Reconditioned batteries?

Steve A W · Apr 5, 2020

In December of 2017 I bought a ?reconditioned? battery for a 9N project.
It came from an auto recycle facility. I didn?t want to buy a new battery
for an unknown tractor that ?Ran When Parked?
So before we got tractor running my mother in law developed two new cancers.
So the tractor project was put on hold.
After she passed away my health went bad. So here it is two years after I bought
this reconditioned battery. My daughter and I were working on her four wheeler
and decided to put the charger on the tractor. I told her to try to crank it to see
if it had anything left to it. It cranked! We gave it a shot of either and it fired up.
My question is, how do they recondition a battery?
That battery sat in a tent garage for two years and took right off.
SteveA W

SVcummins · Apr 5, 2020

I don?t know but I?d imagine they take the top of and clean the plates and put them back in replace the bad ones maybe ?

dzc3 · Apr 5, 2020

Not sure how the "experts" do it but there are several methods shown on YouTube. I "reconditioned" a battery early this year, by draining battery acid into a plastic tub. Refilled battery with 8 oz. of baking soda to a gallon of water, let this soak and boil until it quiets down. Drain that into the battery acid in the plastic tub and repeat. Flush the battery with water until the water is clear. I then boiled 17oz. of Epsom salts, in a gallon of distilled water, when cool enough to handle, I poured that into the battery and put the battery on a trickle charger overnight. The next day I loaded tested the battery is showed 12.3 volts and 600 CCA. I discharged the battery (50%) and repeated. The next day the load test showed 13.4 Volts and 800 CCA. Have to see how long it will work. I am sure others will chime in with a better alternative.

MarkB_MI · Apr 5, 2020

Just add some VX-6 from J. C. Whitney!
VX 6

showcrop · Apr 5, 2020

I would be very surprised if at a salvage yard they did anything more than throw a good charge in it and then keep it on a trickle charger for a week. This is basically what I and many on these forums have done when a battery has gotten run down.

sms · Apr 5, 2020

We have a shop here that has done radiator and auto electric repair for many many years. In talking to one of the brothers he told me that he used to rebuild batteries, take the top off, clean, replace, reseal. He is no longer with us, he did most of the radiator repair and his brother does the electric, I think exposer to lead all those years caught up to him.

Eagle Beagle · Apr 5, 2020

This video shows how it's done in Pakistan. Kind of interesting what can be done with minimal tooling and a lot of ambition.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=afwO_MZjRjA

Beagle

FBH44 · Apr 5, 2020

Two comments; first, I don't think you're supposed to drain anything INTO acid, I think you're supposed to rain the acid INTO something else. Second, I thought a battery had to operate with sulfuric acid as electrolyte. Not Epsom salts. I thought the voltage reaction was supposed to take place between lead plates, and alternate plates coated with lead-sulfide. I never have understood electricity, so I may be way off base here. If so, sorry.

buickanddeere · Apr 5, 2020

Only one way to recondition a battery . Melt the lead down ,
Scrape off the impurities and pour new battery plates.

Steve@Advance · Apr 5, 2020

That used to be done way back when batteries had tar sealing the top. They could be taken apart, cleaned, inspected, and put together for a little bit longer life.

Some large industrial batteries still have serviceable plates, a bad cell can be removed and replaced instead of replacing the whole battery.

And there are some that say they can remove the caps and flush one out, but I am doubtful that would do much of anything.

For the most part, they are just used batteries. If they can get it to hold a charge long enough to sell, so be it.

Mixed in among the batteries they get are:

Bad batteries.

Simply discharged batteries that someone miss diagnosed.

Batteries that were changed out as a precaution because of their age.

Dual batteries that were changed as a set because one went bad.

Factory defects that didn't pass quality tests.

Stolen batteries.

New old stock that did not sell.

It's a gamble, you might get a good one, you might not. Best thing to do is check the date, find the newest one you can.

dzc3 · Apr 5, 2020

I drained the baking soda into the battery acid in an attempt to neutralize the acid. Sulfuric acid is the preferred electrolyte, but other things work too. The Epsom salts as the electrolyte works for now be interesting to see how long it last. Every week that it works as it should is one more week I didn't have to buy a battery. This tractor gets used on a weekly basis, so far so good.

rustyfarmall · Apr 6, 2020

I have tried just about every trick I ever read about, or was told about for reconditioning a battery, and by far the very best method I have found is to simply replace the dead battery with a new one.

BarnyardEngineering · Apr 6, 2020

When they're dead nothing you can do will bring them back, but if there's some life left some of the tricks will work. Regardless of what you do it will never work as well as a new battery or last as long.

There's a process called "desulfation" that can be used on a weak battery that can extend its life. Surprised our resident creator of death machines hasn't chimed in on this one, as he seems to be a proponent of it:

https://forums.yesterdaystractors.com/viewtopic.php?t=1383176&highlight=desulfation

Hobo,NC · Apr 6, 2020

If you moniture the charging system it will be working its arse off to keep a depleted reconditioned battery charged... You will be trading one issue for another there is no free lunch...

Battery's are the cost of doing bushiness its the heart of the charging starting system...

DY · Apr 6, 2020

Back in the 1980s I worked at a battery warehouse. Back then Walt-Mart stores would trade a dead battery for a new one; no questions asked. Our company had a contract to buy all of the Walt-Mart returns for fifty cents each. After gathering a truckload I would take them back to the shop and divide the possible good batteries from the junks. The possible good batteries were topped off with acid and then put on a mass charger overnight. The next day I load tested them. The ones that passed were cleaned up and sold as used batteries for $10. Many people had traded in a perfectly good discharged battery when the actual problem was their charging system.

DMartin9N-2N · Apr 6, 2020

Good evening, dcz-3! I noted your interesting comment. I must say, 35 years ago in Jackson, TN a small company existed that rebuilt batteries and sold them on a regular basis. I had noted the employees (mostly women) would all come outside to take a smoke break at the same time, seemed like 10 or 12 of them, so it was a fair-sized operation. I was not familiar with their situation, but I suspect that a lot of their business was done with used car lots. BTW, I edited this comment twice, but the person's initials still come out wrong. Sorry, D--Z--C--3!

Dennis M. in W. Tenn.

dzc3 · Apr 7, 2020

Thanks DMartin. This battery passes load testing which I do every couple of days, the alternator will charge 10 amps for a very short while after it starts, less than 1 minute then charges about 3 amps while running. I will see how long it lasts. Just have to be open minded about it.

Reconditioned batteries?

Steve A W

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SVcummins

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dzc3

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MarkB_MI

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showcrop

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sms

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Eagle Beagle

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FBH44

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buickanddeere

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Steve@Advance

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dzc3

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rustyfarmall

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BarnyardEngineering

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Hobo,NC

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DY

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DMartin9N-2N

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dzc3

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