Tips for reconditioning a lead acid battery
With proper care, lead acid batteries will have a long service life and work very well in almost any power system. Unfortunately, with poor treatment, lead acid batteries life will be very short. No one wants to waste their money. In the maintenance process, it needs to be filled with distilled water, sometimes even chemicals. What can I do when recondition a lead acid battery?
Of course, this process needs many items, including safety glasses, plastic funnel, battery hydrometer, battery post cleaner, a screwdriver, a volt meter, battery load tester, and battery reconditioning chemicals.
First, let’s clean the battery posts. Use the battery post cleaner to clean out both posts on each side.
Check the voltage of the battery. Use your volt meter and connect the leads to the posts. Your battery should read at least 12 volts. If not at least 12 volts, you may want to check the cells in your battery.
To test your cells, use a screwdriver to pry the battery caps. Once the caps come off, use leads and hook them up to your volt meter. Do not use the leads on your volt meter because they can get ruin as acid is stored in the battery cells. Make some leads out of wire and hook it up to the leads on your volt meter.
First start off by putting the positive lead on the positive post of the battery. Put the negative lead on the first cell of the battery. It should read two volts. Now put the positive lead into the first cell of the battery and the negative lead into the second cell of the battery. Continue this pattern until you have reached the last cells. If you get less then two volts, you may have a weak or bad cell.
Now we are going to do a battery load test. Hook up the positive lead first on the battery. Then hook up the negative lead. The battery load tester should read at least 12 volts. Turn on the switch that’s on the load tester. Hold the switch and count for about ten seconds. Then let go of the switch. The needle should read no less then at least 9-10 volts when a load was on the battery. Now remove the negative lead first this time then the positive.
Then we are going to do a hydrometer test. Place the end of the hydrometer into the first cell. Squeeze the top of the hydrometer, then let go. The float inside the glass tube should begin to float. The fluid level should be in the green area. If fluid has passed the green area, then you need to charge the battery. If below the green area, your battery is in good condition and charging is not necessary. Do the same for each cell.
Last thing left to do is add the chemicals to the battery. Get your plastic funnel. Put the funnel over the battery cell and pour a table spoon of chemicals into each cell of the battery. Put the battery to charge for about 24 hours. That’s it, you are done.
You will have a professional achievement if you finish reconditioning a lead acid battery. Many of batteries you use are lead acid batteries, so if you can do this, you may save a large sum of money. Why not let your investment get the value?
Source: www.leoch.com
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