Reviving dead batteries,weight saving batteries,different uses for batteries

[ricko1966]

I am starting this hoping for some fast help/debunking/backwoods tricks,whatever. I am giving away my ford truck in the morning,not selling too cheap,not trading it, blah blah blah. Giving it to someone who needs it,all it needs to do is start and leave,period.I went out to make sure it will drive away and boom, dead battery. It isn't taking a charge on the bench I have placed a light in series with the charger and the battery. Is the light thing a myth in the past I've left a dome light on to help get a battery to start charging but I don't know if that really does anything.I have heard crush an asprin and the salisilc acid will make them start charging,never tried it,I sometimes will smack one with a dead blow to knock off sulfate, again don't know if that really does anything.
What I do know is a decent lawn tractor battery is a cheap,lightweight battery for a 4 cylinder that doesn't have many electrical needs. I've used them for 20+ years in everything from festivas to 16v scirrocos, I also know that I got tired of buying jumper boxes ever 2 years or so and started using the retired lawn tractor batteries from the cars as my jumper box I use the jump box cables attached to the battery with bolts and wing nuts I carry it in a 5 gallon bucket you have a non conductive place to clamp your leads in transport and a handle to carry it,plus you can charge it anywhere you have a 12v charger or clip it to the battery of a running vehicle to charge it

[RdstrBlk]

Traction battery? Still lead acid, going to be heavy. Sourcing cheap 18650 packs is going to be the lightest weight option

[william]

I've used Epsom salt to desulfate a week battery and it dose work to bring up the cca but haven't had much luck with it on a battery that won't even charge. If your charger is a fancy
new one you need to hook up a good battery along with the dead one to make the charger "see" it
So it will start charging.
For the Epsom salt trick You basically just mix a couple tea spoons of the salt in distilled water and top of the acid with it. Throw it on the charger and let it do it's thing.

[ricko1966]

Thanks It is starting to charge now I don't know if it is just a wait and see thing or if the light actually does anything I have never been patient enough to just wait,I always end up putting a light in the circuit if it isn't charging. I know I wrote I put a light in series I actually put it in parallel.

[Eaglefreek]

I put another good battery in parallel using jumper cables. If the dead battery is drained past a certain point, the battery charger won't come on. Once it has a little charge, I remove the good battery. I bought an Isuzu Trooper that was sitting for over 2 years and the battery was dead. I had to use the trick above and it's been over a year and a half and the battery is still working great.

[ricko1966]

I put another good battery in parallel using jumper cables. If the dead battery is drained past a certain point, the battery charger won't come on. Once it has a little charge, I remove the good battery. I bought an Isuzu Trooper that was sitting for over 2 years and the battery was dead. I had to use the trick above and it's been over a year and a half and the battery is still working great.

Now I understand or anyway I think I understand it, the battery charger has a built in regulator which needs to sense some kind of load on the circuit to actually start charging. The totally dead battery is being read as an open circuit,thus no charge. Do you think using another battery instead of a light bulb as that load makes any difference? Anyone?Anyone?

[harpon]

The videos I've looked at on youtube call for draining the old solution and replacing it with distilled water and Epson salt mixture and then recharging- I've never tried it myself- mosrtly because of circumstance , but I'd like to.

As far as chargers- I can't tell you- I grew up thinking if the batt didn't hold a charge it had to go.. I've been using the cheap float chargers on batteries in the yard jalopies and lawn tractor battery in the shed through the winter with good results even though I'm tired of messing with them. On the other hand, the old Black and decker regular charger- which sat under water for several hours and stayed wet for a week back in '08 still does better getting a battery charged if it's already low.

I bought a used battery here in Jax spring 16- and I've had pretty good luck with used batteries- but it went sour last winter and seems only holding a charge for a week now on a car I'm not driving. It was a bait and switch- not a private seller but a man with multiple batteries- didn't have the one I tried to say I wanted on the phone, so I bought this other with a sticker less than a year old think it was. I was angry that I went ahead and purchased because it was not as new as the other but when I searched it out on the net- it turned out to be a very expensive premium battery. Still last winter it started falling and I realized that the brand usually had a "punch out" dating method on the battery- this one didn't but has the Wal Mart style circle- when I realized that I knew I had been "stickered"

So Caveat Emptor lads, "Let the Buyer Beware"

[ricko1966]

My personal belief is once they are gone they are gone,I was just hoping to get it to accept enough charge to start run and drive away, which did happen. I put my charger on the battery with a test light in parallel and in a couple hours the battery started to charge. I have seen the epsom salts videos before and I do not know but my gut says it's like shaking a coke after it's gone flat, you do get some bubbles but the carbonation is gone.

[Rick the Quick]

Anyone tried a charger with the "desulfating" (did I spell that right?) feature? I had the opportunity to try one here on 3 or 4 different marginal batteries. I didn't see where it did as promised. I'm with you ricko, when they are gone they are gone. Time to replace them. I don't like having to jump or push start my cars. BTW ricko, where the heck is Lacygne?

[ricko1966]

Anyone tried a charger with the "desulfating" (did I spell that right?) feature? I had the opportunity to try one here on 3 or 4 different marginal batteries. I didn't see where it did as promised. I'm with you ricko, when they are gone they are gone. Time to replace them. I don't like having to jump or push start my cars. BTW ricko, where the heck is Lacygne?

Actually I live no where, I am in an agricultural area in Linn county ks.no city,no town,no police,no codes enforcement officer,but they assign you the closest post office as your city so the closest post office can bring you mail, Lacygne is my closest town I am about 60 or 70 miles south west of Downtown Kansas City

How come nobody ever tries to revive worn out tires,worn out brake pads, etc. but there is always some new way to revive a used up battery?

[Rick the Quick]

Actually I live no where, I am in an agricultural area in Linn county ks.no city,no town,no police,no codes enforcement officer,but they assign you the closest post office as your city so the closest post office can bring you mail, Lacygne is my closest town I am about 60 or 70 miles south west of Downtown Kansas City

How come nobody ever tries to revive worn out tires,worn out brake pads, etc. but there is always some new way to revive a used up battery?

ricko1966, haven't you ever heard of re-treaded tires and re-lined brake shoes? I understand some big truck tires are still so called re-groovable and old vehicles sometimes need to have the shoes relined as replacements are no longer available. I had a set of shoes for a 1941 Harley Davidson re-lined and it cost me $61 for the pleasure. I do agree with you though on the battery thing. When they're gone replace them. I like the no police, no zoning enforcement officials. Here in Albuquerque you don't want to run afoul of zoning. I keep the front of my house very tidy. Inside the garage and behind the house is another story. If they ever seen the nine or ten motorcycles in the garage and all the junk (good junk) in the back I would be moving your way.

[ricko1966]

ricko1966, haven't you ever heard of re-treaded tires and re-lined brake shoes? I understand some big truck tires are still so called re-groovable and old vehicles sometimes need to have the shoes relined as replacements are no longer available. I had a set of shoes for a 1941 Harley Davidson re-lined and it cost me $61 for the pleasure. I do agree with you though on the battery thing. When they're gone replace them. I like the no police, no zoning enforcement officials. Here in Albuquerque you don't want to run afoul of zoning. I keep the front of my house very tidy. Inside the garage and behind the house is another story. If they ever seen the nine or ten motorcycles in the garage and all the junk (good junk) in the back I would be moving your way.

I was just trying to be funny about the brake shoes and tires. I actually used to have to box up our cores to be relined we threw them all in a 55 gallon drum and when it was full whoever was the newest had to match em up and send them in to be relined. We quit relining them in house.Actually have retreads on my dunebuggy,they take offroad truck tires grind them smooth and bond paddles to them. I was the only one there worried about asbestos.Man I moved here because I had too much harrassment from the cops and zoning. Too many cars,motorcycles etc. They even searched my house my trash and took me in because they thought I was a drug dealer. I had a white 911s with a whale tail and alloys I built out of 3 cars a 2 year old ninja that was a theft recovery I rebuilt a couple other porsches,audis and other junk I built out of junk. The cops didn't understand I had less in all of them combined than they had in a new whatever they drove.So I moved here

Building a z1 900 , a porsche and a big block chevelle right now, My neighbors would have a cow back at my old house. Sorry bout the z1 I see you like old harleys, I'll tell you some funny motorcycle stories sometime if we get a chance.

[Rick the Quick]

I owned a KZ900 for about 10 years. I put many a mile on it. It was mildly cafed with low bars, aluminum Suzuki swing arm, light blue metallic paint (a Porsche color) de-emblemed, no turn signals. It got lots of compliments. I owned a '74 Ducati 750 GT for 25 years. Rode a '72 Suzuki Titan 500, 2 stroke 2,100 miles in 24 hours. Owned 4 BMW airheads the last one a '78 R100/7 I bought after wrecking my '88 Festiva. It was my only transportation for 3 years. I rode it every day, rain, snow and cold. a GS 1100 Suzuki, a GPZ 550 new back in '81. Flipped numerous Harleys the last few years. Guys lay them down and the dealer wants to total them out over easily (for me) fixed cosmetics. The newer SuperGlides '06 and later have 6 speeds and are fun, competent rider bikes. No chopper pretty boy chrome on a SuperGlide unless you ask them of course. I also worked on a '41 Harley WLA that was completely rebuilt. Apparently by an idiot. It had .100 pistons, you heard that right .100 over with standard rings on the front cylinder. They fell through the bore when I tried to measure the end gap. That's what I am sitting on in my signature picture. Painted and built a s---load of Kawasaki's and Hondas from the late '70's and early 80's for a guy that lived in Santa Fe. He moved to Florida a few years back and tells me the KZ 1000 cafe and the CBX Honda get plenty of compliments even from the Harley guys at Daytona Bike Week. Flipped a bunch of old cars here in New Mexico. Mopars from a '56 Dodge Coronet Royal to a '70 RoadRunner with about a dozen Coronets, Super Bees, Challengers, Chargers in between. Neighbors don't say much. Some are afraid to because I have people come by on loud motorcycles. They are sure I must be connected if you know what I mean. A few could care less as they probably are drug dealers. Mainly I bought the worst house on the block 25 years ago and made it the prettiest house on the block. Living in a lower income neighborhood doesn't hurt either. BTW : many years ago I hauled brake shoes and clutches all over New Mexico, Colorado and Texas. I remember the popular numbers 263, 357, 358 so you know I'm not bs ing. I do apologize for hijacking this thread......Cheers.

[ricko1966]

I owned a KZ900 for about 10 years. I put many a mile on it. It was mildly cafed with low bars, aluminum Suzuki swing arm, light blue metallic paint (a Porsche color) de-emblemed, no turn signals. It got lots of compliments. I owned a '74 Ducati 750 GT for 25 years. Rode a '72 Suzuki Titan 500, 2 stroke 2,100 miles in 24 hours. Owned 4 BMW airheads the last one a '78 R100/7 I bought after wrecking my '88 Festiva. It was my only transportation for 3 years. I rode it every day, rain, snow and cold. a GS 1100 Suzuki, a GPZ 550 new back in '81. Flipped numerous Harleys the last few years. Guys lay them down and the dealer wants to total them out over easily (for me) fixed cosmetics. The newer SuperGlides '06 and later have 6 speeds and are fun, competent rider bikes. No chopper pretty boy chrome on a SuperGlide unless you ask them of course. I also worked on a '41 Harley WLA that was completely rebuilt. Apparently by an idiot. It had .100 pistons, you heard that right .100 over with standard rings on the front cylinder. They fell through the bore when I tried to measure the end gap. That's what I am sitting on in my signature picture. Painted and built a s---load of Kawasaki's and Hondas from the late '70's and early 80's for a guy that lived in Santa Fe. He moved to Florida a few years back and tells me the KZ 1000 cafe and the CBX Honda get plenty of compliments even from the Harley guys at Daytona Bike Week. Flipped a bunch of old cars here in New Mexico. Mopars from a '56 Dodge Coronet Royal to a '70 RoadRunner with about a dozen Coronets, Super Bees, Challengers, Chargers in between. Neighbors don't say much. Some are afraid to because I have people come by on loud motorcycles. They are sure I must be connected if you know what I mean. A few could care less as they probably are drug dealers. Mainly I bought the worst house on the block 25 years ago and made it the prettiest house on the block. Living in a lower income neighborhood doesn't hurt either. BTW : many years ago I hauled brake shoes and clutches all over New Mexico, Colorado and Texas. I remember the popular numbers 263, 357, 358 so you know I'm not bs ing. I do apologize for hijacking this thread......Cheers.

No problem on the hijack man I love old 2 strokes have 1rd350,1rd400,1suzuki 500 triple they used to be something in their day I got stopped one day just after whipping a kz650 on a ported rd 400 with chambers the cop says if I'd seen you on the other side of that hill I'd be writting you up for racing.I said wasn't racing sir that's a 650 I'm just on a 400 he says same bike kenny roberts won daytona 13 years in a row on. I tried to bullshit the wrong cop! only brake core numbers I remember are 153s,142s,and 199s. When It comes to good deals on stuff I can fix and flip I have no brand loyalty scored a 1999 accord tonight 300.00 needs a right front axle.Gotta go grab it with dolly Monday. Just what I needed another car to fix. Have a great weekend sir.