Do Battery Conditioners Work?
It’s a simple question: do car battery conditioners work?
Let’s not beat around the bush: yes. Yes they do.
battery “conditioner” or “desulfator”
We could have titled this post “Do battery desulfators actually work?” Conditioner and desulfator mean the same thing.
There’s a reason the two behemoths of the car battery charger world, NOCO and CTEK, both have battery conditioning/desulfator modes… because it works!
We’ve used desulfators to rescue plenty of batteries, and we keep them on batteries permanently. They consistently last longer.
We’ve also done some testing ourselves as well, it’s not difficult. All you need is a decent car battery tester, and then you can simply test the CCA before and after using the conditioner.
CCA
CCA stands for Cold Cranking Amps (here’s more on what CCA means) and is a measure of the health of a battery.
Just make sure your measurements before and after are both at the same temperature, since that also affects the CCA value reading given out by the car battery tester.
Time and time again, we’ve seen battery conditioners increase the CCA value of batteries and the likes of CTEK and NOCO surely have as well.
Does it always work – can it rescue every single battery?
No, not if the battery plates are damaged and the battery is in awful condition chemically.
But if it’s just a battery that’s gone unused for a while and is in poor health due to sulfate buildup, then it’s very likely that a battery conditioner can help you.
Battery Council International say that 84% of all battery failures are caused by sulfation. So it’s certainly worth investing in a battery conditioner so that you don’t junk your battery when it’s actually completely recoverable.
There are a few ways to desulfate your batteries here are the best battery reconditioning methods.
What is a battery conditioner?
When someone says “car battery conditioner“, they mean one of two things:
1) a battery charger that also has a desulfator mode
ie. it removes the build-up of sulfation on the battery plates as part of the charging process. Check out the desulfator charger, CTEK MXS 5.0, one of the best battery conditioners in the world.
Alternatively, the NOCO Genius5UK also has proven ability to rescue seemingly dead batteries.
FYI, sometimes, a battery conditioner refers to a normal battery charger, even chargers without a desulfation/conditioning mode.
2) a desulfator
that is, a standalone device that can be attached to your battery, often permanently. That means it’s performing its desulfating actions at all times.
It has the sole, specific purpose of removing sulfate crystals that have collected on the battery plates.
This is the best method, since it’s preventing any sulfation arising in the first place. Here’s the best desulfator, the one the professionals use.
So… Do Battery Conditioners Work?
Do battery desulfators work? Absolutely.
So delay no longer. If you’re not using a battery charger/maintainer with a desulfator mode, you can consider the NOCO Genius 5 UK (review here), it has the best conditioner on the market: 12V Repair Mode, as NOCO term it.
Alternatively, you can consider buying a permanent desulfator and attaching it to your battery.