Revived old battery.

Looked up some stuff on the internet and found a way to keep a good, but weak battery going.
Mine would not even start the car after sitting over night.Figured it was a sulfate issue, so I was trying to see if there was something to do. I modified the procedure and used less epsom salt than most recommended. After all was said and done, I took a battery that would not even crank over the car to one that sat over a week while I was sick and still cranked right up. I did it to the batt for the omni and it brought it back to life, too.
They make or you can make your own desulfator, but I'm cheap and did not want to build one. So I found a way to do it with just some epsom salt and distilled water. I'm going to see how long it lasts, but for $6 in parts, it won't take long to pay for itself.

Link? Info? Sheesh! :(

My charger has a de sulfate setting, seems to help, but I don't know if it really rejuvenated the batteries I tried it on.

I know you can recondition batteries if the plates are still intact and clean out the sulfate deposits so the plates don't short out and refill with proper electrolyte. I actually have a "bad" battery I kept so I could give this a try ...

I'd love to see the info regarding Epsom salt as this is one I'm not aware of.

Mike

The basic idea is that the Epsom salt helps to desulfate the lead plates. I pulled out just enough liquid from the battery that the level was just above the plates. Heated a few cups of distilled water and dissolved the salt in it. I have seen anywhere from 3-6 tsp to 2 cups of water, but I know I used a little more than that. Added the mixture to each cell to the proper level. Charged the battery on a low charge like 2 amps until charged. Put a head light in the battery(yes it was hooked up to the positive and negative terminals) to slowly run it out. After it was dead, put it back on slow charge until fully charged.
You can do this a few times if you like, as it should get better each time(to a point). I only charged it the one time after discharging it works like new. Some say you should pour out the solution and replace it with new, but I am not that ambitious. On the Omni battery, I took a carbon pile and load tested it 5 times in less than five minutes and it passed every time. Before that, one time and it was fading fast. I didn't test it at 80 or 90 amps either. 200-250 amps each pull.
Obviously the battery can't have a bad cell or be shorted. I saw it online and figured WTH, if it does not work, I buy a battery for it. If yes, I spent 6 dollars on 4lbs of Epsom salts and 2.5 gallons of distilled water. So you can actually do this for less because you don't as much salt or water to do 1-2 batteries.
I am considering doing this to the battery in my intrigue before it gets really bad. It is coming up on 3-4 yrs old. But I'll use a little less salt since it still starts the car.
The specific gravity of all the cells after charging but before the treatment were around 1.100-1.110. After everything, specific gravity rose to over 1.200 and 3-4 were almost 1.250. I know the other battery(one in my 88) was similar in specific gravity to the Omni's battery, but I only charged it after putting the mix in and did not drain it and recharge. I'm not complaining. I almost had to buy 2 new batteries.

Almost? Did it not work on the second?

Yes, Now I don't need to buy 2 new batteries now. Not sure how long it they will last, but it was worth trying. I'll report back more as time goes by.