If you have a battery that is causing your fuel economy to be inefficient while the charge of the battery drains faster than light, you may want to check if your battery requires reconditioning.
Before doing so, battery reconditioning should be understood since each vehicle type may require a different procedure.
What does reconditioning a battery mean?
Battery reconditioning is the process of rejuvenating the battery’s storage as well as charging or recharging capacity. Any battery loses its effectiveness each time it is used or charged due to the formation of sulfate crystals on the plates. Getting rid of this crystal would recondition a battery.
Table of Contents
Modern technological discoveries have made people’s lives easier. Today, battery reconditioning is not as difficult and can be done by anybody owning a battery reconditioning charger or kit. Now, these do not function the same way as traditional batteries!
Battery reconditioning charger:
As the name suggests, battery reconditioning chargers are chargers comprising microprocessors that control voltage and current to help rejuvenate or recondition a battery.
With the help of frequency signals, the deposited sulfate can be dissolved within minutes, helping the battery come back to life. What’s great about these chargers is that they can be used on the go and also help protect the environment.
Battery reconditioning kit:
Although battery reconditioning kits are on the expensive end, they have become increasingly popular nowadays.
These kits include wire probes, voltmeter, timer, charger, and an extra battery. battery load tester, and hydrometer.
Battery reconditioning mode:
Whether you are talking about a reconditioning charger or kit, these have a feature in the form of reconditioning mode.
Some normal chargers are also equipped with this mode which allows the dissolving of the accumulated sulfate on the battery plates. For people owning cars that show signs of low or unstable charge, this mode is quite helpful.
What does battery reconditioning do? Does the battery recond charge the battery?
The procedure and science behind battery reconditioning are simple. The basic purpose of battery reconditioning is to rejuvenate the current, depreciated state of a battery for it to charge and recharge properly once again.
Battery reconditioning does not charge the battery, instead, it removes the deposited sulfate on the battery plates. After cleaning the battery plates with the help of chemicals, the old battery’s electrolytes are further improved and energized.
If you are using a battery reconditioning charger, the desulfation process or the process of removing or dissolving the sulfate is carried out by sending low frequency signals towards the targeted spot.
These frequency signals vibrate the deposit particles and eventually cause the bonds of the sulfate to break down.
As the plates become cleaned, the electrolytes of the battery are fresh again. This also means that the electrolytes are refurbished and ready to conduct charge like before once again.
Can you recondition a powerless battery? Does battery charger recondition work?
A “powerless battery” is a phrase that many cars owners fear. In its true meaning, if a car’s battery is completely lifeless, it would not be able to start your car, no matter how much you try. In that case, even reconditioning the powerless battery could be a futile attempt.
However, many times when people are unable to start their device or vehicle, they associate the problem with a powerless battery. Although the main reason that the battery is not functioning is that the charge is fully drained and the voltage level drops to around 12 v.
If the voltage level drops below 11v and the battery is not reconditioned soon, there are high chances that the sulfate deposit will harden and battery charger reconditioning would not work effectively anymore.
You may want to note that a faulty battery may also seem lifeless and reconditioning it the right way could revive the battery’s life to normal. Reconditioning a battery often rejuvenates supposedly lifeless batteries by removing the sulfate jammed electrolyte.
How long does battery reconditioning take?
How long a battery reconditioning would take might depend on a few factors. On average, it might take about 3 to 5 hours to complete the process of reconditioning the battery.
It could take longer or shorter depending on what type of battery you are attempting to recondition. However, the problem and how bad the condition of the battery is will also determine how long it might take as well.
It is worth noting that when the reconditioning process is finished, the final charging condition has to be set to slow. This could take about 24 hours. In some cases, it could even take about 36 hours to complete the post charging.
The period of charging also would depend on the voltage rating on the battery. For instance, for 2 amps, 12 volts battery, it could take about 12 hours. But what would matter even more would be the battery reconditioning charger and how fast it transfers signals.
Slow chargers make the battery reconditioning process a lot slower than fast chargers.
When should I recondition a battery?
If you can differentiate between a battery that needs replacement, and a battery that requires reconditioning, that is when you can apply the right solution.
The first sign to look out for is when your battery takes a lot longer to charge but discharges a lot faster. Next, you would want to measure the voltage of the battery using a voltmeter.
Hold the cable ends of both the voltmeter wires and connect properly to the battery terminals. It is also important that you connect the red wire of the meter to the battery and the black one to the negative terminal of the battery.
Now the way to check if your battery needs reconditioning is by checking the voltmeter. If the voltmeter reading shows a value lower than 12.6 v and higher than 10 v, that is when you know that you need to recondition a battery.
Decreased fuel economy is also another sign that you have to recondition the battery
How to refurbish powerless batteries?
Reconditioning or refurbishing powerless batteries involves a slightly different process depending on what kind of car battery is being reconditioned.
Hybrid car battery
Make the load testing:
The first step to reconditioning is load testing and finding out whether reconditing is required. Once the battery is completely dismantled, you may remove the caps as well.
Use distilled water:
Keeping the caps apart, use distilled water to recharge the battery. You can also use a battery rechargeable charger to refurbish the lifeless battery of a hybrid car.
Contact expert:
It is wise to contact reconditioning services when it comes to expert hands for your hybrid car battery. Many of these services will depend on the module of your car and hence a DIY attempt could be risky.
Motorcycle battery
Dismantle the battery:
At first, dismantle the battery and clean the plates. Then use a voltmeter to measure the voltage and see if the motorcycle requires reconditioning.
If the voltage is between 9.5 to 12 v, the battery requires reconditioning
Remove electrolyte solution:
You may want to remove the electrolyte solution and add Epsom salt. Check if the battery is charging and if it’s not, start the process
Recharge:
Recharge the battery fully. This could take from a few to many hours depending on what condition battery you have reconditioned.
Next, you would need to continue with the open circuit voltage test to see if the voltage levels have been stabilized.
Make load testing:
The last step involves load testing the motorcycle battery again to see if the voltage drops below 9.5v.
How long is the lifespan of a reconditioned battery?
A battery in its original state has a lifespan of about 6 years. After which its effectiveness starts to diminish.
If you recondition a battery to reenergize and clean the sulfates off the plate, you can expect that the lifespan will be increased by an extra 3 years.
Nevertheless, depending on what kind of battery you are reconditioning and how bad the current condition is, the lifespan of a reconditioned battery could be lowered as well.
On the other hand, if you are talking about reconditioning a hybrid battery, the lifespan might be longer.
Hybrid cars are rechargeable and work on a combination of gas motor and battery. This also makes hybrid cars more efficient than normal cars, thanks to the gas and battery combination.
The reconditioning might be more expensive but can also be more long lasting. Many reconditioned hybrid batteries can even last for about 5 to 8 years.
Final Thoughts
Simply put, battery reconditioning is the cleaning and reenergizing of a battery. The process involves removing the accumulated sulfate on the battery plates by using frequency signals from Battery reconditioning chargers. A battery needs reconditioning when the voltages drop to a certain level.