Let’s try to restore 5 different car batteries using 3 different procedures to see if any of them work. We’ll first use a DC-powered ARC welder to apply a lot of current at once. Then we’ll try using Epsom salt to restore a different battery. Finally, we’ll see if an electronic desulfator can improve the performance of a faulty battery.
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➡ Products Tested In This Video (in no particular order):
Products:
Desulfator:
Battery Post Cleaning Brush:
Epsom Salt:
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Everything might be expensive these days But car batteries are incredibly Expensive so the question is can you Actually save or restore an old car Battery well let's find out and the First test we'll see if we can save a Car battery using a stick welder then We'll try to restore a car battery using Epsom salt finally we'll see if a Battery desultvator can save a car Battery we'll see if we can restore a Car battery using a DC welder you can Also use a high amp manual battery Charger since they don't have a really Large car battery charger I went ahead And bought this titanium welder which is Sold at Harbor Freight for 320 we have Several car batteries to work with and I Have five of them on a trickle charger All five are fully charged I also have Another car battery that won't charge Above 7.4 volts our first car battery is Made by Duralast it's rated for 825 amps And 660 cold cranking amps all the Battery plates are completely submerged But I'll add a little bit more distilled Water once we establish our performance Baseline a fully charged battery needs To be a 12.6 volts or 2.1 Volts for each Cell and the battery is fully charged at 12.8 to 12.9 volts Let's test the car Battery first with the Foxwell bt705 Which is an electronic battery tester It's a 12 volt battery side post regular
Flooded lead acid battery we'll also Test for cranking amps and this battery Is rated for 825 cranking amps and the Battery tester is telling us to replace The battery unfortunately it's in Terrible condition at only 204 cranking Amps which might be enough to start a Riding lawnmower but definitely not a Car so8 stands for state of health and 21 is not good Soh is basically an Indication of where the battery's at in Its life cycle and how it compares to a Fresh battery SOC means state of charge And the batteries at 100 charged but is Still in bad shape internal resistance Is very important it's the opposition The flow of current within a battery and This battery is at 19.05 and it should Be around five or less let's use the Battery hydrometer to establish our Baseline it measures the specific Gravity density or weight of the Electrolyte inside your battery to know If the car battery is fully charged Needs charge or one or more cells has Failed the electrolyte in a fully Charged battery has a specific gravity Of 1.265 and the battery is below 1.2 I Tested all the other cells and they were Well below 1.2 let's go ahead and apply An actual electric load on the battery To see if the electronic tester is Accurate the tester are showing the Battery is very close to 12.9 volts and
Both testers agree that the battery is Making very close to 200 amps before we Hook up the welder I'll go ahead and add A little bit of distilled water into Each of the cells I've added just enough Water to bring the level to the bottom Of the vent the positive lead to the Welder is attached to the positive Terminal and the ground to the negative Terminal I just can't emphasize enough How incredibly important it is to have Very good ventilation I have very good Ventilation with a four foot fan pulling Air out of the shop let's start off very Close to 70 amps and the batteries Beginning the bubble but the temperature Is still very cool five minutes is over So let's let the battery cool for about 20 minutes let's go and dial up the Amperage to 85 and the batteries Beginning to Bubble quite a bit more at 85 amps I'll keep a very close eye on The battery to avoid a high temperature Since that can cause some damage Fortunately the battery temperature is Still fine and the second five minutes Is up so let's let the battery cool once Again and a third charge cycle is Underway and the current is still at 85 Amps all the cells are bubbling and the Battery temperature is still fine at Around 120 degrees it gets a lot hotter Than that under the hood of a car we Just went through three Cycles so let's
Go and use a hydrometer again and the Batteries above 1.2 in all cells but There's still room for improvement so Let's allow the battery to cool and We'll hit it once again with the welder This is the four cycle and the batteries Continuing to bubble on all the cells Five minutes is up so I'll go ahead and Let the battery cool for several hours So we don't risk damaging it from the High heat while the battery is cooling Let's go ahead and kick off our second Test on battery two when a battery isn't Used for a while the plates crossed over With sulfate and the acid stops reacting Efficiently so let's use this desulfator Which costs right at twenty dollars and Is supposed to help the test battery is Around 12 years old and has spent Several years sitting around it's rated For 930 cranking amps let's go and clean Up the battery post a piece of sandpaper Will also work just fine all six cells Are around 1.24 to 1.25 and the battery Is fully charged at 12.7 volts and the Tensor says we need to replace the Battery however it's still making 714 Cranking amps the state of health is a 64 percent and the internal resistance Isn't too bad at 5.72 and the battery Tester that applies the load to the Battery is showing about the same result As the electronic battery tester at Around 700 amps I'll attach the red lead
To the posi terminal and the black lead To the negative this little Gadget sends A two amp pulse through the battery it's A very slow process but it's supposed to Help the battery over a period of time We'll set this battery aside and we'll Check back on this later in the video Battery one has had several hours to Cool so let's go ahead and hit it again With the welder I went ahead and cycled The battery two more times for a total Of six Cycles the battery's been on the Charger all night so let's go ahead and Bench test it again 12.7 volts is fully Charged cell one started off at 1.19 and Is now close to the green cell 2 has Improved to about 1.23 cell 3 is looking Good at 1.25 cell 4 is also looking Pretty decent Cell 5 is okay but it's Not great at around 1.24 cell 6 is also Around 1.23 so after six Cycles on the Welder all cells did show some Improvement the battery started out at 204 cranking amps and is now at 446. That's a lot of improvement but the Tester is telling us to replace the Battery the state of health has improved From 21 to 46 the internal resistance is Also improved from 19.05 to 9.01 let's Apply a load to the battery and the Battery started off at around 600 amps And it dropped to around 420 25 after 8 Seconds so both testers seem to be in Agreement on this one Cousin Eddie wants
Us to try the battery out in his form of Bega with the big block 454 anyway Because he needs a battery I've got both Hose clamped to the terminals It may have gotten the 454 started if I Had fuel in this machine unfortunately This battery is just about gone let's Keep on going because Cousin Eddie needs A battery battery three is around 8 Years old after being topped off by a Trickle charger battery 3 is at 12.7 Volts and the tester is telling us to Replace the battery at 599 cranking amps It'll probably get a vehicle started but I wouldn't leave home without a jump Starter in the trunk the state of health Is at 50 and 6.79 milliohms of internal Resistance with the load Tester the Battery started off as the electronic Tester predicted that 600 cranking amps Unfortunately this battery gave up after Eight seconds and this battery is Definitely bad we have our Baseline data On battery three so let's go and use Some Epsom salt all the battery acid has Been drained so let's go ahead and mix Some distilled water and baking soda the Baking soda has gone to work and it's Neutralized all the battery acid let's Move the battery around just a little to Make sure all the baking soda and water Touches all the internal parts of the Battery I'll go ahead and drain the Battery in baking soda I'm going to go
Ahead and add some distilled water one More time to try to flush out any Remaining baking soda while the water is Draining out of the battery let's go Ahead and mix up our Epsom salt the Water is warm with which will allow the Salt to dissolve quickly I'll go ahead And fill each cell until the water level Reaches the bottom of the vent the Battery needs charge so let's go ahead And throw this thing on the charger for 12 hours and Battery 3 with the Epsom Salt has been on the charger all night So let's see how it performs the battery Started off at 12.7 volts and 600 Cranking amps and it's now at 11.21 Volts and it's only at 51 cranking amps The internal resistance is at 74.4 so Unfortunately this battery is in much Worse condition now than when we started It's too soon to give up so let's zap This thing with the welder the welder is At 85 amps and all the cells are Bubbling except for the cell that's way To the left so there seems to be some Type of damage to that cell after five Minutes on the welder I allow the Battery to cool and this is the second Cycle the first cell is finally Beginning to Bubble just a small amount I cycle the battery two more times and We're now on cycle four and cell one is Bubbling even more now than it was Before this is a sixth and final cycle
On the welder and cell one is finally Bubbling quite a bit I'll place the Battery on a charger and will allow the Battery to cool for several hours and Battery 3 has been on the charger Overnight and it's completely cooled Down before add adding Epsom salt and Zapping the battery with the welder the Batteries at 599 amps the battery is now At 59 amps and there's a lot of internal Resistance the Epsom salt might be Throwing off the calculations of the Electronic tester so let's use the load Tester and the battery started off at Around 600 amps and gradually dropped at Just over 200. so unfortunately the Epsom salt did not fix the problem Cousin Eddie still needs a battery so Let's keep on going battery four is just Over 10 years old and it came out of the Old Ford Ranger and this battery just Won't hold a charge and it's a 7.3 volts This battery has been setting for years And is badly sulfated let's see if the Welder can zap new life into battery Four and it's been about five minutes And all the cells are bubbling just a Little I allowed the battery to cool Before the second cycle and the battery Is bubbling about the same amount as the First cycle and the first and six cells Seem to be bubbling a little bit more on The third cycle and I cycled the battery A total of six times on the welder since
This battery's in really bad condition I'll go ahead and place this battery on A manual battery charger overnight set On 10 amps it'll be bubbling a very Small amount for just about 12 hours our Two year free replacement warranty ended About eight years ago according to do The hydrometer cells four and six are in Fair condition and the rest of the cells Are in great shape and the battery Started off at just over seven volts and Wouldn't hold a charge the electronic Tester says the battery needs to be Replaced and it's now at 424 amps that's Quite a bit of improvement but not quite Enough the state of health is now at 46 And the internal resistance is at 9.47 The gold standard for testing a battery Is a load tester and a load tester is Saying that the battery is actually Better than what the electronic tester Is saying it's starting off at 800 amps And it's around 600 at the end of the 10 Second test so the battery seems to be In pretty good shape let's put the Battery in the old Ford Ranger and see How it performs I've had a different Battery in the ranger for a couple of Years And the battery started the ranger back To back five times without a problem so We can put the ranger back in action With this battery Battery 5 is an AutoCraft batter that's
Only four years old it's fresh off the Charger at 13.1 volts unfortunately it's At a very low 62 cranking amps and Should be at a thousand the battery Analyzer says the battery definitely Needs to be replaced and the state of Health is the worst yet at only six Percent and the internal resistance is The worst yet at 62.5 on the battery Load test the needle went right past Week and landed on the red so this Battery is definitely no good I use a Hydrometer on all the cells and they all Tested well except for cell five for Some reason Cell 5 is providing a very Low number let's go and zap this thing With the welder and see if we can Recover the battery let's go ahead and Hit this one very hard at 100 amps and It didn't take long before bubbles were Coming from all six cells it's been one Cycle on the welder so let's go ahead And see if there's been any Improvement The tester says to replace the battery But the battery is already up from 62 to 680 cranking yes very impressive and the State of health also improved from 6 to 57. the internal resistance went from 62.5 to just over six so let's go ahead And zap this battery several more times And see if we can achieve more Improvement and so 5 still isn't Bubbling quite as much as the other Cells the battery is cooled off after
Two cycles so let's go ahead and test it Again and the battery has improved even More to 729 cranking amps the state of Health and internal resistance have also Improved Cousin Eddie needs a battery so Let's keep on going I cycle the battery Six times and allowed the battery to Cool down between each of the sessions The battery is cooled off overnight so Let's go ahead and test it again and the Hydrometer is showing that all cells are In great shape except for cell five cell Five is still reading extremely low just To recap before zapping the battery with The welder when the battery was fully Charged it started out at 62 amps and it Failed the load test and the Moment of Truth the battery's almost fully charged At 12.55 volts and the battery tester Now says that the battery is good and It's now at 961 amps very impressive and The state of health is at 81 percent Which is up from only six percent and The internal resistance is at only 4.26 A very good number before zapping the Battery with the welder the tester went Straight to Red indicating that the Battery was bad after zapping the Battery with the welder for a total of Six Cycles the battery started off Around a thousand amps and dropped Around 900 so the battery is definitely Performing extremely well let's see if The AutoCraft has enough juice to spin
Over Cousin Eddie's 454. Little craft makes more than enough Cranking amps that sped over the big Block 454 for about 13 seconds it's Pretty impressive to see a battery go From 62 cranking amps to around 961. and The AutoCraft makes plenty of juice to Spin over this big block 454. the two Best batteries have been sitting Overnight so let's see how they're Holding up unfortunately the battery That was in the Ford Ranger has already Dropped at just over 10 volts so Unfortunately the battery is still in Bad condition and the auto light is Still holding a charge and Performing Just as well as it did yesterday very Impressive a battery desulphator will Discharge a battery over time and I've Already charged the battery once since It's been almost a week let's go and Charge the battery and do some testing With it and the batteries fresh off the Charger and is fully charged before Using the desulfator the battery is at 714 cranking amps it is now at 613. the Internal resistance was at 5.72 and it's Now at 6.63 unfortunately it did not Help this is a big battery and a small Gadget I'd give it more time but it just Isn't showing any progress the Epson Salt did not help the One battery However the welder helped the other Three batteries and in one case made the
Battery about as good as do so I have to Admit I'm really surprised the process Actually works I definitely recommend Extreme Caution if you plan to use this Process and very good ventilation and Personal protective equipment all the Videos in this channel including this One our viewers suggested so if you have A video idea I hope you take time to Leave a comment thanks so much for Watching please take care and look Forward to next time