tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post9053821216718678197..comments2023-12-15T00:36:38.703-08:00Comments on This week in batteries (TWiB): This week in sulfationAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00612502163391007669noreply@blogger.comBlogger14125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post-78875857612402103002010-11-16T08:50:39.534-08:002010-11-16T08:50:39.534-08:00Hi Venkat; nice to read you again. I would like to...Hi Venkat; nice to read you again. I would like to suggest one theme for your blog: the GE durathon battery, and the other movements in the molten salt area (FZ SONIK). It seems to me there is a bit of a resurgence of the technology, and it would be nice to hear an opinion from an expert on the field, even if you are working on a competing chemistry!Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16957424303571158098noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post-76433707216951866312010-11-10T11:55:56.839-08:002010-11-10T11:55:56.839-08:00Venkat, I think you are underestimating the number...Venkat, I think you are underestimating the number of people waiting for your next post each week.<br /><br />I would like to recount the annual motorcycle battery bowling event we used to have when I was much younger. The Great Lakes area is no place to ride a motorcycle in Winter. So, we all parked our bikes and scooters until Spring. Total discharge was inevitable for most.<br /><br />Hence the need for poor students to find a way to bring motorcycle batteries back to life. Each Spring we would gather with our dead motorcycle batteries. Understand that this was when battery cases were heavy and strong. <br /><br />We started by setting up children's bowling pins in someones yard. Then a controlled but spirited game of bowls was played using the batteries as the balls. The rolling and bumping was enough to knock loose the lead sulfate from most plates. <br /><br />Then the electrolyte was poured out and the loose stuff flushed out with tap water. Replacement electrolyte was put in and a short trickle got things charged enough to start up the 2 wheeler and recharge the battery. <br /><br />OK, there were broken batteries and shorted plates and success was often limited to a few weeks before a battery failed anyway. But think how much more fun that was! Friends, a rite of Spring, a game, some winners to cheer and some losers to console and an excuse for a very long first ride of the season. <br /> <br />Who says chemistry isn't fun.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post-76568391834084468122010-11-10T05:23:41.402-08:002010-11-10T05:23:41.402-08:00Bhaskar: Exactly my thought. I should be golden f...Bhaskar: Exactly my thought. I should be golden for a few more years after which I will again have a new battery/car, so the same logic will work again.<br /><br />Actually I've been thinking about this and it seems to me that my battery could have lasted even longer. I drive 35 miles and ~1 h each way. For every one discharge pulse (during the cranking), I charge the battery for an hour. This battery probably had no sulfation! I would probably have to worry more about corrosion of the plates. So the few days sitting in the discharged state was bad, but probably not as bad as I thought. <br /><br />I think I should have held on and tried to run the car for a while and see if the battery came back to life. I sort of chickened out and decided to get a new battery and not deal with any more of these issues. But I wonder how many years I could have gotten from this if I had tried to get it back.<br /><br />Before you all conclude that I'm being really cheap by not wanting to spend $100 every 7 years; it all in the interest of science :-) <br /><br />VenkatVenkat Srinivasannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post-40845977063263502682010-11-09T20:06:14.122-08:002010-11-09T20:06:14.122-08:00@Bhaskar: Perfect plan of action!
Reading your co...@Bhaskar: Perfect plan of action!<br /><br />Reading your comment made me laugh out loud. That's just how I did it...after calling a Tow Truck for a jump start. Yes, another bereft of friends.Gregg Snoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post-14162394799472032982010-11-09T16:49:36.107-08:002010-11-09T16:49:36.107-08:00If we were all off grid some day in the future, we...If we were all off grid some day in the future, we could pull out one of our new lead carbon home batteries from its series/parallel configuration and jump start our own cars.<br /><br />Actually, that's what I do now - either pull a 31 amp UPS battery out or use one of my paralleled 12 volt ham radio backup batteries.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post-36853961466198737182010-11-09T09:30:39.224-08:002010-11-09T09:30:39.224-08:00Venkat
Maybe you should save your money for anothe...Venkat<br />Maybe you should save your money for another 7 years or so and *then* splurge on the jumper cables.Bhaskarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16400340460499638610noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post-14949576414128438052010-11-09T05:59:41.682-08:002010-11-09T05:59:41.682-08:00\\amazon link does not work.//
http://www.amazon....\\amazon link does not work.//<br /><br />http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=battery+charger+with+a+jumpstart+&x=25&y=12Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post-13814446677298997642010-11-09T05:20:17.537-08:002010-11-09T05:20:17.537-08:00The stupid parking light! Who uses that stuff. Ahh...The stupid parking light! Who uses that stuff. Ahhh...<br />Brian: Yes a slow charge should, in principle, let you reverse sulfation. The car alternator does this every day (it trickles and therefore allows any sulfated stuff to go back). Its only when the parking light snafu occurs that this becomes an issue. Doing a trickle charge from an external charger every two years is not going to help if you are making sure never to let this happen. <br /><br />As a matter of fact, I kept that light on 4 years ago. Caught it after 12 hours and got it jumped. DId not seem to have any problems. The 5 days I left it this time was a bit much! <br /><br />Cleanenergywonk: Thanks for the tip. You amazon link does not work. <br /><br />Anonymous on the underwater battery: Yikes! <br /><br />VenkatVenkat Srinivasannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post-4015900650913274502010-11-08T06:55:09.192-08:002010-11-08T06:55:09.192-08:00Interesting information.
Would a slow charge (som...Interesting information.<br /><br />Would a slow charge (something slower than any charger I've seen sold, but never really looked for it) be recommended as part of maintenance on a Lead-Acid battery? Maybe once a year or two years?<br /><br />Would be interesting to see some long-term informationBrian Mhttp://bdmarsh.dyndns.org/picblog/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post-3682510470258559742010-11-07T22:08:19.840-08:002010-11-07T22:08:19.840-08:00Took me time to read all the comments, but I reall...Took me time to read all the comments, but I really enjoyed the article.<a href="http://www.bagsbeauty.com" rel="nofollow">audemars piguet watches</a>suanhttp://www.idolreplicas.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post-33451451262116419002010-11-07T17:29:29.020-08:002010-11-07T17:29:29.020-08:00As 1/7th of your readership, I'm glad to have ...As 1/7th of your readership, I'm glad to have you back. But rather than jumper cables, I'd suggest a battery charger with a jumpstart mode. Once, when I was in a similar situation to yourself (with a little more time to spare), I hopped on my bike and bought one from Ace hardware for $50 (Amazon sells them for much less http://amzn.to/cR2uN2) a couple of miles away. (I also have a PhD and the concomitant shortage of friends.) <br /><br /><br />I've used the charger/jumpstarter many times since, and it has a trickle-charge mode, so should be good for reversing sulfation.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post-14853702353411955112010-11-07T16:42:23.248-08:002010-11-07T16:42:23.248-08:00Welcome back! glad my feed reader keeps track of ...Welcome back! glad my feed reader keeps track of your posts.<br /><br />You might get a kick out of this: what happens when you leave a car battery underwater for a week. It was in my boat, in a box that did a better job of keeping water in than keeping water out.<br /><br />http://i.imgur.com/JVd53.jpg<br /><br />http://i.imgur.com/beb6d.jpgAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post-16875319902650950342010-11-07T13:21:30.301-08:002010-11-07T13:21:30.301-08:00Nice to see that you are back!Nice to see that you are back!Per-FlexibilityEnvelope.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18286523949692195600noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6002016549730514348.post-48713173754215109072010-11-07T12:50:20.525-08:002010-11-07T12:50:20.525-08:00Ah, yes - the elusive "parking light" sw...Ah, yes - the elusive "parking light" switch on the top of the steering column of Subarus. Many people hit it while dusting or cleaning the dashboard, only to find a discharged battery in the morning. Nevertheless, you are quite right that having the battery last 7 years is very good indeed. My commercial guess is that adding activated carbon may not add much to cost, but if it extends the service life significantly, the battery manufacturers may balk at having a consumable consumed at a slower rate. Of course, we could say the same about the switch from incandescent bulbs to CFLs and LEDs.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com