New electrolyte for old battery?

[renobruce]

Both my batteries are dead. They charge up to 12 volts, be neither have enough power to turn over the motors. Has anyone had success in putting fresh electrolyte in? The lead cells in both look good.

[focus frenzy]

wont work, the acid in the electrolyte turns into a crusty film on the plates known as sulfation. this slowly builds up lowering the cranking amps and the battery's ability to give enough amps to spin the engine over.

some better grade chargers can help break up sulfation on the plates by pulsing current, the one I had (it vanished one day ) actually brought back a weak battery for a while.

a old neighbor of mine used to take BC powder (aspirin in powder form not pill) and put it in old dead batteries and give them a good cooking on a charger and the aspirin would dissolve the sulfate and bring the dead old battery back to life.

the key to keeping a battery healthy and strong is to keep them from discharging, when they discharge acid turns into the sulfate, the lower the state of charge the greater the sulfation.

http://ezinearticles.com/?How-to-Recondition-a-Battery---Sulfation-is-the-Enemy-of-Lead-Acid-Type-Batteries&id=1422644

[Steve]

I will agree with Focus Frenzy on this one.
It's not the electrolyte that degrades in the battery, it's the sulfation and build-up on the plates.

For all the time and effort that it would take to try to bring one back, you may as well just go to Wal-Mart and get a new one for ... what? $35-40?


.

[focus frenzy]

walmart ? EEEEWWWWWW!! a wally world battery may get the job done but they cut corners and they are not a real hot battery and more often than not, don't last real long. the AGM battery they have is a decent battery and is hotter (hotter= gives more cranking amps) but there are better batteries out there for not alot more.

[Bribird]

The only bike batteries I have had good exp with are Yausa, I run them in both my bikes and have had no problems. The "cheap" batteries will cause you to have to charge your battery right when you think you are gonna go for a ride. I they dont last more than a season or 2.

[donimo]

so, not to thread-jack, but if 2 dealers in town "don't feel comfortable" selling me anything but a stock battery (YB12B-B2) what should I use, cause I hate spending $106 on a crappy old school battery...

[Bill C.]

wally world battery

walmart ? EEEEWWWWWW!! a wally world battery may get the job done but they cut corners and they are not a real hot battery and more often than not, don't last real long. the AGM battery they have is a decent battery and is hotter (hotter= gives more cranking amps) but there are better batteries out there for not alot more.

I have a wally world battery going on four years. Use a trickle charger once a month. So far no problems. Not the best battery in the world, but for the price not a bad deal.

[GavinJuice]

Here you go best battery you can buy.....these are relabeled DEKA batteries (AGM) which are the best in the biz!!!! http://www.bigcrank.com/

[renobruce]

I thought I read somewhere that you could put epsom salt in a battery and it would clean off the build up on the plates. I think my dad used to do that...

[donimo]

see, they get me all hyped for an AGM battery, then it takes me here:

http://www.bigcrank.com/motorcyclebatteries.mv?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=MAR-YB12B-B2&Category_Code=suzuki-gs450-83-88

same old boring "add your own acid" battery everyone else sells...

[GavinJuice]

here you go..... http://www.bigcrank.com/motorcycleba...mv?p=BIG-ETX12 read where it says
Replaces: YTX12-BS, YB12B-B2

[donimo]

well why the heck didnt that work when I entered my bike? ah well, thanks mang, now if they could only tell me how much shipping was...

[focus frenzy]

I thought I read somewhere that you could put epsom salt in a battery and it would clean off the build up on the plates. I think my dad used to do that...

oooo I would not recomend that, salt is a mineral and it will form crystals on the plates, same reason but way worse than using standard tap water to top off a battery.

[renobruce]

oooo I would not recomend that, salt is a mineral and it will form crystals on the plates, same reason but way worse than using standard tap water to top off a battery.

I did a little searching and found this:

http://www.dansmc.com/batteries.htm

[focus frenzy]

I have a wally world battery going on four years. Use a trickle charger once a month. So far no problems. Not the best battery in the world, but for the price not a bad deal.

thats why I said more often than not. some people get lucky and get one that with proper care last a long time, most don't unfortunatly.

I have bought wally world batteries and at best got one to last two years.

I have a wally world AGM (the yellow one) battery and it is just about a year old (on 1100E) and it is going strong. the SV is going on 6 years old and still has the factory original battery and it has survived serious abuse and keeps on going.