Battery Desulfator

This has been discussed here before but its been a while. As an Engineer I'm a skeptic when it comes to Snake Oils and am new to my Electric Golf Cart (1997 EZ Go with six Trojan T 105 Batteries) but was looking for opinions and any experiences with a liquid chemical "Desulfator" similar to that sold by Buggies Unlimited. The electronic pulser desulfators (links below) do make some sense to me.

Below are the Buggies Unlimited product links and other URL links obtained here or elsewhere regarding desulfation.

http://www.buggiesunlimited.com/product.asp?sku=14565M

http://home.comcast.net/~ddenhardt201263/desulfator/desulf.htm

http://leadacidbatterydesulfation.yuku.com/

Whatcha think any desulfator experienced gents?? Waste of money or actual results???

An ever curious John T

John I have the units made by battery minder and they work great and have saved me money on batteries. I just bought 2 more recently I am very happy with them. I brought some back and used it to save some over the winter that I don"t use.

Go to Walmart, spend $19 and buy a few float chargers....they only charge if the batt needs it. I have 4....use them all winter on batt that get stored. Been doing it for years. Never lost a batt except for age.

Interesting discussion for a saturday morning. I am not familiar with this procedure,I do have a few old tractors with batteries, which sometimes(quite often)require recharging before use. This is a subject that prephaps I know nothing about and should have more information, if someone would explain further.Cheers, Murray

I have a couple of the little BatteryMINDer brand float charger / desulfhator units sold by Northern Tool, that I rotate through my equipment over winter / off season, to keep the batterys in condition.

I have had batteries so sulfated from neglect that they would allow almost nothing in or out.
Letting that little electronic woodpecker do it's thing for a couple weeks will usually knock it loose and back up to capacity.
BatteryMINDer

I have had a 6 folt model and it does a great job keeping our show tractor batteries charged. Many of our batteries are getting "long in the tooth" but still do the job.
I highly recommend this product.

There was a lot of infomation floating around (coulda been on 'here') a few years ago about the use of powdered EDTA (ethylene diamine tetraacetic acid) to desulfate batteries. I typically bought 4-6 batteries per year for farm equipment and tried it out............never worked for me.

I have good luck putting hydrogen peroxide in each cell once a year. 1 ounce per on an automotive size. More on your large trojans. My electric truck has 8 of them.

I'm skeptical of those pulse gadgets so I bought a 1.5 amp mantainers ($15). They turn off and on according to the battery voltage. After about two weeks the battery is much healthier.

T-105 needs a higher charge voltage to desulfate than a car battery. Cheap shop-type chargers won't do the job because the T-105 needs to be charged at 15.5 volts every month or so. This can be consusing since most battery chargers for sale say something like "good for all batteries" which is nonsense. T-105s used in RVs and motorhomes just about never get fully recharged and suffer from sulfation. That is, unless you park and let a solar-panel and controller charge them up once in awhile.

And, even the correct charger has to be sized to the job. If charging a bank, it must delivery sufficient amps to reach that 15.5 desulfation-rate. So, cheapest way is a small proper charger and doing one battery at a time. Iota makes one of the lower-cost chargers that is suited for T-105s. They come in 12, 24, and 48 volt models.

Since you're in Florida and golf-cart country, maybe some used chargers for sale?

The T-105s are the most widely used battery in solar-electric homes. The reason is, they are the most cost effective, and give much more battery for the dollar, as compared to AGMs. Also very forgiving when it comes to improper charging.

Subsequently, there's been a lot of testing and experimentation with charging T-105s, and longevity.

In a nut-shell, sulfating is diminished by over-volting. That is a function not on found with cheaper shop-type battery chargers. It done in the "equalization" mode found on chargers special made for quasi-deep-cycle batteries e.g. the T-105s, Deka GC-2, or NAPA 8144.

Hard to acccomplish with a cheap battery charger. Hard to achieve also when installed as extra "RV" batterie in autos and trucks. That because the standard reg. in a alternator will not totally charge a T-105. Usually only up to 85%. Some boats and RV motorhomes use "battery to battery" chargers to properly charge deep-cycle batteries. They take the 13.8 volts from the alternator and step it up to 15.5 volts when needed - just for the RV batteries.

The better chargers use battery-temp sensors to compensate for air temps and rates.

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Can't say about any liquids, but Dad got a small Husky battery charger from one of my brother's for Christmas last year or the one before that has a desulfide feature. Had it going on the batteries for our 1855 just the other day as they're 8 years old and getting weak. Takes 24 hours to run the cycle, but it seems to do the trick. He's used it on some other batteries and they seem to mhold a charge better now.

Haven't needed the 1855 yet so I can't say for those batteries, but it seems to be a nice little charger, and more capable vs. the larger Schafer one we have.

Donovan from Wisconsin

Jon Hagan has it.
I add the Minn Kota battery additive from Wally world and the Battery Minder and I am on the seventh season on a lawn tractor battery (used to only last two years) and on the sixth year for a GP4DLT in my backhoe that only gets any action two or three times a year. The Battery Minders are $50 but well worth it in my opinion.

Great info, THANKS JD

John T

Thanks gang, it came with its own (very heavy) EZ GO Charger which automatically shuts down once charged (I have no idea of its voltage specs), Id guess EZ Go's furnished (its a later model unit) charger is decent in quality for charging the T 105 ??

I think I will go ahead and add some of the chemical desulfator as I figure it probably wont hurt

John T

The battery maintainers work great. I've got them on many of my backhoes, dozers, and a Dodge van and GM diesel RV.

One comment on price, though. Harbor Freight has 1.5 amp versions with "on board" mounting if desired. Last bunch I bought were around $14 each which is a great deal, as opposed other others around. I've also got a Vector unit that cost twice the price and is no better.

I've had 8 of them going all winter with no problems - except when they first start they knock out AM radio reception to any radio within 300 feet.

missed this link for the diy
Desulfator