So I tried this and it worked! I was gonna use my dad's old 200amp jump start battery charger, went to use it and it was broken. Did some diag, found out it was the switch, and man they're proud of that switch, $45 for a stupid switch. I bought a 200amp stick welder for $70 on Amazon instead. Tried it on my brother's old battery, which only had ~250cca in it, brought it around to ~500cca after only 3 cycles. I'm so happy, saved a bit of money, had some fun with family, and now I get to stick weld things. Always wanted to have a reason to get a stick welder. THANKS UNCLE TONY 💜
I've been using this process for many years. I live off grid. My solar power battery bank will get very weak after a few years use. I use much less amperage over many hours time to rejuvenate the cells. Yes, this process is for real and it does work very well. The real test is to use a battery testing hydrometer to check the specific gravity of the electrolyte in each cell. Check the SG before and after charging. That's the correct way to see how much it improved the battery performance. This process is not BS. It works very very well! Note: it's much safer and much easier on the battery if you use far less amperage and let it run for many hours. For a small car battery, 10 amps is enough. Depending on how bad the battery condition is, It may take 24 hours or more. Check the voltage as it's charging. It needs to be maintained at around 16.5 volts. Also check the electrolyte specific gravity of each cell from time to time. The process is complete when each cell has reached a specific gravity of 1.265. This is the proper way to do this. Using very high amperage for a short time is extremely hard on the lead plates. It will get far to hot.
All your talking about is charging a battery with a regular battery charger. The point of the video is how to REVIVE a bad battery that wouldn't take a charge or pass a load test. Not the proper way to charge a good battery
@@shamust77 no, one needs a uncontrolled batt charger. One that will not stop charing over 14.2 volts. To revive the batt, the charger needs to charge up to at least 16.5 volts DC. I've been using this method for nearly 15 years. I know what I'm talking about!
@@shamust77 that's what I'm talking about is reviving an otherwise no good for nothing battery. A batt that will no longer take or hold a charge. A batt that no matter how much you charge it with a regular batt charger. It won't take a good charge and the specific gravity of the cell electrolytes will not have a proper SG. MY method is basically the same as your method. It reliquidfies/dissolves the "crystallzed" sulfuric acid that collects on the lead plates. But my method is much gentler on the lead plates. Longer batt life using my way. My off grid house batteries cost a good sum of money. Long life is important to me!
Works great!!! I used a 12v charger with 50amp jump setting and left it on for two days outside caps off and i revived a 15 yr old schwab battery that was sitting out side for 5 yrs dead. Runs my chevy 2500hd like a champ.
Hey, it good to hear it worked with 50 amp charging for 2 days. In my case, I only have a charger with 20map max. Do you think it will work with longer charging time?
My dad was doing this on our farm 30 years ago. He was always trying things. Don't know how he lived to 87 years. I have a 50 year old Associated Battery charger that on high charges at 18 volts. Works very good for this. I don't let anyone else use it, NOT because they will hurt the charger, BUT because like I did once, they will fry electronics. When I was 11 my dad had me driving the truck around the field at harvest. I couldn't see out so good so I sat on top of the extra battery. I knew not to sit on the top so i put it on its side. Later that day I asked why the back of my dads pants were getting large holes.....He had red buns for a few days. Be careful with battery acid. Thanks Tony!
Tony, just for the record, batteries can and do indeed blow up if aggressively overcharged with a welder(ac/dc or dc welder - electrode positive dc setting). Twice I had seen a battery "explode". Once next to me while a fellow crew member try to jump-start a dead battery with jumper cables on an aircraft tow tractor with another tow tractor on an aircraft carrier. He shorted the battery out and it exploded, I got a face full of acid, and the top of the battery was gone. The next time was a decade later while I was working(ironworker) on a jobsite and a coworker tried to use a gas-driven welder to "charge" a dead battery and he overcooked it on the highest dc setting(300 amps), it completely exploded, there was virtually nothing left except the very bottom part of the battery and tiny bit of the internal lead/antimony plates and the battery box was blown apart. Exploding batteries can and will cause severe harm with very serious injuries and even death from shrapnel from the exploding battery.
I've seen it happen about 6 times or so. All but one just blew the top off and splashed a relatively small amount of acid. The last one was more powerful and threw acid all under the hood. I assume because the level of liquid was down inside the battery in one or more cells, leaving more room for the hydrogen/oxygen to accumulate and it's already in the ideal concentration to explode.
With the covers off they can’t explode because they can’t build up pressure.they’ll just boil all the water off and cause different problems if you don’t watch it. Doing this with a sealed maintenance free battery would be iffy unless you drill some vent holes.
My buddy left a battery charging on 200 amp I'm not sure for how long he had it on there he gets distracted easy and kind of an old burnout. But one thing I am sure of is that battery exploded like a star going supernova. Two and three from five kinda stuff. Man I'm glad nobody got hurt because it could've been life changing for someone. Father is great
@@wormhole331 hydrogen and oxygen in the perfect ratio inside and around the outside of the battery. Those caps aren't exactly bolted down when they are installed. I know someone that was fast charging a dead battery. He was in the hospital 17 days before coming out of the induced coma while they replaced parts of his skull, jaw and other body parts. Anyone doing this thinking that safety glasses will protect them is miss informed.
As a mechanic and a welder I can only think where this could go wrong in reality. That is where the broken plate would arc across it's gap and ignite the hydrogen gas internally like I have had happen to me. The plates stick together just enough to get things to start to charge, but when you hit the key and full amps are drawn from the cell the plate warps and separates causing an internal arc that ignites the gas quite explosively. This is much different than charging the battery and pulling the clip off creating an external spark. Both go boom but the external spark an we'll be avoided. Whenever messing with lead acid batteries a face shield should be your first line of defense. If for any reason you feel uncomfortable doing this sort of work trade your old battery in on a new one.
i did think think it was dumb to have welder sitting beside it i assume its a new dc stick welder but i would have sat on the floor below the battery...
Mate it'll scary to me I lost an eye in battery explosion a spark near the top the battery blew to pieces one of the terminals took my eye out face damage acid it's not a good thing trying new things with battery's just on the charger is enough. Cheers
Tony's wife gave up a long time ago trying to keep him from getting killed. She decided to just film it so that the cops don't think she had anything to do with it.
Dude you're a genius! I have a 9-year-old farm battery (very large car battery) brand new never ever used. I bought it 9 years ago to power a winch that I never ended up using. It won't take a charge. I have a car charger/jump starter, a big one you plug into a wall outlet. I connected it to the battery on boost mode 40Amps and left it for 5 minutes. Now my battery is at 10V and holds voltage when I test it using the same battery tester that you have. I am going to do this several more times. I didn't want to throw out a brand new battery (will try to sell it and the winch), you rule!
You could let that battery sit overnight and retest it. If it passes a load test then it should be good. Most generally a overnight sitting will reveal if it's still good or not. A bad battery won't hold a charge very long at all.
They can hold a charge for over a week or even more and still be bad. A battery can pass a load test but when it sits a few days it can discharge itself if it has "dendrites" which are thin slivers of lead that get electroplated from dissolved lead in the solution. When one of those crosses from positive to negative plates inside the battery that cell will drain and depending on how thick the tendril is is how quickly it will run down. With the type of battery that you can pull the caps off, after you charge a battery you can let it sit overnight disconnected and check the specific gravity of the acid with a hygrometer (works like an antifreeze tester) and if one or two cells test lower than the others, those cells are bad and the battery will discharge faster than normal. On an older vehicle that doesn't have a computer or modern radio, etc and thus, no normal parasitic drain that keeps the memory alive a marginal battery might stay charged enough to start the vehicle over a week where that same battery on a newer vehicle might go down in a day or so. Something that can happen that runs one down quickly is a piece of a plate coming loose and shorting inside. When they don;t pass a load test that's usually because of a bad connection that isn't an open circuit, just not a good enough connection inside the battery somewhere to pass the normal amount of current.
Good idea. Never crossed my mind to use a welder. We always just used one of those heavy duty battery chargers. The ones with the 200amp boost. We would fill with water, plug in the 200 amp cables. Let it boil for 10-15 min. Then let it cool for an hour +. Then repeat. We usually did that 4 or 5 times for the great big ones. Usually only 2 or 3 that mes for the smaller car batteries. We kinda judge them by how fast they begin to violently boil. Brings them back from the dead. Good vid UT. *Edit. The charger must be the old school style analog. Not the electronically controlled ones, they will shut down before they do their job.
I would strongly advise against using a welder for this. A CC CV power supply can accomplish the same goal in a much safer way. Set the current to 100ma and set the voltage to 40v. When it reaches the current limit and drops below 15v, change the current limit to 2.5a and the voltage limit to 14.4v. Let it charge until it is drawing under 100ma (this may take over 24hrs). Then set the voltage to 20v at 0.5a for an hour. After that, it's fully desulfated, and the battery has a much lower likelihood of exploding because of the lower temperature and current. I've had a lot of batteries short out using this method, but none have exploded.
That how I'm doing right now as we speak,....I'm no genius but as I am doing this, I figured I'd come here to see what says Google and RUclips If you cab weed through the bullshit, you will find the smartest people on the planet here, thank you sir.
I run the battery room at my work, we mostly use AGM but the same process works with lead acid. If the battery is low clean it and top off(duh) hook to low amp charger. If it doesn't take. Run high amp for 15 minutes, then hook up to low amp. When you shock it back to life you're only charging the top of the battery and need low amp and time to bring to full health. Hope this helps someone.
I'm not altogether sure what he means by topping off, although I will assume he means to fully charge it such that there is a surface charge above nominal voltage. For instance, a wet cell lead acid battery has a nominal voltage of 12.3 volts but can rest at 12.6 volts. The three tenths of a volt above nominal would be considered the surface charge or, "topped up". AGM batteries have a nominal voltage of 12.6 but can be charged to a resting voltage of 12.7-13.1 volts and the same applies to the resting level above nominal. If I'm wrong in my assumption, I'd appreciate a correction.
@@gpetheri it has similarities. I believe the point of distilled water is so it is not conductive which means that dirt would counteract the distilation in this scenario.
Hehehe! I always wash the battery off before I pop the caps off. If battery cable ends are already corroded to hell, don't waste your time with it. At that point, it's leaking around the posts
Awesome! It works, too! Just tested an old 12v riding mower battery at 1.4, charged it at 60amp for 60 seconds and it read 12.6! Before the trickle charger was too "smart" to even recognize it was hooked up and now it's happily trickling away... BTW, the lawn mower batteries are sealed so careful if anyone tries this at home because the offgas has nowhere to go!
My old auto-tech vocational school instructor told us the story of the exploding battery on a student and with him about to 'whip it out and neutralize the acid.' I think this is an auto tech instructor hand me down story but is real none the less. Great memories learning about car batteries
Just make sure to use air to blow out the explosive gas from the cells and have a fan blowing on it when charging and working on them. Ive rebuilt many electric forklift and handjack batteries and thankfully none of them exploded.
Interesting. This reminds me of something my grandfather told me many years ago, he was an engineeer for Union Pacific, he retired in the late 60's, early 70's so this was before rechargeable batteries. He said when their flashlights would get dim or die, they would take their flashlight batteries and connect them to the big batteries on the locomotives for a few seconds and it would revive their flashlight batteries.
If they were alkaline cells, they are not "rechargeable", but they actually are. The problem is that the non-rechargeable cells tend to leak after recharging, at least in my own experience(usually a week or two later). They also greatly lose capacity over a couple of cycles. I totally believe you could hook one up to a single cell on the locomotive(possibly lead-acid?) and charge it for a bit. Current would be limited by the internal resistance of the cells at least.
@@MacRobbSimpsonif it is cheap zinc carbon you can get about 1/3rd to a half charge back in them but you are right about the chance of them leaking shortly after. It’s a quick and dirty fix on batteries like that but once they have been revived it’s best to get shot of them after a day or two.
It works. I've done it. It's an electrical 'brute force' technique. I've done the same reviving many kinds of small batteries; using a pulse width modulator - which pulses the charge and keeps the battery from overheating; perfect for sealed batteries. The reason the welder works better than high amp battery charger, comes down to charge voltage. The welder is running at 16-19 VDC. The success of any brute force technique is the overvoltage. I used to do chemical desulfating on coffin batteries; for buses, motorhomes, heavy equip. It was a long and messy job. I much prefer the electrical method. For ultimate/OCD results, one could pour the acid through a fine stainless filter, to remove particulates; that have sluffed off of the plates. This may/may not improve longevity. Based on what i have learned, the next auto battery I do I'm going to apply some pulse applications. Going to try 1 min on, 2 min off, 10 cycles and see if that produces desired results.
Would a 200 amp DC welder work for motorcycle batteries if you turn the amperage down? One of the videos I saw said to get a 160 amp welder for smaller batteries and deep cycle batteries and a 200 amp welder for larger automotive batteries but I'm not buying 2 different welders.
I worked on a DC power plant that had over 600 large batteries and put out over 7,000 amps. We always had eye wash kits and splash proof goggles on site for safety. Because the lead acid batteries were not exposed to the heat from under a hood or freezing winter temperature's some were rated for 60 years. When I retired some of the batteries were well over 25 years old and still going strong.
25 years and still going strong😶 do you know the chemistry of the batteries? Sounds similar to the nickel-iron alkaline cells used in the original Baker electric cars. They were very heavy, very large, they charged very slowly, you couldn't pull massive current BUT... they weren't negatively affected by repeated deep discharges due to the electrolyte having a low solubility of the reactants. They also had a life rating between 30 and 50 years... With very basic maintenance..
@@angryman3317 They are standard lead acid batteries. I should have said that the output of the plant was 7,000 amps and the plant is sized so the equipment can run on the batteries for over 24 hours. We did monthly voltage test on individual cells and would do a discharge test on the plant once a year where we would let the equipment run off the batteries. I would run the backup generator once a month for an hour and it would take about 100 gallons of diesel to run it for that hour. I never checked out what would be the maximum output current. We also checked if the batteries needed water once a month.
l Have some experience with similar large cells, they were lead calcium, low specific gravity, fully charged at 1.220 SG and 2.2 volt per cell. The cases were clear so that you see inside them, each case held one cell. They were connected together in series strings using large metal straps. There was several inches of space below the plates for sediment to harmlessly fall and collect. They had to be topped up with distilled water about every 6 months and were rated for 25 years service.@@angryman3317
And never charge a frozen battery.. acid runs back into the plate once discharged! Smelly batteries equals nasty booms . 1/4” of water over the plate . It will rise once fully charged.. 12.75 and above each cell . If blackened or dropped against the crew … its a dead core. 12 years of making sure Chicagoans had batteries to start the rides 82% of the volume of them was our warehouse.
I'm one of the unfortunate ones that had a battery blow up in my face. The pieces of battery cut my face and forehead, my coveralls deteriorated when I washed them. I was more upset over loosing my coveralls, hide grows back! I'm still thankful to the lord I didn't loose an eye!
Same thing happened to my dad one night trying to jump my mother's car at the grocery store. Top of the battery is what saved his eyes from the acid. Still a bad situation and a wake up call to just how quick things can go south👆💯
@@waylonmccrae3546 it sparked when I took the cable off, I guess it ignited the gas coming off the battery. This happened in 1984, since then I always turn my head when hooking anything to a battery.
I've had a couple blow up in my face as well because in those moments of genius I turned on the charger before attaching the cables. The gas is hydrogen, btw, and it loves a spark. A professional desulfation is pretty much what you've done here, the only difference is the rate of pulsation of the current introduced into the battery.
AKA: Hindenburg..! Boom! another MAJOR difference here is the COMPLETE lack of safety.. not to forget his wife being close enough to get hurt or burnt by acid as well.
Arc welders come in both AC and D.C. make sure you are using a welder with D.C. output or if yours is capable of both set it on D.C. looks like tony is using a harbor damage 225 amp D.C. unit. Also many units are capable of reversing the polarity so there's that too.
There are three basic types of lead-acid batteries used in automobiles and boats. The old style is referred to as flooded batteries like Tony was using. These can be maintenance style with removable caps to replenish the water. Variants of these either have water recapture like the Surette Roll$ batteries or may be totally sealed. A second variant is that the battery’s plate architecture is designed either for high cold cranking amperage for starting only or for deep discharge such as the batteries used on house circuits on boats or in golf carts. Automotive starting batteries do not like to be discharged too much. The next type of batteries is the gel cell. In these the electrolyte is not a liquid but as the name implies is a gel. The advantage of these is that they can be operated in any orientation, even upside down. My old Miata had one and they are popular on motorcycles. They do not like to be over discharged. If so, they will likely die. Whew, long post. Finally we get the the AGM battery. AGM stands for Absorbed Glass Mat a cross between flooded and gel cells. Supposedly these batteries can be used like car starter batteries for their high CCA, Cold Cranking Amperage, or as a deep discharge battery. The difference in the three types is their physical construction. The chemistry is the same. Each of these types has a different charging regime. Most modern battery chargers have three phases. Bulk feeds the highest amperage up to about 80% of the battery’s capacity. After that the charger drops to a lower amperage in the absorption phase which takes the battery up to 95% capacity. Finally the battery is on the Maintenance Charge also called the float. The three types of batteries discussed here have different characteristics in the three phases. The AGM can take the highest charge rate of the three, but a charger designed for flooded batteries can also be used on AGM. Gel Cell batteries use a different regimen and never the twain shall meet.
Nice science lesson but what am I supposed to get out of it? At some point in that long, informative post you could have addressed if this method works on anything but flooded batteries.
@@MH-53E Sorry, I never tried it. I wouldn’t leave batteries around on the ground in my yard in any event. I’m more concerned with being able to start my boat’s engine, run my radios, and keep my USCG required lighting lit. I’m not that interested in saving a few dollars when my life is at stake.
@@datasailor8132 Seems to me you are more interested in showing others that you are the smartest guy in the room, which I seriously doubt. Intelligent people don't have to do this, it simply shines through. Or it doesn't...
Have been using load sensor like yours to get batteries from the dump and u look for batteries not bulging on the ends . It seems if a battery shows a good voltage under load it has some life left. If a battery is in the dump it usually has been sitting around for some time before it arrived at the dump .have been using them for off grid uses. Try your idea with a battery that clearly bulging on the ends.i use that type of welder as a fast charger use a volt meter to regulate the voltage to about 15v .I use welder with generator to fast charge fridge batteries in early evening when camping so as to only run generator a short time.
This works very well. I did it last weekend on a battery from my Suburban. It failed to start and had to be jumped several times recently. The battery would not hold a charge anymore after being on a standard charger for several hours. Now it's just like new - full cranking power even after leaving headlights on for 5 minutes, or sitting overnight. Thanks Uncle Tony !
Forklift battery chargers litterally do this as a desulfation setting and prompt you to refill the water level directly afterward because they actually boil a lot of the water off during the process it definitely works
Thanks for taking us along on your experiment with the rejuvenation of the battery . I am going to find out more about doing this . I am anxious to see how that the battery holds up, so give us updates . Thanks for the information and I will see you later on another video . So be careful and stay safe out there .
Would like to have seen a load test before the welder hack just to show how bad the battery was. I have seen dead batteries come back when the normal draw of the vehicle has been off for some time.
One note for the water to have on hand in case you get acid on you: Yes have water with you but before hand mix in a couple tablespoons of baking soda. The Hydroxide in it will be buffered so that itself will not be too basic but if you use it to wash away the sulfuric acid from the battery it will actually neutralize the acid. Do not use baking soda+water to refill the battery.
Yep you can also use any basic chemical, like household soap to neutralize the acid. Though you should never mix large amounts quickly or it may react violently.
Seems like a good idea, but I would just use water because you have plenty of it and you are not introducing a new element. The acid with neutralize and dilute as more water is added.
@@whummer98 Using a basic chemical to neutralize it is much more efficient at raising the pH of the solution than diluting it. You can just spray some soapy water on any spills and it will neutralize it so it doesn't dissove your clothes or burn you.
@@HB-ps6rnI am well aware of the chemistry, but when it comes to safety it's best to use water and only water. There are exception cases when dealing with pure acids and bases which this is not the case. BTW, you are aware there is a different gas that comes out of the reaction, correct? Unless you plan to feed the plants with it its not safe for humans. Point here is to teach basic safety with acids and bases not specific cases which could get someone hurt not know the chemical reactions involved.
@@whummer98 I don't think it would matter too much with a small spill of battery acid. If you are talking about more concentrated solutions then water can be just as dangerous to add to acid. Also neutralizing sulfuric acid with lye results in water and sodium sulfate which is found in laundry detergent and food dyes, and isn't toxic. No gas formation other than boiling water if you mix too much at once. It really is something that can reduce the severity of chemical burns if you get some on yourself.
Absolutely, learned this working on farmer electric fence batteries👍. I used old school shop battery chargers that had several options to help car crank.
If you only put in enough water to cover the cells and watch it, you can top it off after it settles down that way you don't lose acid due to boil over. On another note you mentioned the possibility of a cracked connection between cells I was full fielding an older blazer with the external regulator the battery blew up the acid hit the hood and rained down on the back of my head. I was glad it wasn't a Ford with the regulator behind the battery.
This guy is a nut. He should of had fan blowing in that area. I've seen one blow up on a auto shop teacher. In the 80s never had a problem when I worked on car batteries in my career working in cars. I always had a fans in doors.
Great video, been doing this for years it does work. Not on every batt depends on the plates like you said. If the battery isn't shorted/cells aren't damage that process works 8 of 10 times. Great job man!!
You should clean the top of the battery before you remove the caps. Then wipe around the holes so nothing gets in it. And using a smaller container makes it easier to pour without getting water everywhere. That being said, I never do any of those steps. I do recommend keeping a small bottle of distilled water in your trunk in case you need top off your battery.
This is simply using the high current DC to reverse the chemical reactions in the battery that has led to the sulfation buildup. Sweet Project Cars showed this on his channel a while back, and I have used this to revitalize my old batteries for a few years. Do this in 5 to 10 min increments. Do not use it above 80 amps, as that will cause trapped gases to blow out of the top. Always have baking powder nearby to rescue/neutralize any spill or splashed sulfuric acid. Several treatments should be enough to give the battery a new lease on life. Make sure it has enough time cool before each treatment. Nice video.
That's the main video that I watched learning how to do this but he says to get a 160 amp welder for motorcycle batteries and deep cells and a 200 amp welder for bigger automotive batteries. I don't see why that's necessary if you can turn the amperage down on the 200 welder and up for bigger batteries. Any thoughts on this? I'm not getting two different welders.
Your a lifesaver, I have hooked a battery up to 110 volt outlet and tripped the breaker four times and the battery worked perfectly fine after that, your method seems better
I used to do this at a used car lot , I talked the owner into buying me a old style big battery charger and would boil old batteries . It saved him a ton of money on batteries
I think my biggest concern would be to keep the top of the battery dry as NOT TO SHORT CIRCUIT between the terminals. This should also be a part of routine maintenance to make sure there are no wet tracks between those terminals which will cause overnight voltage leakage/drain.
I'm not an electrician but, aren't all the cells connected via the water/acid inside the battery? Isn't the path of least resistance through the terminals?
I've had great results desulfating batteries, i used to take good cores when I worked at advance and refurbish them, gotten friends out of jams many times with my hoarder stash of fully charged batteries of all sizes. I just use the repair function on a NOCO genius charger, works same or slightly better than the standalone pwm desulfator I was using previously. to get full results with my method can take 1-2 weeks, I just swap the leads to the next battery every couple days so they all get it evenly
also, if anyone does this, dont bother attempting if the battery is AGM or gel, including Optima betteris. it just doesn't work. only flooded batteries will be improved, you'll make an AGM worse and maybe even melt a gel
I had 2 batteries that were weak due to not driving since pandemic hit. My Titanium 200 welder on stick function allows you to produce DC at 16 to 20 volts and 30 to 60 amps, and very little AC or pulsing was measured by AC DVM. Did 3 sessions, 5 minutes each with good gas bubbling (outdoors). Both batteries regained charge and now show 20% to 50% voltage improvement, and stronger output current. 1 week later still stronger.
The more "sessions" you do the more the battery improves. If you have to do 8, do 8, if more do more. 3 sessions is only for relatively good batteries. I had to do 8 sessions to revive a dead 12V battery that showed only 6V and now works, starts the car and holds a charge overnight.
Back in the 40s,50s,60s,and 70s old men had those 150-200 amp battery chargers in their garages and they'd cook their auto batteries like this every few years or so whenever they started getting weak... They rejuvenated their batteries for many years instead of replacing them every couple or 4 years such as is the norm today...
If you mix baking soda in the water you have standing by in case of accidental skin contact, it will neutralize the pH. Much better than diluting to relieve the burn.
You can get a bag of soda at Costco that is about 15lbs for like $6. Handy to have around for acid neutralization, and you can safely put out grease/oil fires with it
That good for blowing the buildup that ends up bringing the plates over, it kinda just blows the shorted part out, et’s you have all the cells back operational again. It’s always worked for me and a pretty good success rate. But you’re still get a battery that has no hope for it here in there. Great info and hands on video.. thanks
Desulfinating is actually reversing the polarity for a nano second using capacitive discharge. With the right charged capacitor you can even revive those small (non-lithium) batteries making them like new.
Oh the sweet memories of having a battery blow up in my face. This is good to know. Hopefully you get some longevity out of that old Battery. Happy New Year to UTG
I used to rebuild 3000lb electric forklift batteries and we made sure to use air to blow out the gas from the cells and use a fan when we solder back the lead cell connectors on top. I was always worried about those big batteries exploding but thankfully none of them did. We did rebuild those electric forklift batteries in our shop but it was well ventilated.
10 years ago I had one of those big lift truck batteries hanging static on a hoist with a 2-leg J hook chain sling hooked on the two lift eyes on the battery. It was hanging totally static, not swinging or in motion, for about 1 or 2 minutes while my attention was momentarily diverted to correct something on the lift truck that was about to receive the battery. It was hanging about chest high, about 4 or 5 steps away from me and was never out of my sight. I was alone in the area, no other personnel present. Suddenly one of the lift eyes on the battery just snapped, and when it swung down the J hook on the other end came out and battery crashed to the floor. That lift eye showed no sign of cracks or damage when I hooked the sling on it. I was in the habit of inspecting the chain and the lift points of anything I hooked up in my 30 years at that employer, and that lift eye on that battery had the appearance of being just as solid as any other I had lifted before. When I slapped those hooks on it the steel sounded as solid as any other. It was spooky weird the way that battery lifted perfectly normal and was hanging perfectly still when the lift eye just snapped. I figure that somehow the steel of the lift eye was weakened by contact with acid. The lesson I learned was never let the battery get any closer than arm's reach when suspended and keep others away from it during any lifting. Don't ever trust a big battery when it's hanging on a chain.
@@onemoremisfit We had several people drop those batteries when they didnt make sure the J hook was completely inside the lift holes in the battery. It was a scary sight to be called to the battery room when a 3000lb forklift battery is turned upside down on the floor with battery acid spilling out and the positive and negative cable was underneath and shorting out on the battery case.
@@Face2theScr33n Those batteries were lifted countless times. They were in a large designated area with rows of chargers, rows of rack stands for the batteries of numerous different types, bay post mounted fans to keep the gasses ventilated, eye wash stations, etc. The batteries were maintained there by other designated personnel who were not present because I was off shift at the time. All lift chains throughout the plant were regularly inspected and fitted with dated inspection tags by certified blacksmiths. But I didn't see that scrutiny applied to lift points of battery cases. The battery cases were heavy overbuilt steel with lift points formed into each end. As far as I could tell nobody really questioned them beyond watching for obvious damage, of which I never saw any myself. The broken lift eye showed no stretching at the break point on my quick look after it broke, but I didn't have time to examine it because I had to hustle to get a water hose and flush all the acid running all over the floor to a drain. I had to call other people immediately to report the incident and they took over. I have no idea what, if any, their findings were. I got disciplined over the incident, but that's another story. There could have been a hidden crack, but there was no way for me to tell while I was hosing down the metal and worrying about the acid spill. Cracked metal often makes a telltale sound, and I heard nothing like that when I hooked it up. I have lifted a lot of large objects weighing 10 tons or more with bridge crane hoists and large chain slings, often with purpose built lifting devices as well. I have a modicum of training and experience doing that. I'm not a chemical or metallurgical expert, but it appeared to me that steel was somehow embrittled and weakened. Those battery cases have the unique situation of being continuously exposed to acid fumes. Nobody saw it happen but me. I will tell anyone who will listen that if you lift big batteries on the job, don't ever trust those damn things.
@@onemoremisfit I'm thinking that if you didn't see it, it was metal fatigue. Steel can become weak when loaded enough times, even well below the yield threshhold. I'm not an engineer, so I'm not sure if it's the same as when a metal "work hardens", but seems to be so. I need to buy some engineering books or something. You would see oyster-shell looking marks on the broken end of the fastener. Anyway, definitely glad you survived and nobody got hurt.
Your advice about keeping water neat NY is great, however to be really safe I suggest you add Baking Soda to the water. The baking soda will neutralize the acid. A A few years ago, I had a battery blow up in my face. I yelled for my wife to bring me baking soda and water. I rinsed my eyes for several minutes and then went to the ER. The doctor told me that my quick decision to use soda to neutralize the acid most likely saved me from being blind.
Thank you for this video. I watched your video and a couple of others as well. The battery in my Slant 6 D100 died a little more each time I charged it. Finally going from 100% to 10% in about 2 1/2 starts. At that point I took the battery to my welder and applied 150 Amps 4 times for 15 minutes each over several hours letting it cool down between each charge. I put it in the truck and after 6 starts trying to figure out why it won't run properly the battery never showed any signs of losing power. I think you saved me at least $80 with this video. Thank you.
I seen one guy revive batteries like you did and he would pour out the old battery solution after getting the scale burned off and put in new solution. He said it would last longer and keep the old scale from getting back on the cells.
The same can be done with a charger with 200 amp start function. Charge at 200 amps for 15 minutes and let cool for an hour. Do that cycle 5 times. With the caps off. Each cycle you should see more action in the liquid. By the last cycle all cells should be boiling.
The welder trick does actually work, the science behind it is the crystals (sulfation) grow big enough to short plate to plate, the only part you where inaccurate about was the constant charge, under constant trickle sulfation will redissolve, but for extremely heavy sulfation (plate to plate) short no trickle won't work.......an improvement to your method is "shock" with welder then use a dedicated solar panel over a week to recondition the plates and peak the battery........all that said, good video and 99.9% correct, a little dangerous but still good info
Did you mention the welder needs to be DC? Most people would know that but you can bet some damned fool is hooking up an old Lincoln AC welder to a battery right now. I'm guessing the results won't be good.
@@dc6233 You know DC makes perfect sense but until I saw this comment it hadn't occurred to me. DUH! This is why I always read the comments. The life I save could be my own!
@termonostruman Yeah living in Minnesota I don't mess with old batteries. Saving a few bucks isn't worth it when it's below zero and doesn't start. However if I had something just to use in the summer and didn't care if it didn't start, like a lawnmower I might try saving an old battery. Although I've just always bought new one for those too.
Automatic battery chargers use impedance to charge the cells. If they detect an open circuit they switch off. When impedance (resistance) drops the charger adjusts to a lower amperage.
Hydrogen gas is extremely volatile when if it burns it makes one heck of a flame. Since it is a gas it can if in a great amount of volume displace the oxygen in the lungs and smother you. Tonies warning and suggestion on shutting the charger off before disconnecting the charger is the way to go. Any way you look at it. Tony is right, do this outside and make sure you watch this several times so you will not miss one of his steps or safety tips. He does a good job with safety related videos. Thanks Tony
That's a fine way, I've been talking very old dead battery's starting at age17 &now 65. To remove the algae build up on the outside of the cells I take a teaspoon of epsom salt to each cell & then top off the battery with water between the top of the cells & the beginning of each cell filler hole. Charge the battery in the same way you did building up the voltage over time the smell can sometimes get very strong as the cells are boiled clean. I've taken 2 truck battery's & a set of Arc welding leads to weld on the PTO for the Semi's dump bucket with just the 2 battery's the tractor frame is 18 inch c-channel. I did 4 truck's but only 1 was with the battery's.Get back with me after you try it out, you will be amazed what you can do.
You're amazing, and nuts. I use a fan to blow the gasses away, and clean the top of the batt. to prevent a short accross the dirty water. A dead cell from mechanical failure kills the batt. permanently; I have seen some that the lead has crumbled and fallen off the frames inside, and there are no longer plates inside. Love you guys.
Should have charged it for a couple cycles to see if it would hold a charge. If not, then buzz it. I just charged a battery that was unused for a year and a half. Came up to a full charge.
Thank you for being "Safety Second, Maybe Third" kind of a guy , I love the pause when maybe check progress after a minute or two ? nope! lets pump up the amps to 80 ! couple minutes more ? quick safety check heat maybe? nope " 100amps" "now boiling violently lets is cook it", And rocked back to life and load tests into red-hot load test for 30 seconds!! fucking maverick! rock on warlord !
3:24 "You have to use distilled water. Why? Because science!!!" lol Pours distilled water all over a dirty battery hoping some will go into the cells. hahaha. Minerals!!!! It's science!!!! "Let's minimize our exposure to this acid." Let me grab a napkin with my bare hands... "Folks, DON'T do this inside!!!" Hooks up welder while the battery caps have been off for a while. Batteries boiling and no fan on it. Steps back for safety. lol 13:45 "So just out of curiosity..."because remember, this was sitting outside in the elements so naturally it's...uh...got to be bad, right?..."
A critical piece of information missing from this "instruction" is that your welder needs to be configured for DCEP, with the electrode going to the plus terminal and your work lead going to the minus.
@@katherinew1366 It is obvious, however many arc welders use a positive work (ground) lead and a negative electrode...the electrons flow from the electrode to the work. This would be the wrong polarity of you clamp the electrode to the positive and the work clamp to the negative (as seen in this video), that's why it's important to be using DC Electrode Positive (DCEP) for this setup.
Back in 1967 my school auto shop teacher showed the class this procedure, I have a charger with a high boost setting and did this on the farm for many years. Some batteries did bang and split top or sides. Remove battery from vehicle, tractor, stationary power unit beforehand.
That's true batteries definitely can explode. I've had it happen to me, I had an old Oldsmobile that had a flat camshaft. and because of that the engine wouldn't crank over. so I turned my father's Marquette battery charger all the up on high. and went to turn the ignition switch, I turned it to cranking position and blew the top of battery. going inside the car to crank it over saved me from getting hurt there's another method for rejuvenating batteries that calls for the use of epsom salts and only requires regular battery charger it's supposed to work but I haven't tried yet.
I've got 30' leads on my welder and a stack of 50 batteries. I'm going to do this when spring hits, outside of course. Yes, Face shield is mandatory. The only thing I'll do differently is after treatment I'll drain all the acid, rinse out the sludge with distilled water and filter the acid, then replace.
First check if the cells are not rotten by acid. Its enough just one to be slightly damaged, and your repair would be useless. If they are older than 5 years, chances are most of them are gone. Been there, seen that. Not worth it. Just take them to a recycling center. Youll get few good bucks on them.
@@dan_6915 Thanks Dan. Before seeing this I was going to dismantle the batteries and extract the lead plates and make a Plante battery. So if it works, great! If not, I still win.
@@Waynus888 I've been collecting them for the past several years for my Plante type battery project. It's not difficult. Ask at garage sales. Lots of people have an old battery lying around they don't know what to do with.
I had heard years ago from the SUN salesman that you can use a true carbon pile load tester to revive a dead battery. In a nut shell you charge the battery to whatever it would take and then put the load tester on it and crank it all the way up until the battery is dead. then charge it again and repeat until the battery holds a charge. He said it causes the plates to vibrate and heat up. The crust would fall to the bottom of the battery. I have a battery that has been sitting in my shed since 2012. I think I am going to try this. I'll let you know.
You left the battery very dirty, removed the caps, topped off the battery, then wiped off the battery, pushing dirt into it. You're a lot smarter than that Tony.
They aren't really sealed. The modern lead-acid batteries hide flat caps under the labels. It's a styling thing, but they are always there. Use a flat blade screwdriver to remove them. The gas has to have vents and fill ports. The vent is usually a hidden common rail with the exhaust port on the side.
Great video, this follows the VIR law, Voltage, Current, Resistance. So the plates are insulated because of sulfation buildup on the plates, which intern gives the circuit higher resistance, so the battery will now not take current at normal voltage because resistance is to high. So if we raise voltage it will allow current to flow overcoming the resistance. DC arc welders output 20-40v DC under load from what I've read, put a multimeter on terminals when it's charging and see what voltage it's reading. You could then determine using a clamp meter how much current the battery will take if you wind the welder up for a second and via VIR law workout the resistance of the battery. Also another interesting thing to back this up is an alternator in a car is capable of producing 100amps on most cars, but there is a regulator to limit the voltage to around 14volts, otherwise the battery would be doing the same thing in your car driving down the road. Lastly when I do this I attach a thermal probe to the side of the battery and monitor the temperature.
Thanks for the process. Can this method be used for sealed lead acid batteries also ? That's maintenance free batteries. Thanks and may God bless you chief.
Thanks Tony, going to try this trick myself, have a dozen or so batteries that are past prime. Going to give them another crack at life. Auto mechanic myself and haven't heard of this trick before
Think about all those times you're driving a 2 lane road at 60 mph with traffic coming at you just a few feet away at their 60 mph. It's amazing Human Beings haven't obliterated themselves off the planet.
I have had good luck somthing like this. I always mixed distilled water with epsom salt and filled it up then put it on my 30 year old napa booster. Let it charge for a few hours come out to top off and good to go.
@@ebutuoyebutouy It varies. tig on steel and flux core are generally dcen. Stick and mig are generally dcep. But that can vary based on the particular process. Aluminum tig is of course AC, you'll definitely have a bad day hooking a battery up to that.
Mig is also constant voltage instead of constant current too, so if it's set up for that, it's not going to be fun times. Some of those machines can be set to hold it in the 30+ volt range. So - set it up for stick, and make sure it's set for dcep, or switch the leads.
I use to struggle with my motorcycle and e bike batteries all my life and I'm half way done doing this to my ebike battery and it was only at 1 volt before desulfateion and now she's 10 plus volts and I'm not Done yet 😎 love this trick!
I've experimented with batteries before and I suggest that you have a container of baking soda which neutralizes the acid definitely suggests that. And any of the waste after that you have that you might throw away take baking soda and dump it in it and it will neutralize the acid and then you can just blow them properly and not cause any damage to anyting couldn't be eaten by the acid. Just a suggestion otherwise pretty cool stuff God bless have a great day.😎😃😀😁
I found it's easier to stick a couple slotted screw drivers in a wall outlet then hook the jumper cables up to them. Just make sure you use 2 different outlets and make sure you connect to the skinny side and the bottom ground lug. When the lights in the house start to dim you shut it off.
@Brettmlyons,,. There's always room for another at the table of Ma Mopar. Try it, you'll like it! One word of caution, It's Addicting in a good way. Welcome Brother.
Distilled water and using a highload fast charger would help MOST batteries. Tonys battery was outside so I would have replaced the acid and then did the fast charge
Great video! I’ve owned and operated and automotive shop for over 45 years. I’m always learning new things. Just want to thank you for this video. I personally have had 5 to 6 batteries explode usually when charging or jump charging as just like you said. Get water, rinse yourself off get back to work. Two batteries actually blew the case apart. I think that was because they were low on acid but no mushroom cloud, no pieces of car flying through the air and a little soap and water did the trick. There’s crazy people out there and we ain’t one of them. Keep up the good work thank you Murph of Murphs automotive.
In the absence of a funnel, you could utilise surface tension and a straight rod of some sort. Hold the rod across the opening of the bottle with the lower end of the rod in the hole in the top of the battery (but not touching the sides of the hole) and tilt the bottle gently. The water will flow along and around the rod and into the battery.
Happy New Year! Very informative! I'd heard of this but never witnessed it. Thanks! It might make sense to disconnect the ground side cable at the welder (not the battery end) to minimize the risk of an arc.
@@tedmoss that's a must. There are usually capacitors within welders used to ballast the load. Disconnection at the machine-end of the cable, removes the possibility of an arc near the hydrogen source
Seems to me like you would have the the brand / model of welder you used from HF but what do I know? A 200 amp battery charger works great for reconditioning an old battery.
I was going to say the same thing, he should have turned the back of the welder towards the battery to use the internal fan to dissipate the gasses to reduce the chance of explosion!
UTG is pure blood old school, he operates like most of us did in the 1960s and 70s. ( Pre snow flake) days. This video channel is like time travel. UTG bringing the Real Steel back in to a world dominanted by fake and plastic, filled with snowflakes and spelling police. World.
So I tried this and it worked! I was gonna use my dad's old 200amp jump start battery charger, went to use it and it was broken. Did some diag, found out it was the switch, and man they're proud of that switch, $45 for a stupid switch. I bought a 200amp stick welder for $70 on Amazon instead.
Tried it on my brother's old battery, which only had ~250cca in it, brought it around to ~500cca after only 3 cycles. I'm so happy, saved a bit of money, had some fun with family, and now I get to stick weld things. Always wanted to have a reason to get a stick welder.
THANKS UNCLE TONY 💜
I've been using this process for many years. I live off grid. My solar power battery bank will get very weak after a few years use. I use much less amperage over many hours time to rejuvenate the cells. Yes, this process is for real and it does work very well. The real test is to use a battery testing hydrometer to check the specific gravity of the electrolyte in each cell. Check the SG before and after charging. That's the correct way to see how much it improved the battery performance. This process is not BS. It works very very well! Note: it's much safer and much easier on the battery if you use far less amperage and let it run for many hours. For a small car battery, 10 amps is enough. Depending on how bad the battery condition is, It may take 24 hours or more. Check the voltage as it's charging. It needs to be maintained at around 16.5 volts. Also check the electrolyte specific gravity of each cell from time to time. The process is complete when each cell has reached a specific gravity of 1.265. This is the proper way to do this. Using very high amperage for a short time is extremely hard on the lead plates. It will get far to hot.
@@faizaanalap4 actually, they say about 80% of old discarded batteries can be revived.
@@rockhoundingeasternwashing5308 It absolutely can blow out a short, many folks have brought back 0v batteries like this.
All your talking about is charging a battery with a regular battery charger. The point of the video is how to REVIVE a bad battery that wouldn't take a charge or pass a load test. Not the proper way to charge a good battery
@@shamust77 no, one needs a uncontrolled batt charger. One that will not stop charing over 14.2 volts. To revive the batt, the charger needs to charge up to at least 16.5 volts DC. I've been using this method for nearly 15 years. I know what I'm talking about!
@@shamust77 that's what I'm talking about is reviving an otherwise no good for nothing battery. A batt that will no longer take or hold a charge. A batt that no matter how much you charge it with a regular batt charger. It won't take a good charge and the specific gravity of the cell electrolytes will not have a proper SG. MY method is basically the same as your method. It reliquidfies/dissolves the "crystallzed" sulfuric acid that collects on the lead plates. But my method is much gentler on the lead plates. Longer batt life using my way. My off grid house batteries cost a good sum of money. Long life is important to me!
Works great!!! I used a 12v charger with 50amp jump setting and left it on for two days outside caps off and i revived a 15 yr old schwab battery that was sitting out side for 5 yrs dead. Runs my chevy 2500hd like a champ.
Hey, it good to hear it worked with 50 amp charging for 2 days. In my case, I only have a charger with 20map max. Do you think it will work with longer charging time?
10:50 Tony says I'm going to bring this thing up to like a hundred. You can barely hear Kathy say NO. The look on Tony's face. LOL
Probably better if he did all that by his pool, if it blows and ge gets acid all over his body, just dive into the pool 😂😂
My dad was doing this on our farm 30 years ago. He was always trying things. Don't know how he lived to 87 years. I have a 50 year old Associated Battery charger that on high charges at 18 volts. Works very good for this. I don't let anyone else use it, NOT because they will hurt the charger, BUT because like I did once, they will fry electronics. When I was 11 my dad had me driving the truck around the field at harvest. I couldn't see out so good so I sat on top of the extra battery. I knew not to sit on the top so i put it on its side. Later that day I asked why the back of my dads pants were getting large holes.....He had red buns for a few days. Be careful with battery acid. Thanks Tony!
Tony, just for the record, batteries can and do indeed blow up if aggressively overcharged with a welder(ac/dc or dc welder - electrode positive dc setting). Twice I had seen a battery "explode". Once next to me while a fellow crew member try to jump-start a dead battery with jumper cables on an aircraft tow tractor with another tow tractor on an aircraft carrier. He shorted the battery out and it exploded, I got a face full of acid, and the top of the battery was gone. The next time was a decade later while I was working(ironworker) on a jobsite and a coworker tried to use a gas-driven welder to "charge" a dead battery and he overcooked it on the highest dc setting(300 amps), it completely exploded, there was virtually nothing left except the very bottom part of the battery and tiny bit of the internal lead/antimony plates and the battery box was blown apart. Exploding batteries can and will cause severe harm with very serious injuries and even death from shrapnel from the exploding battery.
I've seen it happen about 6 times or so. All but one just blew the top off and splashed a relatively small amount of acid.
The last one was more powerful and threw acid all under the hood. I assume because the level of liquid was down inside the battery in one or more cells, leaving more room for the hydrogen/oxygen to accumulate and it's already in the ideal concentration to explode.
With the covers off they can’t explode because they can’t build up pressure.they’ll just boil all the water off and cause different problems if you don’t watch it. Doing this with a sealed maintenance free battery would be iffy unless you drill some vent holes.
I really stupid f****** thing to especially putting a video out where somebody might get seriously
My buddy left a battery charging on 200 amp I'm not sure for how long he had it on there he gets distracted easy and kind of an old burnout. But one thing I am sure of is that battery exploded like a star going supernova. Two and three from five kinda stuff. Man I'm glad nobody got hurt because it could've been life changing for someone. Father is great
@@wormhole331 hydrogen and oxygen in the perfect ratio inside and around the outside of the battery. Those caps aren't exactly bolted down when they are installed. I know someone that was fast charging a dead battery. He was in the hospital 17 days before coming out of the induced coma while they replaced parts of his skull, jaw and other body parts. Anyone doing this thinking that safety glasses will protect them is miss informed.
As a mechanic and a welder I can only think where this could go wrong in reality. That is where the broken plate would arc across it's gap and ignite the hydrogen gas internally like I have had happen to me. The plates stick together just enough to get things to start to charge, but when you hit the key and full amps are drawn from the cell the plate warps and separates causing an internal arc that ignites the gas quite explosively. This is much different than charging the battery and pulling the clip off creating an external spark. Both go boom but the external spark an we'll be avoided. Whenever messing with lead acid batteries a face shield should be your first line of defense.
If for any reason you feel uncomfortable doing this sort of work trade your old battery in on a new one.
Yeah. Face shield, rubber gloves and coveralls.
i did think think it was dumb to have welder sitting beside it i assume its a new dc stick welder but i would have sat on the floor below the battery...
I cringed the whole time!!
Mate it'll scary to me I lost an eye in battery explosion a spark near the top the battery blew to pieces one of the terminals took my eye out face damage acid it's not a good thing trying new things with battery's just on the charger is enough.
Cheers
Like in my comment I’m now deaf because of this so called hack
Tony's wife gave up a long time ago trying to keep him from getting killed. She decided to just film it so that the cops don't think she had anything to do with it.
- I'm gonna bring it up to a hundred.
- Uh?
@@zahari_s_stoyanov ⁷⁶
Nice ! Motiv !
...she better make sure she's the beneficiary and increase he's insurance policy.
That’s a good supportive wife and friend.
A match made in heaven!
Dude you're a genius! I have a 9-year-old farm battery (very large car battery) brand new never ever used. I bought it 9 years ago to power a winch that I never ended up using. It won't take a charge. I have a car charger/jump starter, a big one you plug into a wall outlet. I connected it to the battery on boost mode 40Amps and left it for 5 minutes. Now my battery is at 10V and holds voltage when I test it using the same battery tester that you have. I am going to do this several more times. I didn't want to throw out a brand new battery (will try to sell it and the winch), you rule!
You could let that battery sit overnight and retest it. If it passes a load test then it should be good. Most generally a overnight sitting will reveal if it's still good or not. A bad battery won't hold a charge very long at all.
i think no can do . . if you use stick welding just use few taps for 30 seconds each will do . . use 24v
@@chooper3048 that will NOT reveal a good battery... only by sitting then testing will.
They can hold a charge for over a week or even more and still be bad. A battery can pass a load test but when it sits a few days it can discharge itself if it has "dendrites" which are thin slivers of lead that get electroplated from dissolved lead in the solution. When one of those crosses from positive to negative plates inside the battery that cell will drain and depending on how thick the tendril is is how quickly it will run down.
With the type of battery that you can pull the caps off, after you charge a battery you can let it sit overnight disconnected and check the specific gravity of the acid with a hygrometer (works like an antifreeze tester) and if one or two cells test lower than the others, those cells are bad and the battery will discharge faster than normal. On an older vehicle that doesn't have a computer or modern radio, etc and thus, no normal parasitic drain that keeps the memory alive a marginal battery might stay charged enough to start the vehicle over a week where that same battery on a newer vehicle might go down in a day or so.
Something that can happen that runs one down quickly is a piece of a plate coming loose and shorting inside.
When they don;t pass a load test that's usually because of a bad connection that isn't an open circuit, just not a good enough connection inside the battery somewhere to pass the normal amount of current.
Good idea. Never crossed my mind to use a welder. We always just used one of those heavy duty battery chargers. The ones with the 200amp boost. We would fill with water, plug in the 200 amp cables. Let it boil for 10-15 min. Then let it cool for an hour +. Then repeat. We usually did that 4 or 5 times for the great big ones. Usually only 2 or 3 that mes for the smaller car batteries. We kinda judge them by how fast they begin to violently boil. Brings them back from the dead. Good vid UT. *Edit. The charger must be the old school style analog. Not the electronically controlled ones, they will shut down before they do their job.
Some of the new cpu chargers like schumacher have a setting to reviv/de sulfide the cells.
When I was about 16 a gear head friend used a battery as a welder, guess what happened?
@@tedesco455 kaboom
@@Portuguese-linguica INDEED!
Did they say anything about the stuff that you boiled off
I would strongly advise against using a welder for this. A CC CV power supply can accomplish the same goal in a much safer way. Set the current to 100ma and set the voltage to 40v. When it reaches the current limit and drops below 15v, change the current limit to 2.5a and the voltage limit to 14.4v. Let it charge until it is drawing under 100ma (this may take over 24hrs). Then set the voltage to 20v at 0.5a for an hour. After that, it's fully desulfated, and the battery has a much lower likelihood of exploding because of the lower temperature and current. I've had a lot of batteries short out using this method, but none have exploded.
I agree about using a welder, but don't the CC CB power supply cost quite a bit?
That how I'm doing right now as we speak,....I'm no genius but as I am doing this, I figured I'd come here to see what says Google and RUclips
If you cab weed through the bullshit, you will find the smartest people on the planet here, thank you sir.
Ever try seating a tire bead with ether? Not safe either but it works
@Allan Drake yep, but it's something I won't do again unless I'm stranded somewhere.
@@inoahmann7542 You sound like the type that pays a shop to bust down and mount tires for you 🤣
I run the battery room at my work, we mostly use AGM but the same process works with lead acid. If the battery is low clean it and top off(duh) hook to low amp charger. If it doesn't take. Run high amp for 15 minutes, then hook up to low amp. When you shock it back to life you're only charging the top of the battery and need low amp and time to bring to full health. Hope this helps someone.
Does this same process work on AGM batteries as well? Thanks
Yes, because AGM batteries are lead acid batteries.
@@BrandonBuckaudioanarchy How do you top off an AGM battery? Is that even possible?
I'm not altogether sure what he means by topping off, although I will assume he means to fully charge it such that there is a surface charge above nominal voltage. For instance, a wet cell lead acid battery has a nominal voltage of 12.3 volts but can rest at 12.6 volts. The three tenths of a volt above nominal would be considered the surface charge or, "topped up".
AGM batteries have a nominal voltage of 12.6 but can be charged to a resting voltage of 12.7-13.1 volts and the same applies to the resting level above nominal.
If I'm wrong in my assumption, I'd appreciate a correction.
You must use distilled water (then proceeds to flush all the dirt into the battery :D ) loved the video, learned something new today!
Hilarious 🤣
The dirt on the battery is not the same as the dissolved minerals and unwanted impurities found in non distilled water.....
@@gpetheri it has similarities. I believe the point of distilled water is so it is not conductive which means that dirt would counteract the distilation in this scenario.
Hehehe! I always wash the battery off before I pop the caps off. If battery cable ends are already corroded to hell, don't waste your time with it. At that point, it's leaking around the posts
@@FixIt1975 good tip
Awesome! It works, too! Just tested an old 12v riding mower battery at 1.4, charged it at 60amp for 60 seconds and it read 12.6! Before the trickle charger was too "smart" to even recognize it was hooked up and now it's happily trickling away... BTW, the lawn mower batteries are sealed so careful if anyone tries this at home because the offgas has nowhere to go!
Had Uncle Cathy turned the camera around it would have shown her wearing a full hazmat suit and goggles because she knows Uncle Tony all too well. 🤣
🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Good one
This is at least reasonably sketchy by her standards. But probably not particularly bad by Tony's. :-D
@@aussiebloke609 agreed was a cool idea. Just contributing humor. 😁
😂🤣😂🤣😂
You’re much braver than me Uncle Tony, I wouldn’t stand that close, I’ve seen a few blow up.
With the caps open it's more of a volcano. Being that close is sketchy even by my standards
My old auto-tech vocational school instructor told us the story of the exploding battery on a student and with him about to 'whip it out and neutralize the acid.' I think this is an auto tech instructor hand me down story but is real none the less. Great memories learning about car batteries
@@Mrshotshell I see a huge sale of those shirts in Tony's future.
Camera Man is the Bravest. He gets to looking right down the barrel of the Gun 5:17 and 6:29
Just make sure to use air to blow out the explosive gas from the cells and have a fan blowing on it when charging and working on them. Ive rebuilt many electric forklift and handjack batteries and thankfully none of them exploded.
Interesting. This reminds me of something my grandfather told me many years ago, he was an engineeer for Union Pacific, he retired in the late 60's, early 70's so this was before rechargeable batteries. He said when their flashlights would get dim or die, they would take their flashlight batteries and connect them to the big batteries on the locomotives for a few seconds and it would revive their flashlight batteries.
If they were alkaline cells, they are not "rechargeable", but they actually are. The problem is that the non-rechargeable cells tend to leak after recharging, at least in my own experience(usually a week or two later). They also greatly lose capacity over a couple of cycles.
I totally believe you could hook one up to a single cell on the locomotive(possibly lead-acid?) and charge it for a bit. Current would be limited by the internal resistance of the cells at least.
@@MacRobbSimpsonif it is cheap zinc carbon you can get about 1/3rd to a half charge back in them but you are right about the chance of them leaking shortly after. It’s a quick and dirty fix on batteries like that but once they have been revived it’s best to get shot of them after a day or two.
It works. I've done it. It's an electrical 'brute force' technique. I've done the same reviving many kinds of small batteries; using a pulse width modulator - which pulses the charge and keeps the battery from overheating; perfect for sealed batteries. The reason the welder works better than high amp battery charger, comes down to charge voltage. The welder is running at 16-19 VDC. The success of any brute force technique is the overvoltage. I used to do chemical desulfating on coffin batteries; for buses, motorhomes, heavy equip. It was a long and messy job. I much prefer the electrical method. For ultimate/OCD results, one could pour the acid through a fine stainless filter, to remove particulates; that have sluffed off of the plates. This may/may not improve longevity.
Based on what i have learned, the next auto battery I do I'm going to apply some pulse applications. Going to try 1 min on, 2 min off, 10 cycles and see if that produces desired results.
Sloughed
Please return and report your results.
@R C Nelson Will do! Since my reply is long, I’m putting in main comments.
@@tomasjones3755 👍🏻
Would a 200 amp DC welder work for motorcycle batteries if you turn the amperage down? One of the videos I saw said to get a 160 amp welder for smaller batteries and deep cycle batteries and a 200 amp welder for larger automotive batteries but I'm not buying 2 different welders.
This is the stuff youtube was made for!! Love the content, keep it up.
I worked on a DC power plant that had over 600 large batteries and put out over 7,000 amps. We always had eye wash kits and splash proof goggles on site for safety. Because the lead acid batteries were not exposed to the heat from under a hood or freezing winter temperature's some were rated for 60 years. When I retired some of the batteries were well over 25 years old and still going strong.
25 years and still going strong😶 do you know the chemistry of the batteries?
Sounds similar to the nickel-iron alkaline cells used in the original Baker electric cars.
They were very heavy, very large, they charged very slowly, you couldn't pull massive current BUT... they weren't negatively affected by repeated deep discharges due to the electrolyte having a low solubility of the reactants.
They also had a life rating between 30 and 50 years... With very basic maintenance..
@@angryman3317 They are standard lead acid batteries. I should have said that the output of the plant was 7,000 amps and the plant is sized so the equipment can run on the batteries for over 24 hours. We did monthly voltage test on individual cells and would do a discharge test on the plant once a year where we would let the equipment run off the batteries. I would run the backup generator once a month for an hour and it would take about 100 gallons of diesel to run it for that hour. I never checked out what would be the maximum output current. We also checked if the batteries needed water once a month.
l Have some experience with similar large cells, they were lead calcium, low specific gravity, fully charged at 1.220 SG and 2.2 volt per cell. The cases were clear so that you see inside them, each case held one cell. They were connected together in series strings using large metal straps. There was several inches of space below the plates for sediment to harmlessly fall and collect. They had to be topped up with distilled water about every 6 months and were rated for 25 years service.@@angryman3317
And never charge a frozen battery.. acid runs back into the plate once discharged! Smelly batteries equals nasty booms . 1/4” of water over the plate . It will rise once fully charged.. 12.75 and above each cell . If blackened or dropped against the crew … its a dead core.
12 years of making sure Chicagoans had batteries to start the rides 82% of the volume of them was our warehouse.
I'm one of the unfortunate ones that had a battery blow up in my face. The pieces of battery cut my face and forehead, my coveralls deteriorated when I washed them. I was more upset over loosing my coveralls, hide grows back! I'm still thankful to the lord I didn't loose an eye!
Same thing happened to my dad one night trying to jump my mother's car at the grocery store. Top of the battery is what saved his eyes from the acid. Still a bad situation and a wake up call to just how quick things can go south👆💯
My sister works on submarine batteries for a living. She doesn’t have one pair of jeans that don’t have acid holes in them haha.
Would a face shield have been adequate?
What happened to make it explode .. too many Amps. Short Circuit etc ??
@@waylonmccrae3546 it sparked when I took the cable off, I guess it ignited the gas coming off the battery. This happened in 1984, since then I always turn my head when hooking anything to a battery.
I've had a couple blow up in my face as well because in those moments of genius I turned on the charger before attaching the cables. The gas is hydrogen, btw, and it loves a spark. A professional desulfation is pretty much what you've done here, the only difference is the rate of pulsation of the current introduced into the battery.
AKA: Hindenburg..! Boom! another MAJOR difference here is the COMPLETE lack of safety.. not to forget his wife being close enough to get hurt or burnt by acid as well.
Arc welders come in both AC and D.C. make sure you are using a welder with D.C. output or if yours is capable of both set it on D.C. looks like tony is using a harbor damage 225 amp D.C. unit. Also many units are capable of reversing the polarity so there's that too.
Been welding since 87 myself great points. 👍👍
Leonard.. that would be
"Harbor Fright". 🍻
@@blipco5 I have a lot of tools from harbor damaged and the home pisspot.
@@blipco5 Hobo freight he he
Hazzard Fraught
There are three basic types of lead-acid batteries used in automobiles and boats. The old style is referred to as flooded batteries like Tony was using. These can be maintenance style with removable caps to replenish the water. Variants of these either have water recapture like the Surette Roll$ batteries or may be totally sealed. A second variant is that the battery’s plate architecture is designed either for high cold cranking amperage for starting only or for deep discharge such as the batteries used on house circuits on boats or in golf carts. Automotive starting batteries do not like to be discharged too much. The next type of batteries is the gel cell. In these the electrolyte is not a liquid but as the name implies is a gel. The advantage of these is that they can be operated in any orientation, even upside down. My old Miata had one and they are popular on motorcycles. They do not like to be over discharged. If so, they will likely die. Whew, long post. Finally we get the the AGM battery. AGM stands for Absorbed Glass Mat a cross between flooded and gel cells. Supposedly these batteries can be used like car starter batteries for their high CCA, Cold Cranking Amperage, or as a deep discharge battery. The difference in the three types is their physical construction. The chemistry is the same.
Each of these types has a different charging regime. Most modern battery chargers have three phases. Bulk feeds the highest amperage up to about 80% of the battery’s capacity. After that the charger drops to a lower amperage in the absorption phase which takes the battery up to 95% capacity. Finally the battery is on the Maintenance Charge also called the float. The three types of batteries discussed here have different characteristics in the three phases. The AGM can take the highest charge rate of the three, but a charger designed for flooded batteries can also be used on AGM. Gel Cell batteries use a different regimen and never the twain shall meet.
Nice science lesson but what am I supposed to get out of it? At some point in that long, informative post you could have addressed if this method works on anything but flooded batteries.
@@MH-53E Sorry, I never tried it. I wouldn’t leave batteries around on the ground in my yard in any event. I’m more concerned with being able to start my boat’s engine, run my radios, and keep my USCG required lighting lit. I’m not that interested in saving a few dollars when my life is at stake.
@@datasailor8132 Seems to me you are more interested in showing others that you are the smartest guy in the room, which I seriously doubt. Intelligent people don't have to do this, it simply shines through. Or it doesn't...
Have been using load sensor like yours to get batteries from the dump and u look for batteries not bulging on the ends . It seems if a battery shows a good voltage under load it has some life left. If a battery is in the dump it usually has been sitting around for some time before it arrived at the dump .have been using them for off grid uses. Try your idea with a battery that clearly bulging on the ends.i use that type of welder as a fast charger use a volt meter to regulate the voltage to about 15v .I use welder with generator to fast charge fridge batteries in early evening when camping so as to only run generator a short time.
@@MH-53E I guess that makes you kind of a fucking moron then,eh?
This works very well. I did it last weekend on a battery from my Suburban. It failed to start and had to be jumped several times recently. The battery would not hold a charge anymore after being on a standard charger for several hours. Now it's just like new - full cranking power even after leaving headlights on for 5 minutes, or sitting overnight. Thanks Uncle Tony !
Forklift battery chargers litterally do this as a desulfation setting and prompt you to refill the water level directly afterward because they actually boil a lot of the water off during the process it definitely works
Thanks for taking us along on your experiment with the rejuvenation of the battery .
I am going to find out more about doing this . I am anxious to see how that the battery holds up, so give us updates . Thanks for the information and I will see you later on another video . So be careful and stay safe out there .
If the battery has one cell damaged by acid, this op is useless.
After 5 year of use, most of them are gone.
Thank God 4 ppl sharing their knowledge through these videos. 👍 I'm 48, I've never heard of doing this.
Would like to have seen a load test before the welder hack just to show how bad the battery was. I have seen dead batteries come back when the normal draw of the vehicle has been off for some time.
was just going to put the same opinion...made the video half useless if i did not see how bad it was
No kidding the date on the battery only makes it 4 years old...
stop spoiling the magic trick or else
( or else i tell your kids Santa Claus isn't real )
Exactly pretending to fix a battery that's perfectly fine
@@carmineredd1198 What do you mean by Santa Claus isn't real?
One note for the water to have on hand in case you get acid on you: Yes have water with you but before hand mix in a couple tablespoons of baking soda. The Hydroxide in it will be buffered so that itself will not be too basic but if you use it to wash away the sulfuric acid from the battery it will actually neutralize the acid. Do not use baking soda+water to refill the battery.
Yep you can also use any basic chemical, like household soap to neutralize the acid. Though you should never mix large amounts quickly or it may react violently.
Seems like a good idea, but I would just use water because you have plenty of it and you are not introducing a new element. The acid with neutralize and dilute as more water is added.
@@whummer98 Using a basic chemical to neutralize it is much more efficient at raising the pH of the solution than diluting it. You can just spray some soapy water on any spills and it will neutralize it so it doesn't dissove your clothes or burn you.
@@HB-ps6rnI am well aware of the chemistry, but when it comes to safety it's best to use water and only water. There are exception cases when dealing with pure acids and bases which this is not the case. BTW, you are aware there is a different gas that comes out of the reaction, correct? Unless you plan to feed the plants with it its not safe for humans. Point here is to teach basic safety with acids and bases not specific cases which could get someone hurt not know the chemical reactions involved.
@@whummer98 I don't think it would matter too much with a small spill of battery acid. If you are talking about more concentrated solutions then water can be just as dangerous to add to acid. Also neutralizing sulfuric acid with lye results in water and sodium sulfate which is found in laundry detergent and food dyes, and isn't toxic. No gas formation other than boiling water if you mix too much at once. It really is something that can reduce the severity of chemical burns if you get some on yourself.
Absolutely, learned this working on farmer electric fence batteries👍. I used old school shop battery chargers that had several options to help car crank.
If you only put in enough water to cover the cells and watch it, you can top it off after it settles down that way you don't lose acid due to boil over. On another note you mentioned the possibility of a cracked connection between cells I was full fielding an older blazer with the external regulator the battery blew up the acid hit the hood and rained down on the back of my head. I was glad it wasn't a Ford with the regulator behind the battery.
Can we have a round of applause for the duty cycle on that welder.
It’s made from titanium according to the sticker. 😅
This guy is a nut. He should of had fan blowing in that area. I've seen one blow up on a auto shop teacher. In the 80s never had a problem when I worked on car batteries in my career working in cars. I always had a fans in doors.
I was thinking the same thing.. let's hope it above a 20% duty cycle🤣
@@kenpickett9317 that is no
Typical 3/32" 7018 rod runs at ~90A, depending on the situation. 1/8" 7018 at about 120. Not really impressive, it's what it should be able to do.
Great video, been doing this for years it does work. Not on every batt depends on the plates like you said. If the battery isn't shorted/cells aren't damage that process works 8 of 10 times. Great job man!!
Hey how much longer does it add to battery's life? Ta
Is there a method to the madness i.e. the amps related to AH of the battery?
You should clean the top of the battery before you remove the caps. Then wipe around the holes so nothing gets in it. And using a smaller container makes it easier to pour without getting water everywhere.
That being said, I never do any of those steps. I do recommend keeping a small bottle of distilled water in your trunk in case you need top off your battery.
This is simply using the high current DC to reverse the chemical reactions in the battery that has led to the sulfation buildup. Sweet Project Cars showed this on his channel a while back, and I have used this to revitalize my old batteries for a few years. Do this in 5 to 10 min increments. Do not use it above 80 amps, as that will cause trapped gases to blow out of the top.
Always have baking powder nearby to rescue/neutralize any spill or splashed sulfuric acid. Several treatments should be enough to give the battery a new lease on life. Make sure it has enough time cool before each treatment. Nice video.
I saw it there also.
Mike the hammer showed this 1-2 years ago. Works.
Do this every couple of years for a touch up.
New battery.
That's the main video that I watched learning how to do this but he says to get a 160 amp welder for motorcycle batteries and deep cells and a 200 amp welder for bigger automotive batteries. I don't see why that's necessary if you can turn the amperage down on the 200 welder and up for bigger batteries.
Any thoughts on this? I'm not getting two different welders.
I learned a similar method a few years ago. Revived the battery in my truck. Been perfect for the last 2 winters, still good.
Your a lifesaver, I have hooked a battery up to 110 volt outlet and tripped the breaker four times and the battery worked perfectly fine after that, your method seems better
rofl
Accident Prone Much?!🤔🤣😆😂
Using AC is a great way to blow a battery up! Don't try this!
@@ssoffshore5111 to be fair the facy ones oculate to clean the plates too soo
I used to do this at a used car lot , I talked the owner into buying me a old style big battery charger and would boil old batteries . It saved him a ton of money on batteries
I think my biggest concern would be to keep the top of the battery dry as NOT TO SHORT CIRCUIT between the terminals. This should also be a part of routine maintenance to make sure there are no wet tracks between those terminals which will cause overnight voltage leakage/drain.
I'm not an electrician but, aren't all the cells connected via the water/acid inside the battery? Isn't the path of least resistance through the terminals?
I've had great results desulfating batteries, i used to take good cores when I worked at advance and refurbish them, gotten friends out of jams many times with my hoarder stash of fully charged batteries of all sizes. I just use the repair function on a NOCO genius charger, works same or slightly better than the standalone pwm desulfator I was using previously. to get full results with my method can take 1-2 weeks, I just swap the leads to the next battery every couple days so they all get it evenly
also, if anyone does this, dont bother attempting if the battery is AGM or gel, including Optima betteris. it just doesn't work. only flooded batteries will be improved, you'll make an AGM worse and maybe even melt a gel
I had 2 batteries that were weak due to not driving since pandemic hit. My Titanium 200 welder on stick function allows you to produce DC at 16 to 20 volts and 30 to 60 amps, and very little AC or pulsing was measured by AC DVM. Did 3 sessions, 5 minutes each with good gas bubbling (outdoors). Both batteries regained charge and now show 20% to 50% voltage improvement, and stronger output current. 1 week later still stronger.
Qqqqqqqqqqqqqqq
How long they lasted?
@@49495lwbrmoxybe they're still going several months later
The more "sessions" you do the more the battery improves. If you have to do 8, do 8, if more do more. 3 sessions is only for relatively good batteries. I had to do 8 sessions to revive a dead 12V battery that showed only 6V and now works, starts the car and holds a charge overnight.
I am impressed with that. I would have saved a ton of money on batteries if I'd known this little trick. The stuff you learn on the internet.
Back in the 40s,50s,60s,and 70s old men had those 150-200 amp battery chargers in their garages and they'd cook their auto batteries like this every few years or so whenever they started getting weak... They rejuvenated their batteries for many years instead of replacing them every couple or 4 years such as is the norm today...
If you mix baking soda in the water you have standing by in case of accidental skin contact, it will neutralize the pH. Much better than diluting to relieve the burn.
You can get a bag of soda at Costco that is about 15lbs for like $6. Handy to have around for acid neutralization, and you can safely put out grease/oil fires with it
@@therealsideburnz
Non-food grade pool cleaning baking soda comes in giant Arm and Hammer bags and it’s cheaper than the regular kind as well.
That good for blowing the buildup that ends up bringing the plates over, it kinda just blows the shorted part out, et’s you have all the cells back operational again. It’s always worked for me and a pretty good success rate. But you’re still get a battery that has no hope for it here in there. Great info and hands on video.. thanks
It would have been a great time for one of the Junkyard Jet boy to come in with a paper bag to pop.
that's funny.🤣 lmao
You got a "mean streak". Lol
Tony would end up like that horse in the movie Animal House after Flounder shoots it with blanks in the gun 🤣😂🤣
🤣🤣🤣🤣
@@jamiecalder5459 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣
Desulfinating is actually reversing the polarity for a nano second using capacitive discharge. With the right charged capacitor you can even revive those small (non-lithium) batteries making them like new.
I was expecting an explosion the entire time lol I haven’t been on the edge of my seat from watching a video in a long time thx
Oh the sweet memories of having a battery blow up in my face. This is good to know. Hopefully you get some longevity out of that old Battery. Happy New Year to UTG
I used to rebuild 3000lb electric forklift batteries and we made sure to use air to blow out the gas from the cells and use a fan when we solder back the lead cell connectors on top. I was always worried about those big batteries exploding but thankfully none of them did. We did rebuild those electric forklift batteries in our shop but it was well ventilated.
10 years ago I had one of those big lift truck batteries hanging static on a hoist with a 2-leg J hook chain sling hooked on the two lift eyes on the battery. It was hanging totally static, not swinging or in motion, for about 1 or 2 minutes while my attention was momentarily diverted to correct something on the lift truck that was about to receive the battery. It was hanging about chest high, about 4 or 5 steps away from me and was never out of my sight. I was alone in the area, no other personnel present.
Suddenly one of the lift eyes on the battery just snapped, and when it swung down the J hook on the other end came out and battery crashed to the floor. That lift eye showed no sign of cracks or damage when I hooked the sling on it. I was in the habit of inspecting the chain and the lift points of anything I hooked up in my 30 years at that employer, and that lift eye on that battery had the appearance of being just as solid as any other I had lifted before. When I slapped those hooks on it the steel sounded as solid as any other. It was spooky weird the way that battery lifted perfectly normal and was hanging perfectly still when the lift eye just snapped.
I figure that somehow the steel of the lift eye was weakened by contact with acid. The lesson I learned was never let the battery get any closer than arm's reach when suspended and keep others away from it during any lifting. Don't ever trust a big battery when it's hanging on a chain.
@@onemoremisfit We had several people drop those batteries when they didnt make sure the J hook was completely inside the lift holes in the battery. It was a scary sight to be called to the battery room when a 3000lb forklift battery is turned upside down on the floor with battery acid spilling out and the positive and negative cable was underneath and shorting out on the battery case.
@@onemoremisfit How many times had the battery been lifted? Metal fatigue, maybe? You're probably onto something with the acid weakening it.
@@Face2theScr33n Those batteries were lifted countless times. They were in a large designated area with rows of chargers, rows of rack stands for the batteries of numerous different types, bay post mounted fans to keep the gasses ventilated, eye wash stations, etc. The batteries were maintained there by other designated personnel who were not present because I was off shift at the time.
All lift chains throughout the plant were regularly inspected and fitted with dated inspection tags by certified blacksmiths. But I didn't see that scrutiny applied to lift points of battery cases.
The battery cases were heavy overbuilt steel with lift points formed into each end. As far as I could tell nobody really questioned them beyond watching for obvious damage, of which I never saw any myself.
The broken lift eye showed no stretching at the break point on my quick look after it broke, but I didn't have time to examine it because I had to hustle to get a water hose and flush all the acid running all over the floor to a drain.
I had to call other people immediately to report the incident and they took over. I have no idea what, if any, their findings were. I got disciplined over the incident, but that's another story.
There could have been a hidden crack, but there was no way for me to tell while I was hosing down the metal and worrying about the acid spill. Cracked metal often makes a telltale sound, and I heard nothing like that when I hooked it up. I have lifted a lot of large objects weighing 10 tons or more with bridge crane hoists and large chain slings, often with purpose built lifting devices as well. I have a modicum of training and experience doing that.
I'm not a chemical or metallurgical expert, but it appeared to me that steel was somehow embrittled and weakened. Those battery cases have the unique situation of being continuously exposed to acid fumes.
Nobody saw it happen but me. I will tell anyone who will listen that if you lift big batteries on the job, don't ever trust those damn things.
@@onemoremisfit I'm thinking that if you didn't see it, it was metal fatigue. Steel can become weak when loaded enough times, even well below the yield threshhold. I'm not an engineer, so I'm not sure if it's the same as when a metal "work hardens", but seems to be so. I need to buy some engineering books or something. You would see oyster-shell looking marks on the broken end of the fastener. Anyway, definitely glad you survived and nobody got hurt.
Your advice about keeping water neat NY is great, however to be really safe I suggest you add Baking Soda to the water. The baking soda will neutralize the acid. A
A few years ago, I had a battery blow up in my face. I yelled for my wife to bring me baking soda and water. I rinsed my eyes for several minutes and then went to the ER. The doctor told me that my quick decision to use soda to neutralize the acid most likely saved me from being blind.
Thank you for this video. I watched your video and a couple of others as well. The battery in my Slant 6 D100 died a little more each time I charged it. Finally going from 100% to 10% in about 2 1/2 starts. At that point I took the battery to my welder and applied 150 Amps 4 times for 15 minutes each over several hours letting it cool down between each charge. I put it in the truck and after 6 starts trying to figure out why it won't run properly the battery never showed any signs of losing power. I think you saved me at least $80 with this video. Thank you.
Wonder why a 2017 battery was discarded after only 2 years A five year old battery is, IMO, not very old
I seen one guy revive batteries like you did and he would pour out the old battery solution after getting the scale burned off and put in new solution. He said it would last longer and keep the old scale from getting back on the cells.
Tried this today, one battery fixed... 3 more to go😂
I now want to buy up "dead" batteries to add to my solar set up. Thanks man.
Should have done a voltage and load test before and after. 👍
Exactly what I was thinking
Me too
The same can be done with a charger with 200 amp start function. Charge at 200 amps for 15 minutes and let cool for an hour. Do that cycle 5 times. With the caps off. Each cycle you should see more action in the liquid. By the last cycle all cells should be boiling.
The welder trick does actually work, the science behind it is the crystals (sulfation) grow big enough to short plate to plate, the only part you where inaccurate about was the constant charge, under constant trickle sulfation will redissolve, but for extremely heavy sulfation (plate to plate) short no trickle won't work.......an improvement to your method is "shock" with welder then use a dedicated solar panel over a week to recondition the plates and peak the battery........all that said, good video and 99.9% correct, a little dangerous but still good info
Did you mention the welder needs to be DC? Most people would know that but you can bet some damned fool is hooking up an old Lincoln AC welder to a battery right now. I'm guessing the results won't be good.
wouldnt a constant voltage supply be better " ie a mig welder "
be able to pick your voltage
stick is constant current
He never said, and call me the "damned fool" because I was about to try this with my Lincoln Jukebox welder...
@@dc6233 You know DC makes perfect sense but until I saw this comment it hadn't occurred to me. DUH! This is why I always read the comments. The life I save could be my own!
jusr rhrow the away dont be stupied..
because inside battery is already damaged nothing will turn like new...
@termonostruman Yeah living in Minnesota I don't mess with old batteries. Saving a few bucks isn't worth it when it's below zero and doesn't start. However if I had something just to use in the summer and didn't care if it didn't start, like a lawnmower I might try saving an old battery. Although I've just always bought new one for those too.
If you have an old analog battery charger with the 200 amp jumpstart function they work well for this.
So we have digital battery chargers now?
That's what I was thinking.
@@tonypoore440 yes
Automatic battery chargers use impedance to charge the cells. If they detect an open circuit they switch off. When impedance (resistance) drops the charger adjusts to a lower amperage.
I think he means an older charger with a transformer in it, vs newer switch mode electronic power supply
Hydrogen gas is extremely volatile when if it burns it makes one heck of a flame. Since it is a gas it can if in a great amount of volume displace the oxygen in the lungs and smother you. Tonies warning and suggestion on shutting the charger off before disconnecting the charger is the way to go. Any way you look at it. Tony is right, do this outside and make sure you watch this several times so you will not miss one of his steps or safety tips. He does a good job with safety related videos. Thanks Tony
Fluxie couldn't have pulled that much current for that long, one of the few videos without a cigarette hanging from his mouth
Will a cigarette cherry light hydrogen? I know it's not hot enough to ignite gasoline, but have always wondered about propane. And now hydrogen lol
HAPPY NEW YEARS Uncle Tony & Uncle Cathy, That’s Amazing learn something New every time I watch you guys 👍👍
That's a fine way, I've been talking very old dead battery's starting at age17 &now 65. To remove the algae build up on the outside of the cells I take a teaspoon of epsom salt to each cell & then top off the battery with water between the top of the cells & the beginning of each cell filler hole. Charge the battery in the same way you did building up the voltage over time the smell can sometimes get very strong as the cells are boiled clean. I've taken 2 truck battery's & a set of Arc welding leads to weld on the PTO for the Semi's dump bucket with just the 2 battery's the tractor frame is 18 inch c-channel. I did 4 truck's but only 1 was with the battery's.Get back with me after you try it out, you will be amazed what you can do.
You're amazing, and nuts. I use a fan to blow the gasses away, and clean the top of the batt. to prevent a short accross the dirty water. A dead cell from mechanical failure kills the batt. permanently; I have seen some that the lead has crumbled and fallen off the frames inside, and there are no longer plates inside. Love you guys.
Water wont conduct much electricity at 12 volts, let alone short anything
Wish you would've used the load tester before so we could see the difference
That would have been great
He said it was "beyond dead" when he parked it ( evidently a long time ago) Thats good enough for me
Should have charged it for a couple cycles to see if it would hold a charge. If not, then buzz it. I just charged a battery that was unused for a year and a half. Came up to a full charge.
Thank you for being "Safety Second, Maybe Third" kind of a guy , I love the pause when maybe check progress after a minute or two ? nope! lets pump up the amps to 80 ! couple minutes more ? quick safety check heat maybe? nope " 100amps" "now boiling violently lets is cook it", And rocked back to life and load tests into red-hot load test for 30 seconds!! fucking maverick! rock on warlord !
3:24 "You have to use distilled water. Why? Because science!!!" lol Pours distilled water all over a dirty battery hoping some will go into the cells. hahaha. Minerals!!!! It's science!!!!
"Let's minimize our exposure to this acid." Let me grab a napkin with my bare hands...
"Folks, DON'T do this inside!!!" Hooks up welder while the battery caps have been off for a while. Batteries boiling and no fan on it. Steps back for safety. lol
13:45 "So just out of curiosity..."because remember, this was sitting outside in the elements so naturally it's...uh...got to be bad, right?..."
A critical piece of information missing from this "instruction" is that your welder needs to be configured for DCEP, with the electrode going to the plus terminal and your work lead going to the minus.
You'd think that would be obvious. Plus to plus minus to minus to charge. But then again, I'm not a welder, I'm an Electronics Technician LOL.
@@katherinew1366 It is obvious, however many arc welders use a positive work (ground) lead and a negative electrode...the electrons flow from the electrode to the work. This would be the wrong polarity of you clamp the electrode to the positive and the work clamp to the negative (as seen in this video), that's why it's important to be using DC Electrode Positive (DCEP) for this setup.
DCEP = Direct Current Electrode Positive, meaning the stinger is positive and the ground lead is negative
Back in 1967 my school auto shop teacher showed the class this procedure, I have a charger with a high boost setting and did this on the farm for many years. Some batteries did bang and split top or sides. Remove battery from vehicle, tractor, stationary power unit beforehand.
That's true batteries definitely can explode. I've had it happen to me, I had an old Oldsmobile that had a flat camshaft. and because of that the engine wouldn't crank over. so I turned my father's Marquette battery charger all the up on high. and went to turn the ignition switch, I turned it to cranking position and blew the top of battery. going inside the car to crank it over saved me from getting hurt
there's another method for rejuvenating batteries that calls for the use of epsom salts and only requires regular battery charger it's supposed to work but I haven't tried yet.
I've got 30' leads on my welder and a stack of 50 batteries. I'm going to do this when spring hits, outside of course. Yes, Face shield is mandatory. The only thing I'll do differently is after treatment I'll drain all the acid, rinse out the sludge with distilled water and filter the acid, then replace.
First check if the cells are not rotten by acid. Its enough just one to be slightly damaged, and your repair would be useless.
If they are older than 5 years, chances are most of them are gone.
Been there, seen that.
Not worth it.
Just take them to a recycling center. Youll get few good bucks on them.
@@dan_6915
Thanks Dan. Before seeing this I was going to dismantle the batteries and extract the lead plates and make a Plante battery. So if it works, great! If not, I still win.
How do you have 50 car batteries?
@@Waynus888
I've been collecting them for the past several years for my Plante type battery project. It's not difficult. Ask at garage sales. Lots of people have an old battery lying around they don't know what to do with.
@@dan_6915 Especially now, we dumped some scrap recently and iirc we got like 1€ per kg for the batteries
Just did mine today with a battery that died in 2018 ,has been sitting all since and truely works
If your gonna play with a potential acid bomb, get yourself a mix of water and baking soda ready to neutralize the acid that may detonate
I had heard years ago from the SUN salesman that you can use a true carbon pile load tester to revive a dead battery. In a nut shell you charge the battery to whatever it would take and then put the load tester on it and crank it all the way up until the battery is dead. then charge it again and repeat until the battery holds a charge. He said it causes the plates to vibrate and heat up. The crust would fall to the bottom of the battery. I have a battery that has been sitting in my shed since 2012. I think I am going to try this. I'll let you know.
Bill0&&5
How’d it go
If you're still alive tell us how it went
@@nenedecaramelo xD
Seeing how comfortable you are with this and how knowledgeable you are made me sub to you 😅
You left the battery very dirty, removed the caps, topped off the battery, then wiped off the battery, pushing dirt into it. You're a lot smarter than that Tony.
Tough to do this on a modern sealed battery. I too have had batteries blow in my face, which ain't fun.
They aren't really sealed. The modern lead-acid batteries hide flat caps under the labels. It's a styling thing, but they are always there. Use a flat blade screwdriver to remove them. The gas has to have vents and fill ports. The vent is usually a hidden common rail with the exhaust port on the side.
Really helpful, thanks Man. Tried it out and it totally revived my dying battery. Saved me a whole bunch of money
Garage 54 would have an entirely different spin on this.
Would involve fire extinguishers, probably 😳
And 50 lb sacks of baking soda. 😁
Great video, this follows the VIR law, Voltage, Current, Resistance. So the plates are insulated because of sulfation buildup on the plates, which intern gives the circuit higher resistance, so the battery will now not take current at normal voltage because resistance is to high. So if we raise voltage it will allow current to flow overcoming the resistance. DC arc welders output 20-40v DC under load from what I've read, put a multimeter on terminals when it's charging and see what voltage it's reading. You could then determine using a clamp meter how much current the battery will take if you wind the welder up for a second and via VIR law workout the resistance of the battery. Also another interesting thing to back this up is an alternator in a car is capable of producing 100amps on most cars, but there is a regulator to limit the voltage to around 14volts, otherwise the battery would be doing the same thing in your car driving down the road. Lastly when I do this I attach a thermal probe to the side of the battery and monitor the temperature.
Thanks for the process. Can this method be used for sealed lead acid batteries also ? That's maintenance free batteries. Thanks and may God bless you chief.
Thanks Tony, going to try this trick myself, have a dozen or so batteries that are past prime. Going to give them another crack at life. Auto mechanic myself and haven't heard of this trick before
This looks really safe. What could possibly go wrong?
He could get a free acid peel and look just like Joe Biden.
Think about all those times you're driving a 2 lane road at 60 mph with traffic coming at you just a few feet away at their 60 mph. It's amazing Human Beings haven't obliterated themselves off the planet.
What could possibly go wrong? You must be a fan of Waylon Wires Old Iron! Great dude , if you don't know him check him out!
@@jasonw7497 he already acts like Biden with a stupid stunt like this.
@@badger305 how is it stupid?
It literally worked without incident.
Awesome! I would like to see you empty the old acid and crud out and refill with new acid and water for a long term test!
Filter the acid and pour it back in.
You the original mad scientist, living on the edge Tony.... I love it, Greetings from Gold Coast, Australia
I have had good luck somthing like this. I always mixed distilled water with epsom salt and filled it up then put it on my 30 year old napa booster. Let it charge for a few hours come out to top off and good to go.
Some welding processes are electrode negative. make sure your machine is set up for electrode positive before you do that.
@@ebutuoyebutouy It varies. tig on steel and flux core are generally dcen. Stick and mig are generally dcep. But that can vary based on the particular process. Aluminum tig is of course AC, you'll definitely have a bad day hooking a battery up to that.
Mig is also constant voltage instead of constant current too, so if it's set up for that, it's not going to be fun times. Some of those machines can be set to hold it in the 30+ volt range. So - set it up for stick, and make sure it's set for dcep, or switch the leads.
I use to struggle with my motorcycle and e bike batteries all my life and I'm half way done doing this to my ebike battery and it was only at 1 volt before desulfateion and now she's 10 plus volts and I'm not Done yet 😎 love this trick!
I've experimented with batteries before and I suggest that you have a container of baking soda which neutralizes the acid definitely suggests that. And any of the waste after that you have that you might throw away take baking soda and dump it in it and it will neutralize the acid and then you can just blow them properly and not cause any damage to anyting couldn't be eaten by the acid. Just a suggestion otherwise pretty cool stuff God bless have a great day.😎😃😀😁
I found it's easier to stick a couple slotted screw drivers in a wall outlet then hook the jumper cables up to them. Just make sure you use 2 different outlets and make sure you connect to the skinny side and the bottom ground lug. When the lights in the house start to dim you shut it off.
You really should have added a bunch of smiley faces. 😁
I find it funny I am not a Mopar guy, not even a rear wheel drive car guy.. but I find myself listening to everything Tony says. ❤
Time to get with the real cars that matter 😂
@Brettmlyons,,. There's always room for another at the table of Ma Mopar. Try it, you'll like it! One word of caution, It's Addicting in a good way. Welcome Brother.
Crazy how you knew. I was just looking this up an hour ago. I have about 10 batteries that are "no good"
But I think you might have 10 good batteries
Distilled water and using a highload fast charger would help MOST batteries. Tonys battery was outside so I would have replaced the acid and then did the fast charge
10 chances to blow yourself up. That's a pretty good odds. 10%
I love your style man... You can always tell people who are genuine and you are it... Thanks so much!
Great video! I’ve owned and operated and automotive shop for over 45 years. I’m always learning new things. Just want to thank you for this video. I personally have had 5 to 6 batteries explode usually when charging or jump charging as just like you said. Get water, rinse yourself off get back to work. Two batteries actually blew the case apart. I think that was because they were low on acid but no mushroom cloud, no pieces of car flying through the air and a little soap and water did the trick. There’s crazy people out there and we ain’t one of them. Keep up the good work thank you Murph of Murphs automotive.
In the absence of a funnel, you could utilise surface tension and a straight rod of some sort. Hold the rod across the opening of the bottle with the lower end of the rod in the hole in the top of the battery (but not touching the sides of the hole) and tilt the bottle gently. The water will flow along and around the rod and into the battery.
Excellent tip !! I have a tiller with oil fill plug in a very tight spot. Going to use that trick to top up oil. Thanks.
He DOESN'T NEED any more bad idea's.. He just escaped with his life in this video.
Happy New Year!
Very informative! I'd heard of this but never witnessed it. Thanks!
It might make sense to disconnect the ground side cable at the welder (not the battery end) to minimize the risk of an arc.
How about just turning off the switch?
@@tedmoss that's a must. There are usually capacitors within welders used to ballast the load. Disconnection at the machine-end of the cable, removes the possibility of an arc near the hydrogen source
Seems to me like you would have the the brand / model of welder you used from HF but what do I know? A 200 amp battery charger works great for reconditioning an old battery.
If one must do this inside, it may be advisable to set a fan up a few feet distant to blow away any fumes that might accumulate in still indoor air.
I was going to say the same thing, he should have turned the back of the welder towards the battery to use the internal fan to dissipate the gasses to reduce the chance of explosion!
ok karen
UTG is pure blood old school, he operates like most of us did in the 1960s and 70s. ( Pre snow flake) days. This video channel is like time travel. UTG bringing the Real Steel back in to a world dominanted by fake and plastic, filled with snowflakes and spelling police. World.