Battery Desulfation Methods
In this article, we’ll discuss sulfation in vehicle batteries, its causes and the best battery desulfation methods.
These methods will show you how to rid yourself of this car battery “cancer” and prevent the early death of your batteries.
If you’re here then you’ve probably been told you have a sulfated battery or you’ve become aware that this naturally occurring process is why many batteries die far sooner than they’re actually capable of.
How To Desulfate A Car Battery
Let’s take a look at the best ways to desulfate a battery. We’ll check out the pros and cons of each method, and give our verdict on how well they actually work to recondition batteries.
1. Get a battery charger with desulfator mode
In recent years, battery charger companies have increasingly included a desulfator function as standard in their maintainers.
Companies like CTEK and NOCO have excellent conditioner/desulfator modes, which have proven ability to successfully remove sulfation and revive batteries that had seemed dead and beyond repair.
How to identify desulfator-chargers?
Each company uses a different word! CTEK call their Desulfator/reconditioning mode, “Recond mode”; while NOCO call theirs “12V Repair Mode”. Other makers may say “battery reconditioning”, “battery conditioning”, or “desulfating”.
There’s one desulfator-charger in particular which has tons of documented cases of restoring and reviving batteries which seemed dead to the world; that’s the NOCO Genius10 (review here).
Excellent results also have been reported with the battery reconditioning modes of the CTEK MXS5.0 and the NOCO Genius 5 UK (if only there were a review comparing these two behemoths of the car battery charger world, CTEK and NOCO).
Their two big brothers, the Genius10UK and the MXS10 are getting even better results.
Some lower cost chargers also have them, and they’ll do a job in relatively mild cases of sulfation… but, as you’d expect, are less likely to revive batteries in severe conditions.
2. Get a desulfator (a specialised device that stays on the battery)
A battery desulfator (sometimes also called a battery conditioner, battery reviver, electronic desulfator device or battery life saver) is a small device that attaches to your battery, normally permanently. It delivers a high-frequency pulse that removes sulfation.
They’re normally much cheaper than desulfator-chargers. This device isn’t charging your battery, it has the sole specialised purpose of removing sulfation from your battery plates and keeping the battery healthy.
The advantage of these electronic desulfator devices is that because they’re always on the battery, they’re stopping sulfation from ever building up in the first place, whereas a charger with desulfator mode will only be removing the sulfation when you’re charging the battery. Which normally wouldn’t be that often. Prevention is always better than cure.
The best one on the market, the one the professionals use, has made our fleet owner friends very happy – their batteries are lasting, they estimate, twice as long.This desulfator is called F16 Pulse King, check it out.
3. The DIY reconditioning method
This battery desulfation method involves cracking the battery open, using a syringe to drain some of the lead-acid, replacing the removed acid with a saturated solution of Epsom salts and distilled water, hooking up to a charger (leave the caps open, since gas will be released).
This process will recondition the battery.
Some engineers have even designed circuits themselves to act as desulfators.
While it can work, we don’t recommend this method. If it works, it may give you another 6 months usage, more if you’re lucky.
That said, if you want to do it because you enjoy doing DIY stuff, then fill your boots!
But in our experience a desulfator device, attached to your battery, is by far the better solution – it’s actually fixing the problem.
And it’s very common for batteries to double in lifespan using these devices (we know several taxi company owners and fleet owners that testify to this, in scale.) The DIY method is more of a make-do-and-mend approach.
What is battery desulfation?
It’s the process of removing sulfation from your battery plates. It’s the most important part of any process to recondition a car battery.
What’s sulfation? Sulfation is the build up of lead sulfate on battery plates. This process happens when a battery is partially or fully discharged.
The problem is that this lead sulfate material is insoluble ie. it does not dissolve back into the battery acid, rather it remains stuck to the plates. And when enough of this stuff gathers on the plates, it disables the battery.
How to desulfate a battery?
All the methods involve removing the lead sulfate from the battery plates, typically by sending electric pulses which break down the sulfate and remove them from the battery plates.
Can you desulfate a battery?
Absolutely. In fact, the top battery charger companies in the world have desulfator modes built into their maintainers.
We go into more detail on this topic here: Do Battery Conditioners Work? By the way, battery conditioner is another way to say battery desulfator.
We’ve reviewed the top desulfators in the UK.
Battery Desulfation Methods Summary
With all said and done, we’re glad you’re doing something about this, whichever of these battery desulfation methods you choose.
Hopefully you now know how to desulfate a car battery.
Far too many batteries are junked when they’re absolutely recoverable. Any of these methods will do it. And here’s how to tell if your battery needs to be replaced.
That said, it’s very clear to us that by far the most effective way to desulfate a battery is to use a quality charger with built-in desulfation mode.
And taking action on this now means your battery will last longer, even 2 to 3 times longer!