Refurbishing Old Batteries?

[Frank_Hassa]

I received two 1997 Seadoos (a GSX and an SPX) from a client as partial payment for a job I did for him (valued at $1,000 with trailer, so I think I got a deal). Included in the "trade" was a bunch of his old batteries, lubricants, oil, etc... everything and anything that he ever bought for the Seadoos.

Two of the batteries look like they are newer than the others, and I'm thinking these are the last batteries he bought before he stopped using the Seadoos in 2003.

Both batteries are just like this one:

https://www.batteriesplus.com/replacement/battery/everstart/es16clb/cyl16clbxt

My guess is that these are cheap, low-end batteries, however in the interests of saving money, I'd like to explore the possibility of bringing them back to life. Does anyone do that here? I know that refurbishing batteries is a skill that some people are really into and that many times a battery that most people would throw away can be brought back to life. Hoping to find one of those people here.

My Schumacher battery charger will not complete a charge on this battery, it "errors out" about about 15%. It appears that two of the six cells are low or dry of acid.

One thing I'm wondering is it's possible to take acid from another battery and add it to the two low cells. Also I've read that you can add epsom bath salts to a batter to "do something" to the battery, but not exactly sure what, or why.

Hoping to find a sort of "online expert" on battery reconditioning, or someone with experience and knowledge, if for no other reason than to tell me that I'm wasting my time with a level of authority/credibility. Failing that, if anyone can refer me to a good site where the people that know this stuff hang out, would be much appreciated.

 

[amaynard]

I believe once the lead that previously touched acid is exposed to air it corrodes very quickly. Those batteries are definitely dead if they are from 2005. Im going through the same thing you are. Mine is a 1995 spx. Pretty much have read every post of yours lol. I just bought everstart from walmart for cheap. You add the acid manually. Let it sit for an hour then trickle charge till full. Should be at 12.7v at least. 52$ at walmart.

 

[Frank_Hassa]

I wasted a whole bunch of time yesterday watching YouTube videos made by people that didn't know the first thing about the science involved. One jackwagon took me through the whole process (about 13 minutes) and at the end of it the battery was only slightly better than it was when he started. He dumped and threw away the acid, and didn't explain why, nor did he explain how replacing it with distilled water was going to magically become acidic. Didn't use Epsom Salts. Didn't talk about Desulphating the plates. One video says once the lead plates are exposed to the air, the whole battery is permanently ruined, but didn't explain why and another guy had a battery with plates that were not immersed in acid and he acted like it was no big deal.

And another company "hooks" you into watching their "DIY" video, and it turns out it's a commercial for a special battery charger that sends "special power" to the battery (higher voltage, like 18 volts, and low current) because that "does something special" to the sulphur crystals on the lead plates.

In 'big picture" terms, I have to believe that if there was a viable method to restore a battery to working condition, it wouldn't be this difficult to find a credible video showing the method, and explaining how it works. Since THAT'S true, I am now going to conclude that this is a dead-end pursuit, unless someone knows something I don't.