Can Epson Salts Rejuvenate Lead Acid Batteries?

Many people have been wondering whether Epson salts have the capacity to rejuvenate lead acid batteries but it has since been proven that they work. The procedure for doing that is quite simple and easy to follow for any serious person.

With some distilled water, boil it before adding the Epson salts and then stir until it cannot dissolve any more. Drain down the acid until you are completely sure that it is at the same level with the top of the plates.

Add the Epson salt solution to each cell to the proper level once the solution has cooled to room temperature then replace the caps and shake the battery to mix up the acid. A reaction will begin to dissolve the sulphur that will be crystallized from the plates.

Once through, leave it to settle for sometime before trickle charging for 24 hours and you must be cautious not to breathe in vapours as the battery will gas during this period. Discharge your battery after you have completed charging before loading it to a headlight or anything that will not bring it down very fast.

You will have to do this several times to ensure it is effective but never discharge it very fast since it might produce a lot of heat, which is dangerous. To ensure your lead acid battery lasts long after being rejuvenated with Epson salts, drain all the acid and flush the battery with deionised water thoroughly.

Likewise, you can use distilled water and then place it on charge until there is no more gassing but if it turns to be hot remove it until it cools down. This however works only with strong batteries therefore if yours is in bad working condition you will just have to discard it since it cannot be effective.

I have rejuvenated many batterys and the epsom salts trick does work, if not a little slow. Here is the procedure that I use.
Get some distilled water and bring it almost to a boil and ster-in epsom salts untill it will no longer disolve. Drain the acid down untill it is level with the top of the plates.
After solution has cooled to room temperature, fill each cell to the proper level with the epsom salts solution. Replace caps and rock the battery back and forth to mix throley with acid. This will start a reaction immediatly and Begin to disolve the crystalized sulphation from the plates.
You will need to allow the battery to settle over night and then trickle charge for 24 hours, 2 amp works well. Your battery will gass during this time, so please do not breath the vapors or have any ignition sources close by.
After it has charged for 24 hours, you will need to fully discharge the battery by connecting a load to it such as a car headlight but nothing that will pull it down too fast. If you try to discharge too fast, it will produce too much heat in the battery and that could cause trouble.
After battery has discharged, put it back on charger and bring the charge back up. This may need to be done several times to be fully effective.
The final and critical step for longjevity is to completely drain the acid and flush with deionized water. Fill battery with streight deionized or distilled water and place on charge untill all gassing has ceased. This helps pull the residual sulfides from the plates into solution.
Drain the battery and rince theraly and add fresh acid to the battery. Charge the battery at about a 10-12 amp rate untill fully charged. You then can use a cabon pile load tester to check its restored condition.
Very bad sulfated batterys will take longer to rejuvenate than others and may require this procedure to be preformed several times to bring them back.
Please note that if you have a cell that is bad, this will not work and the battery should be discarded. A shorted cell cannot be repaired by the average person and it is not worth the time to even try. You will do more damage than good by trying to dissisemble a lead acid battery.
WARNING:
If the battery becomes hot to the touch, discontinue charging immediatly and allow to cool before continuing. If this occures, you may need to discharge and recharge untill you can reach full charge. Sometimes if the buildup is too bad, the battery will need to be flushed and refilled with acid and epsom salt solution to continue.
Batterys produce large amounts of Hydrogen gas while charging. Hydrogen is very explosive and you do not want to be on the recieving end of it.
A better chemical to use for this process is Tetrasodium Hydride EDTA. This is often harder to get, though it does a much better job. You can also use Cadmium Sulphate allough I have not personally tried it.
I have gotten an additional 5 years from some batterys by doing this procedure. It all depends on what condition the plates are in. Please note that not all batterys will recover full rated output, but once again, it all depends on the condition of the plates. I have done this procedure to batterys that have been sitting fully discharged and dry for several years and have brought them back to service.
Please be warned though, sulpheric acid can burn and the vapors must never be inhaled. Please be carefull. If you spill some, neutralize with baking soda. If you get it in your eyes, flush with water for 15 minutes and get medical help or you could go blind.
Tetrasodium Hydride EDTA can be purchased from www.bostick-sullivan.com. I hope this DIY will help keep batterys out of our landfills.