges, but the problem occures when it sits discharged or at lower charge for a longer period or slowly discharges over a long period.  The sulphate crystals get hard and won't readily dissolve when you recharge later.    If you cycle a battery and leave it at full charge and maintain full charge during storage, you have fewer problems.
Gene Seus