Thank you Tony some people just don’t understand that hundred dollars to some is like $1000 to another being a sergeant major I’ve seen where $20 can change a privates life from being divorced because they can’t pay a bill or getting their vehicle running thank you for using common sense and trying to make the public understand thank you retired sergeant major Gamsby
Exactly.. the no-accounts and lay-abouts who live in their grandma's basement, getting allowance from a single mom, they have no clue about 💩 PERIOD. But the hilarious part it that they think they know it all.
@@Crazy8ts yes it is the same battery. Your just a pseudo intellectual know it all, butthurt because Tony knows something you didn't. You should get over yourself.
Thank you for serving in the miltary and being an empathetic human being. Their are not enough humans like you that are "apparent" in our current military. I hope it's due to negative propaganda? That's honestly my only hope that is left for the US. A wonderful country that I was fortunate enough to be raised in. My Dad was a retired USAF SAC B-36 and B-52 Bomber Aircraft Commander before serving over SEA for a year. 1968-1969. Then becoming a Strategic Nuclear Bomber Planner in Omaha and DC (the latter assignment drove him out). My wife's Dad was a retired USAF SMSGT. He worked in logistics and served from the same base as my Dad in SEA. I am an ex-USAF Officer married to a female Staff Sergeant 35 years ago. 2 wonderful Sons. Your empathetic understanding of the lowest ranks in the military is the epitome of excellence for a Senior NCO. Thank You.
For. REAL. I know there's inflation going on yaddayadda, but even w/that in play there's never been any shifting in my head towards thinking things w/$100-ballpark pricetags are a trivial cost/price point like the schmucks who rebuke the entire notion of extending SLA battery life w/an argument hinging on SLABatts = Super-duper cheap, bro! WHY TF ARE YOU EVEN BOTHERING WITH THIS?!? I assume the ones dismissive about DIY battery reconditioning reflexively do it bc that silver spoon they never *not* had on hand costs waaay more than $100.... Hell one of my fav hobbies is making cheap shit indestructible or some other upgrade in-kind, which is something that would literally never occur to me if I had the sort of upbringing/life allowing me to view things like car batteries as "cheap"
@@kurtilingus This administration has a lot of people living from paycheck to paycheck. I’m spending double on gas, groceries, electric, etc. my savings is gone. Thanks to Biden’s regime. This was a great video.
I've bought several batteries from a guy down the road that reconditions them. I had no idea how he did it. Now that I know, I might have to use my own stick welder. Anyway, most of his batteries last a few more years. It is a good deal and well worth it. Especially when you have a lot of equipment that gets used occasionally but needs a battery.
I only ever blew up 1 battery, or I should say my brother did while boosting my race car. Turns out his alternator had been over charging the battery in his car and the water had been boiled away leaving it maybe half full of just acid. When he connected the cables to his car after connecting the other ends to my dead battery, his went off like a gun shot. Blew the case to pieces and my brother had acid all over him. He ran into the house and washed up and I hosed his car off to remove all the acid. Other than him being pissed off at blowing up his battery he was fine.
Common sense isn't so common anymore Tony. I believe the fact that you were able to put some kind of charge in that battery in the first place is the only reason your method worked. It probably wouldn't work on a battery that truly is NFG.
Good questions I’m sure it’s going to boil it could dislocate and remove lead Atoms, or maybe it is chemically converting I guess if the acid level increases you would think it’s chemically converting. It would be interesting to do a test on a single cell removed from a battery put it in a container with the electrolyte or water whatever was in the battery maybe a glass container so you can watch them do the test and look for particles at the bottom of the container or maybe you will see visual differences Before and after the high amp experiment.
The university of life distilled into around 9 minutes ,as you say common sense is king! Why throw something out when there is a chance it can be revived and get you down the road again without spending money.
More risky but when the battery is in its bulk-charge stage (translation: flat-dead), you can probably get away with it. I would still wear appropriate PPE including hearing protection. I worked at a place where we had a golf cart battery, a semi truck tire, and a semi trailer air bag explode. Glad I was away from all of them, but even the truck tire left my ears ringing for a few hours.
So, it seems that you don't need any particular welder, I'm not sure how much duty cycle comes in to play with this, maybe someone can enlighten me? As per the three guys whom have posted this method on RUclips, they all use different welders and as I don't live in the US all are different from what's available to me. So my assumption is that any welder capable of 200 amps should do the trick, maybe I'm wrong though. I would like to try this in an ups tubular lead acid battery (I couldn't find that these were sold in the US) to bring it back to close to it's original 6-8 hours back up (180 mh) with a 200 amps dc Arc welder costing around $80 us. The harbour freight model appears to be $399 which isn't cheap at all! Dilemmas dilemmas......
"Only" a hundred bucks??? What the heck??? Someone doesn't know the value of a buck!! Glad they have no access to my money! If my wife said that. She wouldn't be my wide anymore! You can actually ask my Ex-wife if that's true! She said something like that ONCE!
As the saying goes... The only thing thats common about common sense is that it's not common... Thanks uncle Tony! This education will help save a lot of people with sense a lot of money on batteries.
I have done 2 batteries since watching your video and it fixed both batteries. Both still working like new. It does actually work. Saved me a chunk of change. Thank you!
Tony, you are right about $100 being a big deal for some of us: been there, done that, don't want to go back. If this trick only makes the battery last 6 months, that gives a guy a little breathing room.
Since your first video I've shocked 2 batteries with my cheap Amazon welder that would not take a charge and both are still working. Take that for what it is worth.
Good stuff. People who haven't spent any appreciable time in the field repairing automobiles have little to no clue what we have gotten away with over the years. I applaud their caution, but a little common sense goes a long way. Keep up the good content.
The long term neglect and discharge you described makes me think the plates were heavily sulfated. When you hit it with a lot of juice at once, it cleans the plates and battery's like new .
@ De Fund the Government, I agree with your analysis that the high amperage fed to the battery did loosen-up the built-up sulfulation on this dead battery... With that being said, if there was an internal short circuit that created heat, the battery could have easily caught on fire or explode... Tony does have a good assessment by wanting the electrolyte level above the plates, when charging it... But Tony was in error about something he said... The electrolyte is NOT pure sulfuric acid... There is water in the electrolyte. Believe it or not, when the battery is being charged, Hydrogen AND Oxygen are being separated from the water that was originally inert... After the electrolysis of the charging takes place, the dis-associated molecules of Oxygen and Hydrogen become a potentially combustible mixture... And yes, a fire or an extremely powerful explosion can easily take place... Hopefully when Tony tries this again, he'll leave the battery in a well ventilated room with plastic sheeting lining the walls, floor & ceiling... And he should have an ABC 10 POUND fire extinguisher ready to go....
Funny battery story. My father was a substation operator for a power company. We lived on site in a house attached to the control room. For emergency power there was a battery room with an inverter. It was housed in a maybe 8x8 room. There were 86 1.5 volt lead acid batteries. Each cell was about 1.5' long by 1' wide and 1.5' tall. Entire wall stacked 3 high. The ventilator had stopped working in the room. The company electrician came in to troubleshoot the issue. I was with my father at the time. Well the electrician went in the room, then there was a flash of light and wooshing sound. Kind of a vacuum feeling as the O2 was consumed. Thankfully I guess he left the door open. He comes out of the room with singed hair and eyebrows and the remnants of a cigarette in his mouth. He lit a cigarette. Yep a well ventilated room is your friend.
Back in the day, late 70's....my dad would pump gas with a lit cig in his mouth all the time. That's the way he smoked, he would just lite it and hold it in his mouth the entire time and hardly took drags off of it.
This works. I've measured progress with a load tester and specific gravity tester, monitored each cell, gradually increase from 1.150(dead) to 1.270(useable) Not all batteries are savable especially ones that have already had a long life and do your best not to overheat the battery, cycling the welder on for 15 minutes off for five for about five cycles then test the specific gravity. If you don't get the specific gravity reading that you're looking for (1.270-1.280) give the battery an hour to cool internally, repeat. Also, don't bother load testing until the battery is holding a full charge (at least 12.75 volts) load testing and uncharged battery does more damage, not good if you're trying to save it in the first place.
There's the rub... Certain types of failures are able to be fixed with the method, which, as you mention, doesn't involve batteries used on a daily basis for many years that have simply degraded.
@@tarstarkusz exactly. Batteries in daily driven cars that have long lives typically fail because lead falls from the plate matrixes and fill the bottom of the cells causing an internal short. With that being said this is a great method to desolfate batteries that have sat for long periods not in use or accidental over discharge "drained" battery set otherwise won't recharge.
@@tarstarkusz haha that's kind of like the seal swell stop leak stuff for engines and transmissions. If it's worn from use ,forget it it's not gonna work. If it's for a barn find that's been sitting, it might work. Kinda like the battery dealio.
Loved both videos and agree with everything you said. I design battery backup systems for refinery control systems that take up entire rooms. Your desulphation trick is based on sound principles and the H2 ignition risk in your shop as you clearly explained was approximately zero.
I've known about the "high DC current" technique to rejuvenate bad car batteries for a while but have never tried it. I have a few project vehicles all with bad batteries. Going to get my stick welder out and see what results I get.
He has the same voice as Phil Hendry, the guy on the radio who does all these different voices and cracks people up with his Phil Hendry Show.! Awesome!
i have been doing it for years as well as using the welder for jump start 50% success rate. you should really put some cables on the battery and hook the welder to the cables so that when you turn it on (bad connect) you don't melt the lead terminal off (melted off) but yes it does work
Good idea. I have a bunch of old boat batteries that I was going to scrap after I used them for a couple years on my solar system, these are really dead. Would help me be a bit farther from them, cause I'm using a gas powered welder so shutting it off every time and starting it up again to re-hook it up again, wouldn't be worth it, Thanks
The cheapest battery I sell is $100 and I'd only put one of those in a car of I'm selling it lol. Your average retail price on a battery now is 160 to 190 bucks and even more if your vehicle requires an AGM battery... Ouch. When I first got into auto parts 20 years ago the most expensive led acid batteries were 60 bucks
I've had a battery where it died and I used Inox battery conditioner in it and set my workshop charger to reco which has a desulfate mode. Well I got about 4 extra months and needed to reco charge it every week or two. The inox dissolved the sulff in the bottom. What happened is after reco charging it so many times big holes formed in the plates. The reco mode hits the battery with a DC squarewave so it stays positive and just varies the voltage from 16v down to I think 13v. It's a very similar process to using at welder at 18v because as it bubbles the local resistance at the plate will rise giving VD. So I imagine this will only work a couple of times before the plates just deteriorate and the battery is dead dead.
Tony! You have my respect brother! I completely understand everything you do or talk about, and I'm not "that" smart, so you must be very very good at explaining your topic / subject ya. BUT!! I bet you could use a lifetime supply of painkillers for the headache(s) you suffer from due to the very hi level of stoopid / proudly ignorant comments from the mouth breathers that have a keyboard at their disposal! You are a wise wise man and you certainly know your stuff! Nothing but respect here my man ✔️
Hi mate! Iv just come across your channel first video the battery revive with a stick welder and now this one 👍👍 I love the way you present your knowledge so humble and cool man can't wait to watch more of your videos 🤙🤙 from Cody Australia 🦘
My dad taught me to lower the hood and lean over it when hooking up jumper cables roadside because water isn't handy to wash off the acid if the battery blows its top and the acid sprays your face. It happened on my 1980 sedan Deville and my whole shirt turned like Swiss cheese, but my ugly mug was unscathed. Thanks dad.
Crazy, I’d expect it to blow after being jumped due to the hydrogen gas evolving during the charging. Never thought there would be hydrogen gas coming out the battery when it’s in need of a jump
@@nastybastardatlive Which is another reason the negative goes to the block and it's the last connection - just a little more distance. I also tend to pull the caps and put a damp rag over the top. And yes, "Thanks, dad!" on my part as well.
@@jameswyatt1304 I've got a pair of jumpers that has a plug in the middle ,and leds so you know polarity is correct. Hook up each car and connect em in the middle, much safer spark distance 😃
@@MrTheHillfolk I operated a tow truck years ago where the jumper cables would plug into a receptacle mounted on the truck after connecting the battery terminals. Safety at a distance.
Oh no fair, I want the car to explode dramatically if the alternator regulator is faulty and overcharges the battery. I want a mushroom cloud with apocalyptic proportions. What a let down.
Maybe these people did it with a sealed battery or with caps on. I'd be interested to know what voltage your arc welder is putting out at those amperages.
Finally somebody asked a good question yes what is the voltage the welder is pulling out we need to know the voltage. I have done many experiments with Batteries as I have built electric vehicles and electric bikes I haven’t even cut them open after casting to see what the plates look like I did have success sandblasting the plates lightly to remove sulfation crystals that it was very hard putting the battery back together.
Tony is always on the look out for my wallet. I’m a single man who doesn’t earn much and I feel like this is one of the only channels that has my interests in mind. Thanks mate.
I made a comment on the first video and suggested that a person might want to blow a fan at the battery just to be extra safe while boiling it. I realize that the risk was very low and perfectly acceptable in this case, but it was just a thought. I got called a snowflake and was criticized for being able to spell correctly. Sigh…
We could calculate the evolution of H2 during the entire charging cycle. My guess is that the volume of air in the building and the air leakage from the building causing air exchange would dilute the O2 and H2 mix to a point below the critical concentration for an explosive event AND a conflagration event. TLDR version, no boom, no fire. 😁👍
Holy Cow, we have point dexter in the room. not an insult but Kudos, takes hat off because someone smarter than me knows this stuff. whats the algebraic formula or can you write down the calculation. this is what i'm talking about Foghorn Leghorn - Hide and Seek ruclips.net/video/jMyD3TSXyUc/видео.html
I for one love the experiment Uncle Tony & have enough common sense to read between the lines great job thanks for the follow up, kinda waited on it b4 I tried it, but there are a small % of folks that need a babysitter, hold there hand walk them thru EVERY little detail have the finest educations u can buy, scratch there heads at some simplest tasks, I earned my common sense a little at a time at school of Hard Knocks
My skepticism comes from living in sub zero temps. I gotta say I'm impressed! Might try this with an old battery, if it ain't froze and broke already. Still wouldn't use it in my main driver, that HAS to start, on call 24/7 -40F or warmer.
I have an old battery that used to be in my car, became unreliable and i replaced it. Kept the old one though. It's been used as a ghetto lighting source (using a darn headlight bulb for some light in a shed). Died MANY times over. Would be cool to see if it could bring it back to its glory days. Or even a battery from a current vehicle which on the -15 C days, its getting weak. Not the daily, worst case, it doesn't work.
Tony, Please do a test on the product called "Charge It" which is supposed to revive bad batteries. Does it actually work? Many of us do not have access to a stick welder or high powered battery chargers.
Well it’s nice to know that everyone is watching this channel!! Even the ones that have no clue about what they’re talking about nor had any experience with what they are talking about!!
I've read for years that what causes battery failure is plate calcification and anything that can remove it makes the battery work. If the welder caused the calcification off seems to me it would work. I exploded a battery once and I found out it was internally shorted and when I hooked the big charger to it the post blew out of it covering me in battery acid but that was not like this, it was a dead short. My welder is AC only else I would give it a try.
Tony we love ya.....but sorry, you're dead wrong on this one. Batteries DO explode, and yes they DO explode in huge fireballs. Back in 2003 I watched one explode with my own eyes in an early 90's Ford F-150. Long story short, a small metal CB antenna had been laid inside the passenger fender shorting out the starter relay directly to the battery terminal. I don't know exactly how long it was like that, but I saw the entire front of the truck explode in a gigantic fireball. Luckily it was outside and nobody was near it. It definitely could have killed somebody and absolutely would have burned down any structure if it were inside. I never really thought much of the danger with batteries until the day I saw it happen myself. If you wanna play around with dead batteries, feel free. I don't know the chemistry involved or how it happened.....but I saw it happen and it was like a huge fire bomb going off under the hood.
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.
Well boiling the battery would reduce the electrolyte causing hydrogen and oxygen build up and all it needed was a spark causing a fash back into the battery and cause it's contained it would blow the top off in the right conditions saying he was jumping it meaning there was lack of acid and cud of been building up gases over time .....😅
I use to watch my dad when I was a kid take a steel bar and with the battery caps off take that bar and come straight down on the posts and if a cell started bubbling that meant the battery had a bad cell. My Dad worked at Gatlings Auto Store in the !970's and sold and put in alot of car batteries in vehicles for customers...
Battery EXPLOSIONS !!! I'm 74yrs old and mostly been around cars, semi's and heavy equipment my entire life. First growing up on a Ranch/Farm...(Yeah, for those that don't know what a Ranch/Farm is...We raised Cattle, Roping Horses and a few other barnyard animals BUT we also grew Alfalfa and Barley as cash crops. THUS the term; RANCH/FARM) ANYWAY, getting back to BATTERY EXPLOSIONS. The ONLY TIME I've Ever had or seen ANY BATTERY EXPLODE was when I tried to jump start a 12volt Tractor Battery in the dead of a Montana Winter when it was -42 degrees ...that's BELOW ZERO. So what can we take away from that...Batteries do not like a sudden jolt of voltage when the internals are frozen....yeah, Batteries can FREEZE at those temps. As a matter of fact when that battery did explode it showed a heavy frost on the outside and a frozen jellyton on the inside of the case. I didn't get sprayed with any Electrolyte Fluid....about soled my underwear but was not hurt in any way, shape or form because it was just FROZEN and couldn't expand from the sudden jolt of 12volts. I learned to take all batteries out and keep them inside the Mud-Room until needed from that day on. Lessons learned. I've seen ROOKIE guys hook terminals up opposite on construction sites when jumping and hook up the negative to positive and never seen any explosions and even a 24volt semi hooked up to a pick up with only 12volt...none of them exploded but sure threw spares like the 4th of JULY Fireworks Display....and one had the caps off because it needed the thing topped off....Even then it did not explode...It takes one hell of a lot to make any battery explode folks....One HELL of LOT, so think before you let your fingers run rampant without thinking first. The manner this was done was well within the SAFE ZONE so if you don't know anything then please just keep your trap shut.......otherwise you just show the entire world just how little you know, or don't know anything at all about what your attempting to talk about. I just laughed reading some of the comments and had to watch this follow up...Good STUFF. Keep up the great videos guys.
7:42 uh.... their have been times that i didnt have 100 bucks (and all my batteries are more like 165 bucks) . im a mechanic.... i get 18 an hour and yet..... i STILL needs more money . i can eat A LOT..... and i drive 100 miles everyday (50 to work...50 back...lots of gas... lots of oil changes.... lots of worn out parts) all that adds up pretty damn quick , . . we also dont go by book time... im just "normal hourly" pay shop rate is 100 an hour....take it ..... or find another shop (and around here....RURAL!!!!! NE MT.... almost every other shop WILL mess up your car and/or try to scam ya) . if your car is clean and well taken care of..... im going to get done sooner if your car is NEVER washed... so its a rust bucket.... and every bolt i touch snaps...... you are going to pay for that lack of care or, again.... take it to another shop..... i dont care...... i get paid the same anyway.... . id like to work on your car...... id like to fix it correctly (and use the little tips and tricks ive learned over the DECADE.... to fix it BETTER than correctly / stock / factory) . but i dont care..... take it to who ever ya want it will probably end up in my shop anyway..... (as im the only one stupid enough to take on cars that have been worked on by shade tree mechanics) . . but if ya think im trying to scam ya because i said you have "2 hard stops left" on your front brakes and ya say "nope... i just want the oil change" . and then you come back saying i messed up the oil change...... because your car now makes a grinding noise every time ya hit hte brakes MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE PUT ON THE NEW PADS!!!!!!! . . . out here in NE MT.... we dont salt the roads so a "pad slap" is 99.89% of brake jobs....... the rotors are ALWAYS just fine (unless they have 300,000 miles on them) . but ya.... im MORE than happy to also replace your rotors..... because you ignored me.... and drove for 10,000 miles with metal on metal and STILL kept driving.... till the caliper piston wore the pad away.... piston cocked... piston shattered..... and now you have ZERO brake fluid . . ya... im MORE than happy to charge you parts and labor...... ya... im MORE than happy that you turned a 90 dollar bill...... into a 500 dollar bill . thanks for making the shop EVEN MORE money..... idiots . . . . . yes, this happened today at work and im STILL mad about it . i grew up poor.... working under a shade tree to keep my junk running i know what its like to get FUCKED by a shop..... because they have the tools you dont...... so they KNOW they can charge whatever . i know how that is..... i was (and still am) their so i have NEVER scammed or cheated a single person out of a single penny . hell... my boss gets after me for giving people deals like a free tire repair if they SIMPLY GIVE ME THEIR WORD that they will buy at least 2 new tires from us (or get an oil change, etc)
Thank you for this video and your previous one. Very well taught and received. Tomorrow I'm doing 2 dead batteries. I wish more guys could be as direct and concise in their experiments as you were. Regards. Shawn Vilander, Utrecht, South Africa
Appears reasonable to me. I do think that it was a new battery that was discharged soon after purchase, so it went from electrolyte to water w/o years of slow sulfation. That might have been the ideal candidate for this experiment. I dunno about 7 year old battery pulled from service and allowed to self discharge over winter ... Might be too far gone to do the boil ...
Crossing the starter solenoid that close to the battery could have caused a massive car explosion. May even have blown the gas tank off. Lol, just kidding : )
Interested in an off grid solar setup. The battery degradation is a thing that I have been grappling with. This switches up the ROI a great deal. If zapping them like this adds 5-10 years to a bank of 4 batteries going for $400 each, that is nothing to scoff at...
I find it ironic that most of the kids spouting their doomsday scenarios about the hazards of charging a lead-acid battery think nothing of hopping in their hybrid or outright electric vehicle comprised of one of the most finicky battery technologies available: lithium-ion. Or charge their phones next to them as they sleep. But don't you dare talk about their precious iCrap......
Common sense the fruit that doesn't grow in everyone's garden, god that is a great line. But yes, you're correct. Been around cars and working on cars since I was old enough to hold the flashlight for my dad. I've seen a handful of lead-acids "explode" and at the most extreme it's been a loud 'pop' at the most. The worst part is the mist of battery acid that gets in the air in an enclosed space like a car or a small garage. I don't know why people think these are LiPos that are going to burn the house down in some fiery explosion, and even then LiPos don't "explode" like a bomb, they just turn into a fireball. People in RUclips comments make you really wonder how most people can walk and chew gum at the same time
the way some people say "it's only a $100" it's obvious some trolls have more money then brains, first off i don't know where they're finding a new battery for $100, even the cheapest car battery at walmart where i live is now just under $150 out the door plus some of us have responsibilities and can't afford to just piss away $150 at the drop of a hat. tony on the battery explosion subject, it was a long long time ago when i was in high school, there was a freak accident in one of the auto shop periods were a kid was killed when a battery exploded that he was leaning over like he wasn't supposed to be doing. it wasn't the same class i was in so i wasn't there when it happened but we were told that the kid had tools sitting on the battery and when he leaned over it the tools shorted the battery out and blew the top off with him leaning over it so i do know it's possible to be killed by an exploding battery but i need 2 batteries right now i don't have the money for and i do have a dc welder, it's a 120v welder but i'll give it a try but i'm also going to be ducking behind my big 6ft tall roll-a-way toolbox as soon as i flip the switch, better safe the sorry.....
Hydrogen is only"explosive" if there is the correct mixture of oxygen present otherwise hydrogen just burns. The Hindenburg didn't explode it burned. My chemistry teacher used to joke he would let someone shoot a canister of hydrogen next to him any day compared to one filled with propane because of the difference in burn chemistry.
I've had two batteries blow up. Both of them shattered the plastic shell of the battery that sent bits and acid flying. One was on an engine test stand when I was in school, blew up when cranking possibly a loose terminal made a spark. I wasn't directly involved when it blew but it was a good bang when it let loose. The other was in my old pickup, one morning it was slow cranking and didn't start, I put a basic battery charger on it. The next day I opened the hood to find bits of plastic everywhere and the top of the battery gone. I don't know why that one blew up perhaps a spark inside the case, something shifted causing the charger clip to spark? In both cases, the flying bits and explosive force didn't do any damage to anything.
Had similar experiences. Actually was driving a car and hear a huge “BANG”. When I opened the hood, acid and battery pieces everywhere, but the car was still running! Shut it off, checked for damage, started it back up, drove a half mile back to the shop and cleaned up the mess with a garden hose and baking soda. Tested the system, put in a new battery and kept going….
lol. I don't make it a habit to read comments on youtube videos, and from the sound of it, I shouldn't start anytime soon. That said, quasi related, moderately unamusing anecdote. Was just out of high school in 2001. Yeah, I'm still a kid, sorry. Not my fault my parents waited until they were in their 40s to have me, legit wish they hadn't. Be me, late teens, into cars, working at OReilly auto of all places. Dude brings in a battery that was deader than my great-great-great grandmother and asks us to test it. Bruh, this shit is roached. Insists. Fine. Plug battery into charger on counter towards the "back" of the store and tell him it'll be a bit before the battery may or may not have enough charge to test. Dude agrees and leaves, will come back later. Choppin' it up with some buddies when suddenly, kabooom. IDK WTF just happened, but there was a really, really loud pop in the store. Battery exploded. I'll stop with the 4chan greentext now, and just retell the facts. It didn't "explode" in my opinion, but something caused the battery to send the two caps on top skyward with enough force to embed them in the drop ceiling of the store. Easily one of the most amusing moments of my *very* short "career" in the automotive field. The stores response to this was to buy a small acrylic "charging box" to charge and test batteries in ........ but wait - is this box splosion proof?? Cause if not........... :D :D :D :D
Pretty neat. 1 problem with it I can think of is the crud you boil off the plates can settle on the bottom and short it internally given the right bump in the road. Dad told me a story about my grandad bumping into a loading dock at Agway and his battery exploding, pretty wild
i wonder if it didnt knock a cable loose..... and cause a short or cause the 24 volt system to turn into a 48 volt system . or something like that . . if their was a "piece of trash" in the bottom...... i think it would simply get red hot and melt/turn to dust before it blew up a battery . now if it was a LARGE piece of trash..... i could see it getting hot enough to boil the acid/water and the steam causing the caps to pop off . but FULL ON explode..... idk man usually it takes a LARGE short..... or LARGE over charge/current/voltage to BLOW UP a battery
"I had a battery explode on me and hurt my feelings!" "I had a battery go bad and spoil the food in my fridge!" "I had a battery steal my ID and ruin my credit!" "I had a battery took my job and ran off with my woman!"
Man Tony I glad you made it out alive of a car bomb going off lol I had one pop going over railroad tracks it was my fault not having it strapped down . It just blew acid out I will say I did have to get a new battery but I’m alive to tell the story. Lol
I work on a tow boat and I had a deck hand who on his job had to regularly check the batteries as part of his job checked fluid levels it was in a unvented area he thought it would be a good idea to use a lighter as a light source when he did it the battery exploded the top of the battery hit him in the face and he lost the sight of one eye so they do explode with the air space in the battery. Using a flame for light is not the brightest thing especially in a confined space but it happened. I would still love to try your charging method to revive my batteries I don’t think it is dangerous if it is done properly. Shit happens
My dads cousin was a Nukeyouluhr engine ear and he worked at Hiroshima in Russia at the the place where the thing happened and he said a 12v battery caused the whole situation with the explosion and the town having to be deserted and everyone getting poisoned etc.
battery companies are in big trouble....and Uncle Tony could have released a helium balloon that rocketed to the rafters and said thats what the generated hydrogen did.
It may not be 100% as it did kind of run down in the cranking episode but it is good enough to do the job for now and if its back on the road for even a week or two that would have been a win. Its going on what a month now? That is a big win for something that was junk.
We should hold a contest - What's the oldest battery one of your viewers can revive with this technique? I'm going to enter myself with the 2013 battery currently STILL WORKING in my old Subie. We're at regular 20 degree temps here in the Mountain State and it's starting to struggle, so heck, why not? Weekend project comin up.
Tony, WELL DONE!!Awesome results....so far. Send this bad boy battery to Project Farm! Let HIM do the deep freeze test! Does it work?" We are going to find out!" HA! Seriously...cross feeding cool and scientific testing is always a good thing. Think of cross pollination between nerds! RUclips style! Your viewers will appreciate this! So will I. Thanks Tony!! Motor Parts RULE! :)
Yeah I got an AC/DC tig/stick welder, and I'm totally gonna try this out!!! I was thinking that maybe you could drain them, and stain it to help the stuff it blows off to not build up. Especially if you're attempting this on a really old battery.
Awesome video. I'm tired of batteries that just "give up" after a few years, so I've got a couple questions....What about maintenance-free batteries with caps you can't remove? Safe to boil them like this? How about sealed AGM's? What's the voltage on the welder? Would a higher-amp charger give the same results? I've got a good charger, but never considered using it to refurb a challenged battery.
I'm LATE to this post but this is my experience with your questions. 1 ) The SEALED Batteries do have some ventilation to take up any expansion or they would probably crack open. With that in mind then i would proceed judiciously and start out with very low amperage's and Shorter times. 2) AGM's are also vented but even less so. I have not personally attempted any AGM but heard they are just as acceptable with the appropriate time and Amperage's. I have a couple that are just not taking any charge from standard chargers and plan on attempting an AGM charge inside a small' walled enclosure...open at the top...if it does explode then the' walls should retain any flying debris and help save my life...LOL 3) Higher Amp Chargers haven't helped in any of my attempts and now think that the higher AMPS of 80 to 120 may be what they need to knock the film off the internal plates. I still have a couple commercial chargers with 75amp jump-start and the other is a 90amp jump start setting.n The issue with both of these is that they don't stay at full charge for more than a few seconds...107seconds was the max for the most expensive General Electric was able to deliver before the Reset-able Internal Circuit Breaker Tripped. (((((((((( EDITED SECTION::: I forgot to mention that I recently bought a high end and very expensive AGM charger that has a specific AGM de-calcification setting and even that hasn't repaired the two dead AGM batteries I plan on using to try this ARC system....I think the ARC on high amps is the way to go but wait and do your own research before you go ALL Ape-Batt-Crazy. To reiterate, I'm going to start out low and slowly build AMPS at shorter times before I build up to longer times with higher (90 to 120) AMPS. )))))))))) Conclusion: I think from the others I've spoken to about this system is that the Higher Amperage setting on the ARC Welding settings are what is needed. Like I said before, i'm certainly no expert here but this is what My research has given me to think. Best of Luck to your endeavors and break a leg...lol
I've got some experience with this. I've not tried the stick welder thing yet, anxious to try, but a fifty amp charger will do it sometimes. It sometimes works with one of the older ones that have a timer. The newer ones will sense that there is no charge and refuse to start or shut off after a few seconds. You have to get a strong current on it even if it isn't accepting any current because of a high resistance. As the battery looses charge slowly, a sulfur oxide powder will adhere to the lead plates in the battery. Once all of the plates in any one of the cells is covered with this salt, it has a very high resistence and will no longer charge. The idea is to get the plates hot enough that they flex a tiny bit at the same time the boiling fluid works some of the sulfate salt off of the lead plates to expose them a little bit. But you don't want the plates to be so hot they touch or melt the connections. If they touch, that cell will short, and that ruins the battery. So you have to put a really strong current into it even though it has a very high resistence to get enough heat generated for it to work. The sulfur salt will precipitate in the bottom of the battery, but it will go back into solution as the battery is charged, and the stuff still on the plates will also go into solution as the battery continues to charge. But a lot can go wrong. Plates can short, produce tons of heat, and kill a cell, you can melt one of the lead connections between the cells, you can melt theconnection to one of the posts, or the plates could be so corroded that there is no metal left. Once you can get it to start accepting a charge, it will usually charge to the capacity left from the remaining lead metal still in the plates. The most common problem is plates in one cell will touch and short out that cell. The rest of the battery will charge OK, but the battery will only put out about 11.5 volts, or just over nine volts if two cells are shorted. Most modern chargers have safety features to keep you from blowing up the battery and getting injured and suing whomever sold you the charger if it senses that the battery isn't taking a sufficient charge, so you need one that puts out fifty amps no matter what from the seventies or early eighties or earlier for this to work.
Thanks for sharing your knowledge! Gonna try it with a 80 amp welder on a 30 year old battery, see if it works. 2 kids in college so I’m dirt poor for the next 4. Thanks again for your knowledge!
I had one blow up in front of me after a young fella disconnected the cable before turning off the charger as I walked by...Massive BANG and shit went everywhere...Luckily there was a shower close by and under and I went quick smart....My ears rang for days after....
Thanks so much. Saw this post and tried it just as you did it. It worked and l am on my second year with the rejuvenated battery!!! My truck sits sometimes 6-7 days in Arizona heat and starts the first try…. Thanks again 👍👍 Dave
How about this comment….. thank you uncle Tony for looking out for us poor guys. Keep ‘em coming. And for those who have dough and doubt. We’ll leave your doubt and break out your dough we will turn your old battery new!! 🎉😮
Uncle Tony, Well you put all those stupid comments to rest. Since watching your welder battery reconditioning video I have done the same on 2 old batteries that where totally dead back to 95% of their original CCA. This works. Done story.
Hahahaha.. all I could think was .. man I hear that starter sound everyday.. and what's with all the Bullshit complain culture.. shut up.. like why I never understood Yelp.. you mean it's called ? The sound a Wounded Dogs make.. and you leave reviews and or complaints.. hahahaha WTF..
Im a electrical engineer fpr Vw....youre messing with an explosion. You just disrespected every mechanic, tech and engineer. We are all at work watching this. We will make a video on lead acid explsion. Be safe...dont do this.
I had a battery blowup on a truck when I went to jump it off it blew the top off the battery and scared the crap out of me. It wasn’t a pop it was a big bang but no it didn’t create a new universe lol. It was pretty cool though it completely took the top off exposing all the plates and the posts were still right where they were just nothing around them. I guess the battery had an internal short.
Thank you Tony some people just don’t understand that hundred dollars to some is like $1000 to another being a sergeant major I’ve seen where $20 can change a privates life from being divorced because they can’t pay a bill or getting their vehicle running thank you for using common sense and trying to make the public understand thank you retired sergeant major Gamsby
Exactly.. the no-accounts and lay-abouts who live in their grandma's basement, getting allowance from a single mom, they have no clue about 💩 PERIOD.
But the hilarious part it that they think they know it all.
@@Crazy8ts yes it is the same battery. Your just a pseudo intellectual know it all, butthurt because Tony knows something you didn't. You should get over yourself.
Thank you for serving in the miltary and being an empathetic human being.
Their are not enough humans like you that are "apparent" in our current military. I hope it's due to negative propaganda?
That's honestly my only hope that is left for the US. A wonderful country that I was fortunate enough to be raised in.
My Dad was a retired USAF SAC B-36 and B-52 Bomber Aircraft Commander before serving over SEA for a year. 1968-1969. Then becoming a Strategic Nuclear Bomber Planner in Omaha and DC (the latter assignment drove him out).
My wife's Dad was a retired USAF SMSGT. He worked in logistics and served from the same base as my Dad in SEA.
I am an ex-USAF Officer married to a female Staff Sergeant 35 years ago. 2 wonderful Sons.
Your empathetic understanding of the lowest ranks in the military is the epitome of excellence for a Senior NCO.
Thank You.
For. REAL. I know there's inflation going on yaddayadda, but even w/that in play there's never been any shifting in my head towards thinking things w/$100-ballpark pricetags are a trivial cost/price point like the schmucks who rebuke the entire notion of extending SLA battery life w/an argument hinging on SLABatts = Super-duper cheap, bro! WHY TF ARE YOU EVEN BOTHERING WITH THIS?!? I assume the ones dismissive about DIY battery reconditioning reflexively do it bc that silver spoon they never *not* had on hand costs waaay more than $100.... Hell one of my fav hobbies is making cheap shit indestructible or some other upgrade in-kind, which is something that would literally never occur to me if I had the sort of upbringing/life allowing me to view things like car batteries as "cheap"
@@kurtilingus This administration has a lot of people living from paycheck to paycheck. I’m spending double on gas, groceries, electric, etc. my savings is gone. Thanks to Biden’s regime. This was a great video.
I've bought several batteries from a guy down the road that reconditions them. I had no idea how he did it. Now that I know, I might have to use my own stick welder.
Anyway, most of his batteries last a few more years. It is a good deal and well worth it. Especially when you have a lot of equipment that gets used occasionally but needs a battery.
Starting battery for my RV is $200 and I need two of them.....Thank you Tony
i did a similar trick with two powertool batteries one worked and one i did for too long and it melted, wasn't dangerous but more annoying
I only ever blew up 1 battery, or I should say my brother did while boosting my race car. Turns out his alternator had been over charging the battery in his car and the water had been boiled away leaving it maybe half full of just acid. When he connected the cables to his car after connecting the other ends to my dead battery, his went off like a gun shot. Blew the case to pieces and my brother had acid all over him. He ran into the house and washed up and I hosed his car off to remove all the acid. Other than him being pissed off at blowing up his battery he was fine.
Love someone with common sense! Great Video
Some people never rode a bike without a helmet and it shows .
Awesome video, thanks for sharing, I suspect I could do the same with my larger 6v batteries using half the amperage you used on 12v? Cheers !!
Common sense isn't so common anymore Tony.
I believe the fact that you were able to put some kind of charge in that battery in the first place is the only reason your method worked.
It probably wouldn't work on a battery that truly is NFG.
If common sense was a precious metal, it would be worth more than gold and silver combined
Does it just "boil" or dislocate the lead sulfate off the plates, or does it chemically covert the sulfate back to acid?
Good questions I’m sure it’s going to boil it could dislocate and remove lead Atoms, or maybe it is chemically converting I guess if the acid level increases you would think it’s chemically converting. It would be interesting to do a test on a single cell removed from a battery put it in a container with the electrolyte or water whatever was in the battery maybe a glass container so you can watch them do the test and look for particles at the bottom of the container or maybe you will see visual differences Before and after the high amp experiment.
Today’s video; the battery is fixed! Uncle Tony cranks the car over for 5 minutes straight!
Tomorrow’s video; how to rebuild a burned out starter!
Next on UTG How to make your battery into a hydrogen bomb hahahahahah Awesome that the battery still works
The university of life distilled into around 9 minutes ,as you say common sense is king! Why throw something out when there is a chance it can be revived and get you down the road again without spending money.
Boiling a battery….. not blown up. Easy enough difference. Common sense is not common… fact of the world we live in
I'd say it worked good 👍
Next video how to revive a starter lmao 😂
Question: Haven't seen anyone ask yet, can this procedure be done with an AGM battery, or a sealed battery?
More risky but when the battery is in its bulk-charge stage (translation: flat-dead), you can probably get away with it. I would still wear appropriate PPE including hearing protection. I worked at a place where we had a golf cart battery, a semi truck tire, and a semi trailer air bag explode. Glad I was away from all of them, but even the truck tire left my ears ringing for a few hours.
So, it seems that you don't need any particular welder, I'm not sure how much duty cycle comes in to play with this, maybe someone can enlighten me? As per the three guys whom have posted this method on RUclips, they all use different welders and as I don't live in the US all are different from what's available to me.
So my assumption is that any welder capable of 200 amps should do the trick, maybe I'm wrong though. I would like to try this in an ups tubular lead acid battery (I couldn't find that these were sold in the US) to bring it back to close to it's original 6-8 hours back up (180 mh) with a 200 amps dc Arc welder costing around $80 us. The harbour freight model appears to be $399 which isn't cheap at all!
Dilemmas dilemmas......
"Only" a hundred bucks??? What the heck??? Someone doesn't know the value of a buck!! Glad they have no access to my money! If my wife said that. She wouldn't be my wide anymore! You can actually ask my Ex-wife if that's true! She said something like that ONCE!
"Common sense the fruit that doesn't grow in everyone's garden." The new UTG t-shirt !!
Ah you beat me to it 😂
LOVE IT!!!
I'd buy that shirt! 😊👍
I'll buy that shirt lol
I have to remember that one!
Well done Tony. “Common sense is not a fruit that grows in everyone’s garden”. Love it
As the saying goes... The only thing thats common about common sense is that it's not common...
Thanks uncle Tony! This education will help save a lot of people with sense a lot of money on batteries.
I'm stealing that for a sticker on the back of my tractor trailer. With UTG credit
You can be book smart but if you do not have common sense your 🤦🏻♂️
If you can play with a 100 bucks than you are well off believe me
@@captainunderpants936 yup! Been there too and don’t want a rerun.
I have done 2 batteries since watching your video and it fixed both batteries. Both still working like new. It does actually work. Saved me a chunk of change. Thank you!
What welder you using?
@@iiro173 250A 110/220V Stick Welder ARC Welding Machine DC Inverter Welder Dual Voltage MMA Welder Digital Display,Inversor Soldador With Electrode Holder Cable Clamp
$80 on Amazon
@@BuildsAndMoreRacing have to buy one
@@BuildsAndMoreRacing $80 on Amazon is cheaper than buying one new battery 😂
Tony, you are right about $100 being a big deal for some of us: been there, done that, don't want to go back. If this trick only makes the battery last 6 months, that gives a guy a little breathing room.
Im running one thats 7 years old.boiled it twice.
Here in the Philippines, a brand new battery costs about P6,000 (more than $100) and that is a small fortune for many.
Since your first video I've shocked 2 batteries with my cheap Amazon welder that would not take a charge and both are still working. Take that for what it is worth.
Be safe...smh
Lol at first I thought you were saying the welder wouldn’t take a charge
How cheap? Is it a DC welder?
@@auteurfiddler8706 160
Good job !!
Good stuff. People who haven't spent any appreciable time in the field repairing automobiles have little to no clue what we have gotten away with over the years. I applaud their caution, but a little common sense goes a long way. Keep up the good content.
The long term neglect and discharge you described makes me think the plates were heavily sulfated. When you hit it with a lot of juice at once, it cleans the plates and battery's like new .
@ De Fund the Government, I agree with your analysis that the high amperage fed to the battery did loosen-up the built-up sulfulation on this dead battery... With that being said, if there was an internal short circuit that created heat, the battery could have easily caught on fire or explode... Tony does have a good assessment by wanting the electrolyte level above the plates, when charging it... But Tony was in error about something he said... The electrolyte is NOT pure sulfuric acid... There is water in the electrolyte. Believe it or not, when the battery is being charged, Hydrogen AND Oxygen are being separated from the water that was originally inert... After the electrolysis of the charging takes place, the dis-associated molecules of Oxygen and Hydrogen become a potentially combustible mixture... And yes, a fire or an extremely powerful explosion can easily take place... Hopefully when Tony tries this again, he'll leave the battery in a well ventilated room with plastic sheeting lining the walls, floor & ceiling... And he should have an ABC 10 POUND fire extinguisher ready to go....
I love this chanell! There is no shortage of idiots willing to show-off their ignorance. Keep up the good work Uncle T.
Funny battery story. My father was a substation operator for a power company. We lived on site in a house attached to the control room. For emergency power there was a battery room with an inverter. It was housed in a maybe 8x8 room. There were 86 1.5 volt lead acid batteries. Each cell was about 1.5' long by 1' wide and 1.5' tall. Entire wall stacked 3 high. The ventilator had stopped working in the room. The company electrician came in to troubleshoot the issue. I was with my father at the time. Well the electrician went in the room, then there was a flash of light and wooshing sound. Kind of a vacuum feeling as the O2 was consumed. Thankfully I guess he left the door open. He comes out of the room with singed hair and eyebrows and the remnants of a cigarette in his mouth. He lit a cigarette. Yep a well ventilated room is your friend.
What a moron. Hope he learned his lesson.
I haven't stopped laughing 🤣😆🤣
😂😂😂😁
I have singed my hair twice. Once with a potato gun and once with a homemade jet engine. Hilarious! Good times
Back in the day, late 70's....my dad would pump gas with a lit cig in his mouth all the time. That's the way he smoked, he would just lite it and hold it in his mouth the entire time and hardly took drags off of it.
UTG, I’m glad you pushed back on the SAFETY QUEENS. I run job sites and I know how obnoxious these people can be… cheers.
This works. I've measured progress with a load tester and specific gravity tester, monitored each cell, gradually increase from 1.150(dead) to 1.270(useable)
Not all batteries are savable especially ones that have already had a long life and do your best not to overheat the battery, cycling the welder on for 15 minutes off for five for about five cycles then test the specific gravity. If you don't get the specific gravity reading that you're looking for (1.270-1.280) give the battery an hour to cool internally, repeat. Also, don't bother load testing until the battery is holding a full charge (at least 12.75 volts) load testing and uncharged battery does more damage, not good if you're trying to save it in the first place.
There's the rub... Certain types of failures are able to be fixed with the method, which, as you mention, doesn't involve batteries used on a daily basis for many years that have simply degraded.
@@tarstarkusz exactly. Batteries in daily driven cars that have long lives typically fail because lead falls from the plate matrixes and fill the bottom of the cells causing an internal short. With that being said this is a great method to desolfate batteries that have sat for long periods not in use or accidental over discharge "drained" battery set otherwise won't recharge.
@@tarstarkusz haha that's kind of like the seal swell stop leak stuff for engines and transmissions.
If it's worn from use ,forget it it's not gonna work.
If it's for a barn find that's been sitting, it might work.
Kinda like the battery dealio.
no it doesnt
Loved both videos and agree with everything you said. I design battery backup systems for refinery control systems that take up entire rooms. Your desulphation trick is based on sound principles and the H2 ignition risk in your shop as you clearly explained was approximately zero.
Ya well, to a "safety joe", approximately zero, is not good enough...
I've known about the "high DC current" technique to rejuvenate bad car batteries for a while but have never tried it. I have a few project vehicles all with bad batteries. Going to get my stick welder out and see what results I get.
Common sense tells me that you use a DC welder for this procedure, I don’t think the type of welder was ever specified in the video
He has the same voice as Phil Hendry, the guy on the radio who does all these different voices and cracks people up with his Phil Hendry Show.! Awesome!
i have been doing it for years as well as using the welder for jump start 50% success rate. you should really put some cables on the battery and hook the welder to the cables so that when you turn it on (bad connect) you don't melt the lead terminal off (melted off) but yes it does work
Good idea. I have a bunch of old boat batteries that I was going to scrap after I used them for a couple years on my solar system, these are really dead. Would help me be a bit farther from them, cause I'm using a gas powered welder so shutting it off every time and starting it up again to re-hook it up again, wouldn't be worth it, Thanks
The cheapest battery I sell is $100 and I'd only put one of those in a car of I'm selling it lol. Your average retail price on a battery now is 160 to 190 bucks and even more if your vehicle requires an AGM battery... Ouch. When I first got into auto parts 20 years ago the most expensive led acid batteries were 60 bucks
Airbags scare me more and my car has several of them pointed at me.
I've had a battery where it died and I used Inox battery conditioner in it and set my workshop charger to reco which has a desulfate mode. Well I got about 4 extra months and needed to reco charge it every week or two. The inox dissolved the sulff in the bottom.
What happened is after reco charging it so many times big holes formed in the plates.
The reco mode hits the battery with a DC squarewave so it stays positive and just varies the voltage from 16v down to I think 13v. It's a very similar process to using at welder at 18v because as it bubbles the local resistance at the plate will rise giving VD.
So I imagine this will only work a couple of times before the plates just deteriorate and the battery is dead dead.
Tony! You have my respect brother! I completely understand everything you do or talk about, and I'm not "that" smart, so you must be very very good at explaining your topic / subject ya.
BUT!! I bet you could use a lifetime supply of painkillers for the headache(s) you suffer from due to the very hi level of stoopid / proudly ignorant comments from the mouth breathers that have a keyboard at their disposal!
You are a wise wise man and you certainly know your stuff!
Nothing but respect here my man ✔️
Hi mate! Iv just come across your channel first video the battery revive with a stick welder and now this one 👍👍
I love the way you present your knowledge so humble and cool man can't wait to watch more of your videos 🤙🤙 from Cody Australia 🦘
My dad taught me to lower the hood and lean over it when hooking up jumper cables roadside because water isn't handy to wash off the acid if the battery blows its top and the acid sprays your face. It happened on my 1980 sedan Deville and my whole shirt turned like Swiss cheese, but my ugly mug was unscathed. Thanks dad.
Crazy, I’d expect it to blow after being jumped due to the hydrogen gas evolving during the charging. Never thought there would be hydrogen gas coming out the battery when it’s in need of a jump
@@dirtyaznstyle4156 all it took was the little spark when putting on the cable.
@@nastybastardatlive Which is another reason the negative goes to the block and it's the last connection - just a little more distance. I also tend to pull the caps and put a damp rag over the top. And yes, "Thanks, dad!" on my part as well.
@@jameswyatt1304 I've got a pair of jumpers that has a plug in the middle ,and leds so you know polarity is correct.
Hook up each car and connect em in the middle, much safer spark distance 😃
@@MrTheHillfolk I operated a tow truck years ago where the jumper cables would plug into a receptacle mounted on the truck after connecting the battery terminals. Safety at a distance.
Oh no fair, I want the car to explode dramatically if the alternator regulator is faulty and overcharges the battery. I want a mushroom cloud with apocalyptic proportions. What a let down.
Maybe these people did it with a sealed battery or with caps on. I'd be interested to know what voltage your arc welder is putting out at those amperages.
Finally somebody asked a good question yes what is the voltage the welder is pulling out we need to know the voltage. I have done many experiments with Batteries as I have built electric vehicles and electric bikes I haven’t even cut them open after casting to see what the plates look like I did have success sandblasting the plates lightly to remove sulfation crystals that it was very hard putting the battery back together.
Tony is always on the look out for my wallet. I’m a single man who doesn’t earn much and I feel like this is one of the only channels that has my interests in mind. Thanks mate.
Looking forward to whatever your next experiment is going to be
I'm looking forward to when we Americans are as free as Tony's hydrogen!!
@@ripvanrevs Don't you ever doubt for a minute that some Americans do not get that high......
@@ripvanrevs The captain has turned off the seat belt sign you are now free to move about the cage.
@@ripvanrevs sadly those days are as long gone as that hydrogen is
Do a similar test on a motorcycle or atv battery. Set on lowest amperage?
I made a comment on the first video and suggested that a person might want to blow a fan at the battery just to be extra safe while boiling it. I realize that the risk was very low and perfectly acceptable in this case, but it was just a thought. I got called a snowflake and was criticized for being able to spell correctly. Sigh…
Youre not being safe, messing with an explosion. Toyota master tech 17 years
We could calculate the evolution of H2 during the entire charging cycle. My guess is that the volume of air in the building and the air leakage from the building causing air exchange would dilute the O2 and H2 mix to a point below the critical concentration for an explosive event AND a conflagration event. TLDR version, no boom, no fire. 😁👍
Holy Cow, we have point dexter in the room. not an insult but Kudos, takes hat off because someone smarter than me knows this stuff. whats the algebraic formula or can you write down the calculation. this is what i'm talking about Foghorn Leghorn - Hide and Seek ruclips.net/video/jMyD3TSXyUc/видео.html
I for one love the experiment Uncle Tony & have enough common sense to read between the lines great job thanks for the follow up, kinda waited on it b4 I tried it, but there are a small % of folks that need a babysitter, hold there hand walk them thru EVERY little detail have the finest educations u can buy, scratch there heads at some simplest tasks, I earned my common sense a little at a time at school of Hard Knocks
My skepticism comes from living in sub zero temps. I gotta say I'm impressed! Might try this with an old battery, if it ain't froze and broke already. Still wouldn't use it in my main driver, that HAS to start, on call 24/7 -40F or warmer.
I have an old battery that used to be in my car, became unreliable and i replaced it. Kept the old one though. It's been used as a ghetto lighting source (using a darn headlight bulb for some light in a shed). Died MANY times over. Would be cool to see if it could bring it back to its glory days. Or even a battery from a current vehicle which on the -15 C days, its getting weak. Not the daily, worst case, it doesn't work.
Tony, Please do a test on the product called "Charge It" which is supposed to revive bad batteries. Does it actually work? Many of us do not have access to a stick welder or high powered battery chargers.
I bet there are far more people that don't have a "charge it" unit than people that have welders.
@@bigfootnmore6619 Charge It is a liquid product that comes in a small bottle and it isn't very expensive. I've heard many very good reviews of it.
@@raybrensike42 oh, ok. I saw an electrical device called "charge it"
Well it’s nice to know that everyone is watching this channel!! Even the ones that have no clue about what they’re talking about nor had any experience with what they are talking about!!
I've read for years that what causes battery failure is plate calcification and anything that can remove it makes the battery work. If the welder caused the calcification off seems to me it would work. I exploded a battery once and I found out it was internally shorted and when I hooked the big charger to it the post blew out of it covering me in battery acid but that was not like this, it was a dead short. My welder is AC only else I would give it a try.
Tony we love ya.....but sorry, you're dead wrong on this one. Batteries DO explode, and yes they DO explode in huge fireballs. Back in 2003 I watched one explode with my own eyes in an early 90's Ford F-150. Long story short, a small metal CB antenna had been laid inside the passenger fender shorting out the starter relay directly to the battery terminal. I don't know exactly how long it was like that, but I saw the entire front of the truck explode in a gigantic fireball. Luckily it was outside and nobody was near it. It definitely could have killed somebody and absolutely would have burned down any structure if it were inside. I never really thought much of the danger with batteries until the day I saw it happen myself. If you wanna play around with dead batteries, feel free. I don't know the chemistry involved or how it happened.....but I saw it happen and it was like a huge fire bomb going off under the hood.
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.
Well boiling the battery would reduce the electrolyte causing hydrogen and oxygen build up and all it needed was a spark causing a fash back into the battery and cause it's contained it would blow the top off in the right conditions saying he was jumping it meaning there was lack of acid and cud of been building up gases over time .....😅
Personally I blame squirrels
Yep, I just found 3 beers hidden under my hood.
I use to watch my dad when I was a kid take a steel bar and with the battery caps off take that bar and come straight down on the posts and if a cell started bubbling that meant the battery had a bad cell. My Dad worked at Gatlings Auto Store in the !970's and sold and put in alot of car batteries in vehicles for customers...
Battery EXPLOSIONS !!!
I'm 74yrs old and mostly been around cars, semi's and heavy equipment my entire life. First growing up on a Ranch/Farm...(Yeah, for those that don't know what a Ranch/Farm is...We raised Cattle, Roping Horses and a few other barnyard animals BUT we also grew Alfalfa and Barley as cash crops. THUS the term; RANCH/FARM)
ANYWAY, getting back to BATTERY EXPLOSIONS. The ONLY TIME I've Ever had or seen ANY BATTERY EXPLODE was when I tried to jump start a 12volt Tractor Battery in the dead of a Montana Winter when it was -42 degrees ...that's BELOW ZERO. So what can we take away from that...Batteries do not like a sudden jolt of voltage when the internals are frozen....yeah, Batteries can FREEZE at those temps. As a matter of fact when that battery did explode it showed a heavy frost on the outside and a frozen jellyton on the inside of the case. I didn't get sprayed with any Electrolyte Fluid....about soled my underwear but was not hurt in any way, shape or form because it was just FROZEN and couldn't expand from the sudden jolt of 12volts. I learned to take all batteries out and keep them inside the Mud-Room until needed from that day on. Lessons learned.
I've seen ROOKIE guys hook terminals up opposite on construction sites when jumping and hook up the negative to positive and never seen any explosions and even a 24volt semi hooked up to a pick up with only 12volt...none of them exploded but sure threw spares like the 4th of JULY Fireworks Display....and one had the caps off because it needed the thing topped off....Even then it did not explode...It takes one hell of a lot to make any battery explode folks....One HELL of LOT, so think before you let your fingers run rampant without thinking first.
The manner this was done was well within the SAFE ZONE so if you don't know anything then please just keep your trap shut.......otherwise you just show the entire world just how little you know, or don't know anything at all about what your attempting to talk about.
I just laughed reading some of the comments and had to watch this follow up...Good STUFF.
Keep up the great videos guys.
7:42 uh.... their have been times that i didnt have 100 bucks (and all my batteries are more like 165 bucks)
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im a mechanic.... i get 18 an hour
and yet..... i STILL needs more money
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i can eat A LOT..... and i drive 100 miles everyday (50 to work...50 back...lots of gas... lots of oil changes.... lots of worn out parts)
all that adds up pretty damn quick
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we also dont go by book time...
im just "normal hourly" pay
shop rate is 100 an hour....take it ..... or find another shop (and around here....RURAL!!!!! NE MT.... almost every other shop WILL mess up your car and/or try to scam ya)
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if your car is clean and well taken care of..... im going to get done sooner
if your car is NEVER washed... so its a rust bucket.... and every bolt i touch snaps...... you are going to pay for that lack of care
or, again.... take it to another shop.....
i dont care...... i get paid the same anyway....
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id like to work on your car......
id like to fix it correctly (and use the little tips and tricks ive learned over the DECADE.... to fix it BETTER than correctly / stock / factory)
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but i dont care..... take it to who ever ya want
it will probably end up in my shop anyway..... (as im the only one stupid enough to take on cars that have been worked on by shade tree mechanics)
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but if ya think im trying to scam ya because i said you have "2 hard stops left" on your front brakes
and ya say "nope... i just want the oil change"
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and then you come back saying i messed up the oil change...... because your car now makes a grinding noise every time ya hit hte brakes
MAYBE YOU SHOULD HAVE PUT ON THE NEW PADS!!!!!!!
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out here in NE MT.... we dont salt the roads
so a "pad slap" is 99.89% of brake jobs....... the rotors are ALWAYS just fine (unless they have 300,000 miles on them)
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but ya.... im MORE than happy to also replace your rotors.....
because you ignored me.... and drove for 10,000 miles with metal on metal
and STILL kept driving.... till the caliper piston wore the pad away.... piston cocked... piston shattered..... and now you have ZERO brake fluid
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ya... im MORE than happy to charge you parts and labor......
ya... im MORE than happy that you turned a 90 dollar bill...... into a 500 dollar bill
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thanks for making the shop EVEN MORE money..... idiots
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yes, this happened today at work
and im STILL mad about it
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i grew up poor.... working under a shade tree to keep my junk running
i know what its like to get FUCKED by a shop..... because they have the tools you dont...... so they KNOW they can charge whatever
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i know how that is..... i was (and still am) their
so i have NEVER scammed or cheated a single person out of a single penny
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hell... my boss gets after me for giving people deals
like a free tire repair if they SIMPLY GIVE ME THEIR WORD that they will buy at least 2 new tires from us (or get an oil change, etc)
On another subject, Tony had 1-2000 less subs than Dale Earnhardt JR'S channel and 10-20000 MORE than Farmtruck and AZN, as of a week ago
Thank you for this video and your previous one. Very well taught and received. Tomorrow I'm doing 2 dead batteries. I wish more guys could be as direct and concise in their experiments as you were. Regards. Shawn Vilander, Utrecht, South Africa
Hi Shawn.
How'd it go?
Appears reasonable to me. I do think that it was a new battery that was discharged soon after purchase, so it went from electrolyte to water w/o years of slow sulfation. That might have been the ideal candidate for this experiment. I dunno about 7 year old battery pulled from service and allowed to self discharge over winter ... Might be too far gone to do the boil ...
Crossing the starter solenoid that close to the battery could have caused a massive car explosion. May even have blown the gas tank off. Lol, just kidding : )
Interested in an off grid solar setup. The battery degradation is a thing that I have been grappling with. This switches up the ROI a great deal. If zapping them like this adds 5-10 years to a bank of 4 batteries going for $400 each, that is nothing to scoff at...
I find it ironic that most of the kids spouting their doomsday scenarios about the hazards of charging a lead-acid battery think nothing of hopping in their hybrid or outright electric vehicle comprised of one of the most finicky battery technologies available: lithium-ion. Or charge their phones next to them as they sleep.
But don't you dare talk about their precious iCrap......
Common sense the fruit that doesn't grow in everyone's garden, god that is a great line. But yes, you're correct. Been around cars and working on cars since I was old enough to hold the flashlight for my dad. I've seen a handful of lead-acids "explode" and at the most extreme it's been a loud 'pop' at the most. The worst part is the mist of battery acid that gets in the air in an enclosed space like a car or a small garage. I don't know why people think these are LiPos that are going to burn the house down in some fiery explosion, and even then LiPos don't "explode" like a bomb, they just turn into a fireball. People in RUclips comments make you really wonder how most people can walk and chew gum at the same time
the way some people say "it's only a $100" it's obvious some trolls have more money then brains, first off i don't know where they're finding a new battery for $100, even the cheapest car battery at walmart where i live is now just under $150 out the door plus some of us have responsibilities and can't afford to just piss away $150 at the drop of a hat.
tony on the battery explosion subject, it was a long long time ago when i was in high school, there was a freak accident in one of the auto shop periods were a kid was killed when a battery exploded that he was leaning over like he wasn't supposed to be doing. it wasn't the same class i was in so i wasn't there when it happened but we were told that the kid had tools sitting on the battery and when he leaned over it the tools shorted the battery out and blew the top off with him leaning over it so i do know it's possible to be killed by an exploding battery but i need 2 batteries right now i don't have the money for and i do have a dc welder, it's a 120v welder but i'll give it a try but i'm also going to be ducking behind my big 6ft tall roll-a-way toolbox as soon as i flip the switch, better safe the sorry.....
Hydrogen is only"explosive" if there is the correct mixture of oxygen present otherwise hydrogen just burns. The Hindenburg didn't explode it burned. My chemistry teacher used to joke he would let someone shoot a canister of hydrogen next to him any day compared to one filled with propane because of the difference in burn chemistry.
I've had two batteries blow up. Both of them shattered the plastic shell of the battery that sent bits and acid flying. One was on an engine test stand when I was in school, blew up when cranking possibly a loose terminal made a spark. I wasn't directly involved when it blew but it was a good bang when it let loose. The other was in my old pickup, one morning it was slow cranking and didn't start, I put a basic battery charger on it. The next day I opened the hood to find bits of plastic everywhere and the top of the battery gone. I don't know why that one blew up perhaps a spark inside the case, something shifted causing the charger clip to spark? In both cases, the flying bits and explosive force didn't do any damage to anything.
Had similar experiences. Actually was driving a car and hear a huge “BANG”. When I opened the hood, acid and battery pieces everywhere, but the car was still running! Shut it off, checked for damage, started it back up, drove a half mile back to the shop and cleaned up the mess with a garden hose and baking soda. Tested the system, put in a new battery and kept going….
...and all I could think of...what ELSE'S in the bushes alongside your house...?
lol. I don't make it a habit to read comments on youtube videos, and from the sound of it, I shouldn't start anytime soon.
That said, quasi related, moderately unamusing anecdote. Was just out of high school in 2001. Yeah, I'm still a kid, sorry. Not my fault my parents waited until they were in their 40s to have me, legit wish they hadn't.
Be me, late teens, into cars, working at OReilly auto of all places.
Dude brings in a battery that was deader than my great-great-great grandmother and asks us to test it. Bruh, this shit is roached.
Insists.
Fine. Plug battery into charger on counter towards the "back" of the store and tell him it'll be a bit before the battery may or may not have enough charge to test.
Dude agrees and leaves, will come back later.
Choppin' it up with some buddies when suddenly, kabooom.
IDK WTF just happened, but there was a really, really loud pop in the store. Battery exploded.
I'll stop with the 4chan greentext now, and just retell the facts. It didn't "explode" in my opinion, but something caused the battery to send the two caps on top skyward with enough force to embed them in the drop ceiling of the store. Easily one of the most amusing moments of my *very* short "career" in the automotive field. The stores response to this was to buy a small acrylic "charging box" to charge and test batteries in ........ but wait - is this box splosion proof?? Cause if not........... :D :D :D :D
UTG is correct. You can always tell if people have experience just by their comment. Dont know what they are talking about
Pretty neat. 1 problem with it I can think of is the crud you boil off the plates can settle on the bottom and short it internally given the right bump in the road.
Dad told me a story about my grandad bumping into a loading dock at Agway and his battery exploding, pretty wild
i wonder if it didnt knock a cable loose..... and cause a short
or cause the 24 volt system to turn into a 48 volt system
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or something like that
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if their was a "piece of trash" in the bottom...... i think it would simply get red hot and melt/turn to dust before it blew up a battery
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now if it was a LARGE piece of trash..... i could see it getting hot enough to boil the acid/water
and the steam causing the caps to pop off
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but FULL ON explode..... idk man
usually it takes a LARGE short..... or LARGE over charge/current/voltage to BLOW UP a battery
"I had a battery explode on me and hurt my feelings!"
"I had a battery go bad and spoil the food in my fridge!"
"I had a battery steal my ID and ruin my credit!"
"I had a battery took my job and ran off with my woman!"
I've been building batteries 38 years....your messing with an explosion
Man Tony I glad you made it out alive of a car bomb going off lol I had one pop going over railroad tracks it was my fault not having it strapped down . It just blew acid out I will say I did have to get a new battery but I’m alive to tell the story. Lol
I work on a tow boat and I had a deck hand who on his job had to regularly check the batteries as part of his job checked fluid levels it was in a unvented area he thought it would be a good idea to use a lighter as a light source when he did it the battery exploded the top of the battery hit him in the face and he lost the sight of one eye so they do explode with the air space in the battery. Using a flame for light is not the brightest thing especially in a confined space but it happened. I would still love to try your charging method to revive my batteries I don’t think it is dangerous if it is done properly. Shit happens
My dads cousin was a Nukeyouluhr engine ear and he worked at Hiroshima in Russia at the the place where the thing happened and he said a 12v battery caused the whole situation with the explosion and the town having to be deserted and everyone getting poisoned etc.
If a man of the age and type who knows to jump a solenoid with a screwdriver says a thing, I take his word until proven otherwise.
battery companies are in big trouble....and Uncle Tony could have released a helium balloon that rocketed to the rafters and said thats what the generated hydrogen did.
It may not be 100% as it did kind of run down in the cranking episode but it is good enough to do the job for now and if its back on the road for even a week or two that would have been a win. Its going on what a month now? That is a big win for something that was junk.
We should hold a contest - What's the oldest battery one of your viewers can revive with this technique? I'm going to enter myself with the 2013 battery currently STILL WORKING in my old Subie. We're at regular 20 degree temps here in the Mountain State and it's starting to struggle, so heck, why not? Weekend project comin up.
Don't BS me Tony nobodys that pretty without plastic surgery.
Laundryroom incident again 🤣🤣🤣🤣😍
Tony, WELL DONE!!Awesome results....so far. Send this bad boy battery to Project Farm! Let HIM do the deep freeze test! Does it work?" We are going to find out!" HA! Seriously...cross feeding cool and scientific testing is always a good thing. Think of cross pollination between nerds! RUclips style! Your viewers will appreciate this! So will I. Thanks Tony!! Motor Parts RULE! :)
That was 1 helluva CCA; cold cranking amps, test run there Uncle T. Great video 👌 awesome info.
Yeah I got an AC/DC tig/stick welder, and I'm totally gonna try this out!!! I was thinking that maybe you could drain them, and stain it to help the stuff it blows off to not build up. Especially if you're attempting this on a really old battery.
Awesome video. I'm tired of batteries that just "give up" after a few years, so I've got a couple questions....What about maintenance-free batteries with caps you can't remove? Safe to boil them like this? How about sealed AGM's? What's the voltage on the welder? Would a higher-amp charger give the same results? I've got a good charger, but never considered using it to refurb a challenged battery.
I'm LATE to this post but this is my experience with your questions.
1 ) The SEALED Batteries do have some ventilation to take up any expansion or they would probably crack open. With that in mind then i would proceed judiciously and start out with very low amperage's and Shorter times.
2) AGM's are also vented but even less so. I have not personally attempted any AGM but heard they are just as acceptable with the appropriate time and Amperage's. I have a couple that are just not taking any charge from standard chargers and plan on attempting an AGM charge inside a small' walled enclosure...open at the top...if it does explode then the' walls should retain any flying debris and help save my life...LOL
3) Higher Amp Chargers haven't helped in any of my attempts and now think that the higher AMPS of 80 to 120 may be what they need to knock the film off the internal plates.
I still have a couple commercial chargers with 75amp jump-start and the other is a 90amp jump start setting.n The issue with both of these is that they don't stay at full charge for more than a few seconds...107seconds was the max for the most expensive General Electric was able to deliver before the Reset-able Internal Circuit Breaker Tripped.
(((((((((( EDITED SECTION::: I forgot to mention that I recently bought a high end and very expensive AGM charger that has a specific AGM de-calcification setting and even that hasn't repaired the two dead AGM batteries I plan on using to try this ARC system....I think the ARC on high amps is the way to go but wait and do your own research before you go ALL Ape-Batt-Crazy. To reiterate, I'm going to start out low and slowly build AMPS at shorter times before I build up to longer times with higher (90 to 120) AMPS. ))))))))))
Conclusion: I think from the others I've spoken to about this system is that the Higher Amperage setting on the ARC Welding settings are what is needed.
Like I said before, i'm certainly no expert here but this is what My research has given me to think.
Best of Luck to your endeavors and break a leg...lol
I've got some experience with this. I've not tried the stick welder thing yet, anxious to try, but a fifty amp charger will do it sometimes. It sometimes works with one of the older ones that have a timer. The newer ones will sense that there is no charge and refuse to start or shut off after a few seconds. You have to get a strong current on it even if it isn't accepting any current because of a high resistance. As the battery looses charge slowly, a sulfur oxide powder will adhere to the lead plates in the battery. Once all of the plates in any one of the cells is covered with this salt, it has a very high resistence and will no longer charge. The idea is to get the plates hot enough that they flex a tiny bit at the same time the boiling fluid works some of the sulfate salt off of the lead plates to expose them a little bit. But you don't want the plates to be so hot they touch or melt the connections. If they touch, that cell will short, and that ruins the battery. So you have to put a really strong current into it even though it has a very high resistence to get enough heat generated for it to work. The sulfur salt will precipitate in the bottom of the battery, but it will go back into solution as the battery is charged, and the stuff still on the plates will also go into solution as the battery continues to charge. But a lot can go wrong. Plates can short, produce tons of heat, and kill a cell, you can melt one of the lead connections between the cells, you can melt theconnection to one of the posts, or the plates could be so corroded that there is no metal left. Once you can get it to start accepting a charge, it will usually charge to the capacity left from the remaining lead metal still in the plates. The most common problem is plates in one cell will touch and short out that cell. The rest of the battery will charge OK, but the battery will only put out about 11.5 volts, or just over nine volts if two cells are shorted. Most modern chargers have safety features to keep you from blowing up the battery and getting injured and suing whomever sold you the charger if it senses that the battery isn't taking a sufficient charge, so you need one that puts out fifty amps no matter what from the seventies or early eighties or earlier for this to work.
My favorite line of the day I know explosions.
Good morning
Just wondering how are the paint jobs holding up?
Thanks for sharing your knowledge! Gonna try it with a 80 amp welder on a 30 year old battery, see if it works. 2 kids in college so I’m dirt poor for the next 4. Thanks again for your knowledge!
Yes sir, Been there twice. Battery acid in the eyes is a bitch. Like you I didn't die.
I had one blow up in front of me after a young fella disconnected the cable before turning off the charger as I walked by...Massive BANG and shit went everywhere...Luckily there was a shower close by and under and I went quick smart....My ears rang for days after....
Thanks so much. Saw this post and tried it just as you did it. It worked and l am on my second year with the rejuvenated battery!!!
My truck sits sometimes 6-7 days in Arizona heat and starts the first try….
Thanks again 👍👍
Dave
How about this comment….. thank you uncle Tony for looking out for us poor guys. Keep ‘em coming. And for those who have dough and doubt. We’ll leave your doubt and break out your dough we will turn your old battery new!! 🎉😮
Uncle Tony, Well you put all those stupid comments to rest. Since watching your welder battery reconditioning video I have done the same on 2 old batteries that where totally dead back to 95% of their original CCA. This works. Done story.
Hahahaha.. all I could think was .. man I hear that starter sound everyday.. and what's with all the Bullshit complain culture.. shut up.. like why I never understood Yelp.. you mean it's called ? The sound a Wounded Dogs make.. and you leave reviews and or complaints.. hahahaha WTF..
Im a electrical engineer fpr Vw....youre messing with an explosion. You just disrespected every mechanic, tech and engineer. We are all at work watching this. We will make a video on lead acid explsion. Be safe...dont do this.
He explaind he does undersand engineering lol. He definetly is unsafe
I had a battery blowup on a truck when I went to jump it off it blew the top off the battery and scared the crap out of me. It wasn’t a pop it was a big bang but no it didn’t create a new universe lol. It was pretty cool though it completely took the top off exposing all the plates and the posts were still right where they were just nothing around them. I guess the battery had an internal short.