Reconditioning a 12 Volt Car Battery: 100% Success 

Don't take this wrong, but you almost sound like Jesse James, but almost look like Kevin Smith (Silent Bob). Really that's kinda legendary lol. And thanks for the vid, sir this is good stuff.

Thanks! Like anyone researching any subject, I can take parts of your information and combine it with other videos, current knowledge, comments (neg and pos), and find more resources to double check safety and make my own informed decision. Having the guts to show your methods helps us all learn!

Making use of the ru-vid.comUgkxcJ22tnHH9l1vjdIdEIG27iOG55P7LXI8 reconditioning plan, I just saved 2 auto batteries from being completely junked. The guides were very simple to follow. I wish I would have found this years ago! You may use the guide to recondition any battery type

Just looked at your video. And I enjoyed watching it! So many of us who owns cars, trucks, motorcycles, etc., for transportation, always thinks that when batteries goes dead, you must always spend more money again to but a new one. I've revived two very old batteries that were dead, by just hooking a 20 watt solar panel directly to them without a solar panel controller. And BOOM! Batteries still works, installed, and started a Dodge Caravan. And the other one is a backup. Someday I'll try your trick, and let you know how it works out!

Hi all. I'm a mechanic of 27 years. Not everything in this video is correct. If you have an old battery, I can give some simple advice. ( But be assured, the battery will never be like new). You MUST use a "load tester" first, to document the condition of the battery. NOT a Multi Meter, but a LOAD TESTER, that you dial the correct CCA (Cold Cranking Amps) value of the battery as displayed on the label. Once you document the poor condition of the batter, now it's time to recondition it. 1) remove car battery and place is on soft ground such as your lawn. DO NOT open caps or remove any acid yet. 2) Roll the battery around over and over for several minutes. use your boot and kick the battery and make it tumble for a few minutes (this rough contact breaks a lot of the buildup stuck to the plates). 3) Drain all the liquid into a container holding the battery upside down to drain it all. Keep this acid and allow the dirty looking liquid to settle over a few hours, This will take time until the sediments settles to the bottom of your bucket. 4) fill battery with water and repeat process of rolling it after putting caps back on, but DO NOT keep this liquid! instead, dispose of this waste. 5) Once battery is empty again and the captured Acid part 3 has settled and looks clear, carefully pour the acid into another container, leaving lead sludge behind. Finally top up the batter with the clean acid and test the battery on a "load tester".. Yes you can charge it, but prior to doing so, test to see if there is improvement. I recently done this to a Pajero V6 Petrol, that had a dead battery. The Battery bounced back and I got 6 healthy months from it, but eventually it failed to hold a charge. No Epsom salts used in this process, however I am sure that will only improve the condition to perhaps give you as much as 12 months of life out of it, but I cannot verify that as I haven't used salts.

I tried doing this two ways. The first one I did I did it exactly like you did it but I used sulphuric acid because it was only $15 for 5 L. The second way I did it was I just drain the acid and then I refilled it with fresh sulphuric acid. I found your way works best. You really have to get that old crap out of the battery for it to be able to except and hold a charge thanks for the video I found it to be very informative peace out

Nice video, thank you ! your time & adventurous kindness is beautiful

I have some dead batteries and I am going to try that trick to see if it will work on the ones I have because I am tired of buying batteries for my vehicles and lawn mowers. Thanks for the tip and I am glad to have found you and I believe my charger will work on each of them and hopefully they will work again.

My car battery would not hold a charge but the cells tested fine. Put a tbsp of concentrated Epsom salt water in each, trickle charged overnight. Battery lasted fine with no problems and I sold the car three years later. I did not flush the battery or anything. My Dad did his lawn tractor battery the same way - still acting like a normal battery after 4 years.

Thank you so much for taking the time to not only simplify, but also thoroughly explain the internals and operation of the batteries! Your explanation gives the viewers a better visual idea of what they're working with, and what they're trying to accomplish. Great video my friend, very informative!👍🏻

The true test is fully charging those batteries, then run them each with e.g. 20 A load (e.g. 4 headlight bulbs in parallel) until the voltage gets down to 11.0 V. You can then compute the total energy released to figure out how much capacity you end up with (basically the longer it takes the better the battery is). Simply being able to load the battery to correct voltage doesn't mean that you can do anything meaningful with the battery. A good car battery is rated between 50-120 Ah as new and if your reconditioned car battery has 2 Ah, it's practically not usable for anything even if it technically still works as perfectly good 2 Ah battery. If you truly just need 2 Ah battery, you should use NiMH or Li-on batteries instead.

I followed your advice and did this to my battery in my Jimmy. It quit holding a charge and would die after sitting a couple hours. Now is starting my car after sitting overnight. So cool. Thanks bud!

Thanks a bunch will be trying this before buying a new battery.

Great video, knowledge and safety is so important . My dads a marine engineer. He is a specialist with batteries. He loves his distilled water and Epsom salts. Great job😊👍🏽

Was just talking about this with some neighbors. Dude said his Dad always flushed/hosed out the junk, refilled the battery and charged it. Old school repair for old school charging systems maybe but when I think of all the money I’ve spent on batteries I really want to try and repair one. Just for the experience. Thanks for validating our backyard mech discussion

Finally . A video that shows how to properly charge a battery!!! Just what I was looking for.

Loved that joy u had at the end, starting your ATV. LOL

Thank you very much. Great info!

This is awesome, thanks man. I had a dead battery but after watching this I never bought a battery again and the dead battery was alive again btw I watched part 2.

Great vid...thank you for posting!

Great video, this is going to save a lot of money! Thanks!

*This battery reconditioning program exceeded my presumptions. It worked on any drill battery, several AA and AAA batteries, **batery.repair** and any camera battery. The steps are simple and the act itself is exciting to do. No matter what type of battery you`ve got, it is sure to function again!*

The coating in the battery is sulfur oxide. The metal looking debris is mostly lead and some of the steel grid that is imbedded in the lead plate to hold it all together. The Epson salt trick works 1 time. It somewhat removes the sulfur oxide, but over time will deposit magnesium into the plate.

Nice once and useful info, thank you...

Thanks for the Video, very USEFUL..Thanxs

Great video. Thank you. One note - Baking Soda and/or calcium (generally basic in solution) to neutralize acid may work, but vinegar wouldn't, Brotha. Vinegar is just another acid, albeit weaker than the sulfuric acid in batteries.

Man you're amaizing 🙏

Thanks for the info great job man👍

Nice video, educational, and easy to learned.

Thanks mate, I am now a subscriber and I have the same safety shoes:)

Second video is up! I test CCA Amps and cut apart a battery so you can see the process. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-RNnSYuTuLk4.html

Thank you for this video I learned a lot I’m gonna give this a try thank you

I have done this with a 12 year old interstate battery that was totally dead after sitting in my pickup truck that sat for over 5 years unused and it worked the battery was just as good as the day I bought it , it had full 12.5 v and I had no issues with it my truck started just fine for many more years ..This is real so save your money and try it before buying a new battery and yes I has tried charging it a few times long before I tried this with the battery charger it got up to 10.2 v but wouldn't even hold that for more then a day...this really works I poured out all the acid into a clean bucket added distilled water and Epsom salt about half way full then poured the acid back in to refill the other half of the battery ..note keep baking soda near by to neutralize any acid spilled or left over..goos luck everyone hope this helps

Dude, this video was hilarious! Comedy is your thing.

Hey its Tony with Higher vibe tribe I just was a thank you the information you share it on RU-vid about reviving the battery it worked thank you again I would love to hear more your ideas

Thank u car groves for your tips.

Awesome video!! Keep it up.

Looks good , interested to see if there is a volt drop over night

At the beginning of the video when you talked about voltages, a 10.8V battery is a totally dead battery. A fully charged Flooded Lead Acid (FLA) battery reads above 12.6V...sometimes 0.1 or 0.2V higher. And a voltage test indicates the state of charge of a battery but not its health. You need to do a load test and a capacity test, the latter is time consuming and you need to use specialized equipment. Its all fun though.

Thanks man. Saved myself almost 200 bucks.

Good video. Love the OSHA approved flip flops, that's the best footwear for battery acid protection.

I was told my Interstate battery needed replaced. I checked it out at home. I had neglected to clean & protect my terminals or check the water level. Addressing the issue solved the problem!

You talk about safety, Wear eye protection, gloves, long sleeves, fan etc etc. Oh yes, doing all that work in sandals 😅😀😊👍👌

I will definitely try this method many thanks

Good explanation good video. Thank you

I enjoyed your video as I know the expense of purchasing a new car battery. I liked your video, then I saw all your negative comments, but maybe do the test again, and actually show the recharged battery being started on the car, and run for a while and start as normal for some journeys over a period of time. Thanks for sharing

Glad to see those steel-toed flip-flops. You can't be too careful!!!

I like to wear a full face shield with my safety glasses whenever I mess with strong acids or Alkaline solutions. Acid in the eyes is bad. Lye, which is a strong alkaline (basic) will quickly blind you. (For an eye wash- Keep some baking soda when messing with acid. Keep vinegar when messing with Lye. ) Good video. Thanks

Would of liked to see a load test on all 3. But good job restoring them. 👍

I've seen a lot of folks do this battery restoration. I'd love to see a load test on the battery to gauge the capacity. I know it's not going to be perfect like new, just curious what percentage capacity has been recovered?

Love the safety sandals lol

That was pretty damn good!

Salt acts as an abrasive and scrubs the surface for you. That totally makes sense. I would shake them gently while the solution of salt is inside wondering why not use some new distilled water with salt but yeah great video 👍

Getting a battery to come back is very tricky. I have the top of the line charger from Harbor Freight. To see if a battery is doable, do this: Top all the ports off. Maintenance free is still toppable. Most of the time the cells are low. After 10 minutes of charging in AGM mode, do this test. (AGM mode with remove a short off a cell most of the time.) Take a multimeter, go to +, and read each cell with the probe tip stuck in the acid working towards -. If you get at least 1.8 volts difference between each cell, it's doable. Charge at 8/10 amps standard battery mode for 8 hours. Load test the battery. If it dies quickly, drain the battery & add fresh acid. Can be purchased at an auto parts store. Recharge the battery again. It should come fully back & hold a charge. I didn't add epsom salts or cadium tablets & had success.

This has been around for years, works good if you just want to make a car run so you can peddle it but not good for long term.

Awesome job thank you so much brother

Thank you....this was very helpful....Take Care!!

sulphation is the killer, sediment settles to the bottom and shorts out the cells. After bathing the batteries in epson salts( for an extended period), and a thorough flush, use distilled water, and proper amount of sulfuric acid to fill the cells. Don’t use the old electrolyte! You won’t be able to remove all the sulfation between the lead plates, but some more limited service of these used batteries is possible. The capacity and cranking amps will still be compromised. Worthwhile to do IF the batteries were not frozen when discharged, and no bulging or distortion of the lead plates is visible. cheers!

what is the proportion of the used acid - epsom salt - distilled whater?

Thanks for the information

Rock and Roll.... HARD METAL IN THE BUCKET... thanks for the video

Well done, other videos I have seen have restored voltage but the battery still did not have enough grunt to use in a car ..... I will be interested to see a follow up from you on this matter ,,,

So many people here who are haters talking crap about this video but somehow are on this video watching it. Instead of hating on it, why don't you go try his method and then come back and report any false info in this video instead of hating on it before you even try it. Stop wasting other people's time who actually want to read the comments for other additional information he may have forgotten to mention or another step that would help improve.

This guy needs to be in hollywood... poster boy for allllll diy nerds... he is what we all sound like inside.... not what others hear but what we hear as ourselves... no kidding...

I feel like your tips are true and the 🔋 on my 370z is reconditioned and absolutely 💯 . Also, I understand there's possibility of more pay for a longer video 📹 but I think I have a tip for you 😉. I subscribed but it took everything I had not to try and find another video . Reason? It takes a different personality to have people 💯 so drawn in that we don't realize you are A. Babbling or B. Drawing out thr video to make it longer for an estimated 2 extra commercial breaks that made my bad day even worse lol 😆. ,

About 12.74 - 12.6 v volts fully charged battery. Approx 12.40 is 50 % ! Some ecu's go into limp mode as they don't get incoming voltage . Running it should read 14.4 v - 13.7 V approx. Even with lights / heaters on

So for what you mixed the destill3d water and epson salt, when using the OLD used stuff to refill the batteries or did i miss something???

Good information thanks for sharing

Good job 👍

In video one you use a mixture of the used acid and distilled water/Epsom salt mix. In the second video it was only Epsom salt and distilled water mixture. Which worked better? Also, I've seen many videos of people cleaning and flushing the battery with a distilled water and baking soda mixture. Is that helpful in cleaning the plates?

Afterwards, did you use it with the epsom salt solution or did you pour that out?

Great video

This is good to know bc alot of men would t help there significant others help with there vehicles thanks so much

You’re lucky you can still do that in the USA. Here in the UK all batteries are sealed now. But you’re missing a trick by not settling and then filtering the old battery acid. If you filter the settled acid first through a very fine tea strainer to remove the larger particulate matter, then through coffee filters, you will have a far more extensive process, and end up with a much cleaner, more efficient and longer lasting acid. It’s those floating particles which have come off the plates, that cause the drop in efficiency in batteries.

For the people that wants to be negative about this video I have been doing this sense the 70s It does work.

Great video on scoping out your neighbors when considering buying a new house; yeah, I love that battery acid runoff into my begonia bed.

Awesome, thank you so much, you're the Man, 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍LIKE.

Thanks for the video. I think there is a good chance you will get some extra use from the batteries. You are not putting back lead that has turned to hard lead sulphate on the plates and you have now substituted out with magnesium sulphate but if you can reduce/remove the self-discharge and no-charge problems that is a win even if capacity stays lower than when new. Its up to viewers to decide if its worth the effort and risk associated with moving that acid around.

Thank you for this very informative video. I myself have 3 car batteries that are dead and will follow your method to try and revive them. One question after rinsing the batteries with the epson salt and purified water solution, when emptied, do you just refill the battery with the old acid or with the acid and water/epson salt solution combined?

Cheers and take care

Nice i will try it next time thank you

What is the mixture of epsom salt to acid ?

Great video man. Better then all the ones I saw and my brain 🧠 understands. Haha, but I’m confused 🤷🏻‍♂️ on you mixing the old acid with the Epsom salt and putting it back in the batteries. Is that an option that you did or can I just refill the batteries back up with epsom and distilled water without the old acid?

Great stuff super video n info thx great !!!

Liled and subscribed thanks for the video

Whats the ratio between epsom salt and acid solution may I know? Well if there was that much different in the voltage before -after it just might start a car.

Sometimes it works and sometimes no. Worth a try though.

I dig your retro fan man I've been looking for a good deal for One forever and they keep going up in price

Before you empty fluid out of battery,try reversing the chargers polarity,and tap the post quickly a few times,it will knock off corrosion and plac,then continue with Epsom salt clean and new muriatic acid,if you want to reverse a battery polarity,completely drain 12 volt power and charge the opposite if you need it to work in either left or right to work in you're vehicle

You use distilled water for you solution, but you rinse your batterys with a garden hose with city water, then put old acid in. If a battery reads 12v doesnt mean it will crank a car.you need a load tester. Ive done this with batterys before ,sometimes it works. But never for very long. If you live where it gets cold in the winter, it wont work a all.

Lots of vehicles will start with a battery fresh of the charger... how do these hold up after sitting unused for a week or two?

You are a diamond.

There is a lot of videos on how to do this in many different ways. When the video started I saw that beautiful massive vise and said . " this is the video to watch. You didn't disappoint. I would like to see the amp output as that is the most important thing to start your vehicle. I have many batteries that charge but will not give the amps needed. Plus they discharge rapidly. They don't crank but 10 seconds then dead. Also there are many theories on how to recharge them after cleaning and refilling.

Hard to know where to start. Reusing old mixed dirty electrolyte, 'vinegar' to neutralise sulfuric acid??? Thinking that a 12v battery under 11v is somehow useful? It's dead, gone. What about the sulfate that is covering the cell plates? Glasses and flip flops?

Would have been nice if you told us what the epsom salts/sulphuric mixture was when you refilled the batteries

I enjoyed the video, but I have always found that a battery can hold a 12 volt + and still be weak, in other words a battery needs to maintain it current(amps) or strength in handling a load. So if my battery shows around 13+ volts DC then chances are that I can handle a load then I have to consider how long. I understand the theory as I have been in the Alarm industry since 78 I just never reconditioned a battery which in today's world it is a money saver!! Thank you for posting this!!

Took me a minit to notice I thought you had another person also working on batteries lol 😆

i see a lot of battery revival videos, but i don't see any of them actually start a car !

playing with battery acid right beside a fresh glass of coke or pepsi! fricking hilarious

Thanks for sharing