Revive car batteries using these dead car battery tricks and guide so you can get yourself a skill you can use for life!
RELATED: Welding with Car Batteries
Two Steps to Revive Car Batteries
This article was originally posted at instructables.com and is shared with full permission.
Uses for Dead Batteries and Sealed Lead Acid Batteries
Many “dead” car batteries are actually perfectly good batteries. They just can no longer provide the hundreds of amps needed to start a car.
Many “dead” sealed lead acid batteries are actually un-dead batteries that can no longer reliably provide a couple of hundred watts of power needed to keep a computer running in a power outage.
A couple of years ago, I decided to add another small solar panel to the collection I have on my roof. I have a 5- and 10-watt.
This new one is a 20-watt — dedicated to providing emergency power for lighting, a small fan, and other miscellaneous small low voltage devices.
For this setup, I needed a battery, since it would need to be able to provide power 24 hours a day. I decided an undead car battery would be perfect, since the largest load it would need to power for an extended period of time would be less than one half an amp.
There is quite a difference between 200–600 amps and a half an amp. The battery pictured was one I replaced when it would no longer start my car.
RELATED: Bring Dead Ni-Cad Batteries Back to Life | Prepper Skills
Step 1: Charging the Battery
I could have used a linear regulator to charge the battery with the solar panel. The cost of a linear regulator is typically less than a dollar.
Linear Regulator Definition: This is an electronic system used to keep the voltage stable. Learn more about it here.
I decided to go with a charge controller instead because they more efficiently use the available power to charge the battery. You get more run time at night when you use a charge controller.
Step 2: The Test Fan
I did some extensive testing to make sure I knew how well the system would work in an extended power outage. I ran the fan for several weeks, 24 hours a day a couple of summers ago.
The system worked fine. Since then, I have been running LED lighting out on the patio 24 hours a day for about two years.
The fan pictured is a 10” 12 volt, 5 watts, a 2-speed fan that was on clearance at Walmart. They still sell them, but it was the end of the season. I have three or four of them.
The LED board has 16 LED lights. The battery is not even hardly trying to power this tiny 1-watt load.
Watch this video from Ratchets and Wrenches to see if it's possible to revive car batteries with Epsom salt:
To a survivalist, most things have some form of survival uses, from soda cans to dead batteries. So just keep old car batteries in your stash and learn how to revive a dead car battery.
You only need to take these tips to revive car batteries and get something out of them once more!
Do you think you can revive car batteries in your garage now? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
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Editor’s Note: This post was originally published on February 18, 2016, and has been updated for quality and relevancy.
Title of article is “How to revive dead batteries. But article has no information about reviving dead batteries.
Peter D.
The video tells you how.
Think using false statements to get people to open , there’s nothing about reviving car battery.
It’s a video, watch it. Another thing you can do if you have a 12 volt solar panel (20 watts or more) Is connect it straight to the battery. This is like equalizing the battery. Depending on the size of the battery/solar panel use your judgement as to how long to leave it connected. For a completely dead battery I would try 3 hours and then check it. If you leave it too long you will ruin the battery anyway. I would do this and then do what the video shows, it will help get the sulphation off the plates better.
i didnt see (HOW TO DO IT)
another scam wanting you to pay for the info on charging dead batteries
It doesn’t say pay! Did you even watch it?
But the video enclosed in the article does give How-to-do information about reviving a dead battery.
Gawd!!! Watch the video. It’s got all the info you need. In a nutshell…..
Clean the terminals with fine sandpaper
Empty the water in the dead battery
Mix 10 oz baking soda in a gallon of distilled water. Fill the battery with that. Shake well
Empty the battery
Now mix 15 oz epsom salt in 1 gallon distilled water. Fill the battery.
Trickle charge 24 hrs. Test it. You want 12.6 volts and decent CCA.
If it’s not there cycle the battery down. Leave your headlights on for 12 hrs should do it
Then back on the trickle charger for 24 hrs.
That should do the trick.
But always carry jumper cables
An excellent list on how to revive car batteries. We often throw low efficient batteries without inspecting them for improvement. Cleaning terminals, checking water level and using battery meter will answer all of your low or dead battery. A regular tuning and care can make your vehicle batteries work longer than anticipated.