Battery pulse desulfater tested [RE-wrenches]

[Steve Willey, Backwoods Solar]

I have never sold battery desulfaters because I have seen no rigorous
testing that proves effectiveness. I now have completed a test that shows NO
EFFECT from such a unit. I received a desulfater in the mail asking me to
try it out as a new product about the same time I had a perfect test
opportunity.

I re-visited a $ million and a half house to test their long neglected
batteries. This house was built by a wealthy individual who installed 3000
watts solar, a 24 Volt 1690 amp hour set of Hupp Solar-1 batteries (fork
lift type), Kohler 10RY generator and SW4024 inverter with an APT
Powercenter charge control. The individual who designed and built the house
was killed in a mountain climbing accident before the house was completed.
His wife eventually re-married and lived there. During the next 7 years the
batteries were not maintained, charge was inadequate, lots of inappropriate
loads, little to no watering of the battery etc. The house was placed for
sale last spring, and realizing battery capacity was down severely
(hydrometer would not float at all), they called me to check the batteries.
We discussed replacing the batteries, but decided to try restoration first.
We changed the charge control to dual C-40s, set the inverter charge
parameters up, watered the batteries, started the owners on a regime of
equalizing, and added the sample battery pulsar across one 12 volt half of
the 24 volt series string. They reported better performance within a few
weeks, so we left it about 4 months to see if the batteries would recover.
Yesterday I returned to re-test and remove the pulsing desulfater. All the
cells had recovered somewhat, only to about 60% capacity, which the owner
reported was working sufficiently for his needs and he did not want to
replace the batteries unless winter performance was inadequate.

The bottom line was that all 12 cells were exactly equal on voltage and
hydrometer reading (2.29 volts under 30 amps net charge and 1.180
hydrometer).  There was absolutely NO difference in the cells that had been
on the pulse desulfater for 4 months and the other cells. Note that all had
recovered significantly from the initial condition, and this is what is
usually pointed to as indication the desulfater works. However this instance
shows that the improved care and the improved charge routine brought the
exact same improvement to cells with and without the pulser.
Steve Willey   steve at backwoodssolar.com   www.backwoodssolar.com
Backwoods Solar Electric Systems

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