F16 Pulse King Review

The full answer

To understand how, let’s look at how batteries actually work.

Lead acid batteries work in the following way:

When you charge batteries, there’s a flow of electrons to the negative plates of the battery. When the battery is fully charged, it has an excess of electrons (which are negatively charged) on the negative battery plates. But there aren’t any on the positive battery plates. That means there’s a difference in potential. A difference in potential is what voltage actually is.

When its fully charged, the battery will have around 12.7 volts of charge. The battery plates are made of lead and lead oxide. And these plates are surrounded by a solution of sulphuric acid and distilled water (this mixture is called the electrolyte).

When the battery is discharged (used to start the engine or power the electronics), the electrolyte has a chemical reaction with the lead plates. 

The positive plate is made of Lead Dioxide (PbO2). The lead (Pb) reacts with the SO4 part of the sulphuric acid (H2SO4) and so turns into lead sulfate (PbSO4), while the oxygen (O2) and hydrogen (H) become oxygen and hydrogen ions, which develop into water (H2O).  

On the negative plate, the lead (Pb) turns into lead sulfate (PbSO4), and produces a free electron.

These free electrons can then flow to the positive part of the device it will power. This flow of electrons is what electrical power is. In this way, the battery transfers electrical energy to the device.

Therefore, the more chemical reactions between the lead battery plates and the electrolyte (sulphuric acid and distilled water mixture), the more charge the battery can hold. And therefore, the more power can be delivered. 

How does sulfation come into this then…

The reason the battery can store charge and deliver power, as we’ve just seen, is because of its ability to change from lead to lead sulfate, and for the sulphuric acid to change from having more water (H2O) and then back to having more sulphuric acid

When the lead sulfate (PBSO4) on the battery plates hardens and becomes crystallized, then it’s no longer a store of power. It cannot convert back to lead (Pb) on the battery plates, and sulfate (SO4), part of the sulphuric acid (H2SO4).

Therefore, with sulfation there are less chemical reactions between the lead plates and the electrolyte. Therefore, the battery cannot store as much charge as before. And if it stores less charge, it can deliver less power (has less capacity).

Over time, more and more hardened lead sulfate crystals develop, until the battery can no longer hold a charge or deliver power.

Enter the F-16 Pulse King desulfator

When F-16 Pulse King is attached to the battery, it send a high frequency pulse to the positive and negative battery plates.

These pulses are extremely high frequency, as much as hundred of thousands of pulses. They put some additional voltage across the battery, but since the pulses are so short, they’re low power so there’s no possibility of damaging the car’s electronics.

These pulses are extremely effective at breaking down the lead sulfate on the battery plates. That means the lead sulfate (PbSO4) can again become lead (and lead oxide), Pb, on the battery plates and the sulfate (SO4) can again become part of the sulphuric acid (H2SO4). And therefore, those chemicals are once again available for chemical reactions. As we said earlier, the more chemical reactions between the lead battery plates and the electrolyte, the more charge the battery can hold, and the more power it can deliver.

By the way, we went deep on how desulfation works in our Battery Reconditioning: Ultimate Guide, you can also check that out.

Which leads to the 2 major benefits of F-16 Pulse King…

1) Your Battery Will Last Much Longer

Since sulfation is by far the leading cause of battery death, when you use F-16 Pulse King, it’s very likely that the battery will last much longer.

Lead sulfate crystals build up over time, on all lead acid batteries. And they build up even faster if the battery doesn’t get the full and complete charging it needs, and faster still if the battery is left unused for several days or weeks. The sulfate grows and grows, and becomes harder and harder over time, until eventually it can no longer take on any charge, and therefore can’t provide power any more. In other words, it’s dead.

With F-16 Pulse King attached to the battery, though, this process of sulfation is prevented from happening (and any existing lead sulfate crystals are removed). 

Without sulfation, the battery will last considerably longer. It’ll still die eventually of course. Its internal components will degrade and there is shedding of the battery plates over time. But generally, that takes a lot longer than the process of sulfation.

That’s why many people with high quality desulfators, like F-16 Pulse King, find that their batteries are consistently lasting twice as long, if not more.

It also makes a significant difference to the length of time a car battery lasts if you don’t drive it for a while.

2) Your Battery Will Have More Power Again (Closer, But Never More Than Its Original Power)

As you read earlier, when F-16 Pulse King breaks down the lead sulfate, there is now more lead and sulphuric acid (as part of the electrolyte) available for chemical reactions.

Since there are more chemical reactions happening, the battery can store more charge than before, when the lead sulfate had been limiting the number of reactions.

Since it can store more charge, it can deliver more power.

Therefore, if you use a car battery tester to test your battery after using F-16 Pulse King for a few weeks, you’ll see that the CCA value will rise considerably. 

{Update January, 2024 – there’s now a Bundle product available which combines F16 with a 12V tester – see this Digital Battery Analyzer 12V & F16 Pulse King Bundle review}.

CCA means Cold Cranking Amps, and is a measure of the battery’s ability to start your vehicle. It’s how many Amps the battery can deliver at -18°C (0°F) for 30 seconds, while maintaining a voltage of at least 7.2V.

This isn’t something magical that’s boosting the power the battery can deliver, beyond what it was ever capable of. All it’s doing is releasing the chemical energy of the battery so that it becomes closer to the chemical energy the battery had when it was new.

An example

If for example, your battery’s CCA was 500CCA, and while sulfated, you measured its CCA at 320CCA. 

The use of F16 Pulse King, after a few weeks, should return the battery to around 420-450CCA.

New batteries

To be clear, this means if you have a relatively new battery, you won’t notice more power. Your CCA value will still be high (unless you’ve savagely treated your battery in its infancy!). For example if it’s a 600CCA rated battery and after a few months, your battery tester measures it as being 580CCA currently, there’s no room for the CCA to improve.

That’s why we say it’s not that the desulfator is adding more power to what the battery is capable of, it’s simply releasing the original power contained in the battery chemicals (by removing the sulfate that was effectively blocking the store of charge). In other words, it’s bringing the power closer to what the battery is actually capable of.

With a newish battery then, you won’t notice more power. But your battery will retain its power for longer.

For example, without F-16 Pulse King, maybe that 600CCA rated battery may be 440CCA after 2 years. But with F-16 Pulse King, it could still be 540CCA.

So this desulfator isn’t completely preventing power loss of a battery, that’s impossible. It’s simply significantly slowing the decline in power and making the battery last longer.

Desulfator vs. Desulfating Charger

In our battery reconditioning guide, we also discussed this topic at length.

A desulfating charger is a battery charger which has a desulfation mode. For example, the NOCO Genius 10 UK charger’s Desulfation mode is excellent, and the CTEK MXS 10 is a desulfating charger, which performs its desulfation mode every time you charge (more on CTEK RECON Mode for reconditioning batteries). CTEK have also recently developed a new device that combines charging and jump starting, the CS FREE portable battery charger.

These chargers are effective at removing sulfation when you’re charging the battery. But when you’re not, the sulfation will build up on the battery plates. Then you’ll charge it and the sulfation will be removed.

But sulfation is bad for your battery. Each time it accumulates, there is a small amount that can’t be removed each time. And the longer it stays there, the harder and more crystallized it gets. That makes it harder to remove. If you ever go several weeks or months without charging the battery, then it’s even worse.

With a desulfator, however, its always acting to remove the sulfation. So the sulfation never has a chance to develop in the first place.

In our eyes, it’s like this:

Using a desulfating charger is like not brushing your teeth, then going to the dentist once a month and asking him to deep clean your teeth.

Using a desulfator is like a little automatic toothbrush that brushes your teeth for you every single day.

Which will result in healthier teeth?

It’s the same with batteries. Sulfation is the cause of death of 84% of all batteries. Keeping sulfation away will without doubt make the battery last longer and not only that, the battery will deliver more power during that time as well.

We’ve talked more about how to desulfate a car battery.

Is Pulse King right for everyone?

The F16 desulfator is for pretty much anyone who’d like their 12V battery to last longer and for the battery to retain more power for longer.

But be aware that F16 stops working below 12.6 volts. This is a good thing, it protects your battery from draining when voltage is low. Any battery that is in operation, such as when you’re driving, will always be 13-14 volts or more.

So F-16 Pulse King is designed to operate while you’re driving. It won’t be always working 24-7. So it’s not draining your battery (though even if it was 24-7, the current draw is extremely small, just a few mA.

However, if you only use your car once per week for 15 minutes, that means it will only act to desulfate the battery for those 15 minutes. That’s not long enough to have any meaningful effect.

So we’d say it’s not for you if you’re only a very occasional user of the vehicle.

Anything else I need to know about F16?

Easy Installation

It’s simple to install, even if you’ve never even popped your bonnet open before.

Loosen the nut at the battery terminals. Insert the connectors (positive connector at positive battery terminal, negative connector at negative battery terminal). Then tighten the nuts firmly. That’s it.

High temperature resistant

The case is made from a special, high temperature-resistant type of plastic, so there’s no need to worry about high engine temperatures melting the plastic.

All the internal components and PCB are likewise engineered for extremely high temperatures.

Summing Up Our F16 Pulse King Review

All in all, it’s fair to say we’re big fans of this desulfator. It works really well and we do think every vehicle should have one.

Sulfation is killing so many batteries and we know that it’s actually a really easy problem to fix. Either by using a good quality desulfator like this one, or by frequently using a desulfator charger.

It’s very likely to make your 12V batteries last a lot longer than they should. And they’ll work better, losing their power over time much more gradually than if sulfation was able to get its evil claws onto your battery.

Remember, though, if you hardly ever use your vehicle, you won’t get much benefit from it. 

If it’s for you…

Check it out on Amazon, here.