Battery Desulfator - Anyone use one?

After doing some research I've been thinking about picking up a charger that is also a desulfator. Looking at this one;

Pulsetech Xtreme Auto Charger, Black/Red

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BPF0Y64/_encoding=UTF8?coliid=IZOHEFI9UE2BR&colid=2ZRCUUM8QZCPB . Anybody here use one that can offer some feedback on using a desulfator in general?

 

Don't waist your money, if anything it will shorten the life of your battery.

 

I have to know how that device will shorten battery life? It's just a battery charger/maintainer. The desulfanization claims may be somewhat overstated, but the science seems sound enough. The biggest benefit is probably maintaining charge and preventing sulfonization in the first place. If you drive regularly and keep the battery charged, there is no need for it. If you park it for extended periods, it should extend the life of your battery. Got one just like it attached to my MC in the garage now.

 

Batteries contain two lead plates, one positive and one negative and they are made of different lead compounds. As they discharge Sulfates from the sulfuric acid electrolyte become embedded in one of the plates reducing the batteries effectiveness. Charging drives the sulfates back into electrolyte solution. Charging at a slightly higher than normal voltage enhances the de-sufication process. The real culprit to a battery is sitting for extended periods of time without being cycled and deep discharging of the battery, that is below 50% of its capacity before being re charged. By slightly overcharging, IE at a very low amperage, a battery you can drive embededed sulfates back into solution. This requires some time to be effective. The device you are looking at turns itself off after 24 hours.
Read the Q&A's.
The device you are looking at, in my opinion, is overpriced and does not maintain the charging rate long enough to be effective.
I recommend a battery tender or similar charger (https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_...Battery+tender,sporting,242&crid=Z7Z5GFSU5T7L) over the product you are looking at.
I am not affiliated with battery tender in any way. This recommendation is based on price and function only.
Neither the Pulse Tech or the Battery Tender are intended to recharge discharged batteries, there output is to low to recharge vehicle batteries in a timely manner. The battery tender maintains a trickle charge on the battery during time of no use at a voltage high enough to drive sulfates from the plates and maintain the battery fully charged.
If the vehicle is being drive regularly and the battery is not over stressed from high demand due to accessories such a winches, off road lights, etc there is really no need for either device. If your rig is a weekend or fair weather warrior only and sits for extended periods of time then a battery tender is a good investment to prolong battery life.
Hope this helps

 

I've had a Power Pulse pulser on my batteries for a few years.

https://www.pulsetech.net/store/bat...pulse-12-volt-battery-maintenance-system.html

Sulfation is an actual problem but whether or not pulsing a battery actually prevents it is probably debatable. Generally speaking keeping a battery fully charged is the best way to prevent it and the way to do that is run them on a good 3-stage or 4-stage charger periodically. But near as I can tell the only downside to a pulser is the little bit of power consumed with the potential that it actually works.

 

It is a charger. The version attached to my MC charges 14.8 volts at 2.5 amps. Not a fast charger, but a charger none the less. My version will auto off at 72 hours if full charge isn't reached in that time. This was noted as 24 hrs for the listed model in the Q/A at Amazon, but it was also noted as auto off it full charge wasn't achieved and the solution was to cycle the device for another period to continue the charge. I've left it connected for months on a good battery and it has never shut down. IIRC, the propaganda from Pulsetech notes that the rate of desulfonization is something like 1 day/lb of battery. I would think that there are several variables that affect that; so I wouldn't take it as gospel. The other issue is that not only does the process drive the reaction backwards to a degree, it also causes the sulfonated lead to flake off the plates. These gather on the bottom of the cells and over time the debris could short the battery. I guess if the battery is badly sulfonated, it could cause harm. But, if that's the case, you're trying to rehab a lost cause anyway. Battery Tenders are cheaper and do the same job. I did like that the Xtreme version seems to have a more robust build. Shit happens in my garage, and being tough is a plus.

 

This was the article I read that got me wanting to pull the trigger on the Pulsetech http://www.superstreetonline.com/ho...l/impp-1105-battery-desulfators-fact-fiction/ . My truck gets regular longer drives that allow the battery to be recharged, it's not the problem, and I've had a Battery Tender on my Viper all the time and the battery hasn't had a hiccup in 9 years. My wifes' car, however, has it's battery constantly run down with short trips. It's never fully charged on it's own. That's why I want a charger with the desulfating feature. My hope is that the desulfating feature does a better job of "cleaning up' the battery than just plain recharging. She's not going to plug her car in every night to a charger and take it off each morning, so I'm thinking just running this on it every couple of weeks will cure the battery issues her car has been having.

 

I doubt a desulfation is going to be critical. It's probably never getting fully charged so a good charge every couple of weeks is a good idea.

Personally, I put the batteries in all of our vehicles on a charger about once a every month or so. I run an Iota DLS-45/IQ4. When it's not charging our daily car (about 24 hours or a weekend if I can) my truck batteries are just sitting on it.

A battery sulfates when it's allowed to sit partially discharged, so if you minimize the amount of time it's below 100% then you minimize the amount of sulfation the occurs.

 

How much time will you have to allow the Pulsetech charger run on your wife's battery ever couple of weeks. At a 2 amp charge rate it will take at least 48 hours to add about 100 amp hours of charge to the battery. That is probably less than 1/4 of yours wife's car batteries capacity. You really need to have a 3 stage charger capable of about a 10 amp charge rate to effectively charge her battery in a reasonable amount of time. A 3 stage charger tapers the charge rate down as the battery nears full charge and will prevent overcharging.
Can you check the voltage of her battery to determine the state of charge from the chart below.

State of Charge

Sealed or Flooded Lead Acid, Gel battery, AGM battery
100% 12.70+ 12.85+ 12.80+
75% 12.40 12.65 12.60
50% 12.20 12.35 12.30
25% 12.00 12.00 12.00
0% 11.80 11.80 11.80

If it is regularly below 75% you will need to run the charger to bring it up to 100%. If it is only occasionally below 75% I wouldn't worry about it. The cycling from driving it is good for it.

Good luck