Resurrect a 12 volt battery?

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Resurrect a 12 volt battery?

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

And I guess besides all that, my out of the box rebuilt distributor will likely have a burned set of points as well as maybe a condenser and I'm worried for my cool Canadian-only aluminum coil too.

jmont64 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I have had decent batteries go completely dead a couple of times and didn't have any trouble bringing them back to life with just a trickle charger or am I missing something here. Happened to my daughter's car this spring when she came back from university and it has worked fine all year.

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

When I hooked up the trickle charger it pegged the meter and buzzed pretty loud. I didn't want to kill it. I've seen it done where you run a set of booster cables between a stone dead and a good battery. Then hook up a charger and it will put a charge into the dead one, but the sparks when I put cables between the two batteries makes me nervous. There should be no spark just putting two batteries on the floor and hooking up booster cables between the two of them.

hawkeye5766 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Had many a battery go dead at our prop in 100 mile(no hydro) including an 8d,found that if I charge it 1/4 to 1/2 and then give it a good boost of 50-90 amps for a minute or 2 it recovers fine,apparently it removes ions or sulpher from the plates( I'm no mechanic ).I would think your coil would be fine and you shouldn't have to file your points if they were open.As far as spark goes when jumping a bat to bat when 1 is dead you wil get a spark as far as I know.It's like charging an air tank,when you first start ,the air or current flow is trying to equalize as fast as it can,the closer it gets to even the slower or longer it takes to equalize.Hope this makes scence.Just a newbee trying to help.

cdnpont · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Could be way off here, but I think I'd just try to work it back as slowly as possible with a low current battery maintainer. Do you think the spark might be because of the large difference in potential between the two?

Pontiacanada · A Poncho Legend!

Is it under warranty?

DALE3_3 · Veteran Member

YOU SAID IT IS A NEWER BATTERY???

OR DID IT NOT COME WITH ANY WARRANTY??? disbelief

IF IT DID, IF THEY CAN'T GET IT TO CHARGE THEY WILL GIVE YOU NEW ONE biggrin

EVEN IF IT WAS A FEW YEARS OLD MOST NEW BATTERIES I THOUGHT ALSO HAVE A PRORATED WARRANTY???

WERE AS YOU JUST PAY THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MONTHS USED VS MONTHS LEFT TO GET A NEW ONE.

DALE

Guru

when a battery is that dead it needs a big charger with lots of amps a trickle charger will not do it .... a new set of points and you will be on your way .. good luck

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

DALE3_3 wrote:

YOU SAID IT IS A NEWER BATTERY???
OR DID IT NOT COME WITH ANY WARRANTY???
IF IT DID, IF THEY CAN'T GET IT TO CHARGE THEY WILL GIVE YOU NEW ONE
EVEN IF IT WAS A FEW YEARS OLD MOST NEW BATTERIES I THOUGHT ALSO HAVE A PRORATED WARRANTY???
WERE AS YOU JUST PAY THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MONTHS USED VS MONTHS LEFT TO GET A NEW ONE.
DALE

It would have warranty but I can hardly call this a defect. I'm the defect here!

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

cdnpont wrote:

Could be way off here, but I think I'd just try to work it back as slowly as possible with a low current battery maintainer. Do you think the spark might be because of the large difference in potential between the two?

That may well be. I may just leave the cables on for a bit, then try a charger. Maybe I'll take it with me to work and put a big charger on it.

Lefty · Uber Guru

if you have an other battery that is no good , drain the fluid from that one and put it in the new one

I boiled a battery dry once by living the charger on start for a week (then wondered where the rotten egg smell was coming from)

turned an old battery upside down on a garbage can lid then used a tester to pick up the acid and put it in the dry one..

hope yours is not a sealed one.

Or just take the battery back and simply tell them its no good, they probably wont care why..

427carl · A Poncho Legend!

Carl Stevenson wrote:
DALE3_3 wrote:

YOU SAID IT IS A NEWER BATTERY???
OR DID IT NOT COME WITH ANY WARRANTY???
IF IT DID, IF THEY CAN'T GET IT TO CHARGE THEY WILL GIVE YOU NEW ONE
EVEN IF IT WAS A FEW YEARS OLD MOST NEW BATTERIES I THOUGHT ALSO HAVE A PRORATED WARRANTY???
WERE AS YOU JUST PAY THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MONTHS USED VS MONTHS LEFT TO GET A NEW ONE.
DALE

It would have warranty but I can hardly call this a defect. I'm the defect here!

Send me the battery and the warranty I can get it replaced..... how it got broke is not the issue actually Wal Mart will replace it free so will Cosco

We have a new Optica battery charger at work I would/will bring it back

bjburnout · Uber Guru

Lotsa new batteries are run down to zero and then recharged.......no problem

But if this battery won't take a charge then it is defective.........I've never had a problem
taking a battery back..........that should be your first move..........

don't be switching out any acid..........that will be abuse and if it doesn't work then you will
be out a battery.........if it's a reputable shop - they'll take it back

427carl · A Poncho Legend!

bjburnout wrote:
Lotsa new batteries are run down to zero and then recharged.......no problem

But if this battery won't take a charge then it is defective.........I've never had a problem
taking a battery back..........that should be your first move..........

...if it's a reputable shop - they'll take it back

He probably bought it from "himself" at "his" own dealership

Now he's feeling guilty and doesn't want to treat himself like a "normal Good customer"

Greaser · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

I had a battery that didn't take a charge, so I tried the transplant method.

Start a car,pull the existing battery out of the car while it's running, (having a second person helps) replacing it with the dead battery.

I leave the dead battery in the running car for 20 minutes and it came back to life.

Be careful with the cables while transplanting.

pontiax · Poncho Master!

Depending on the cca of the battery, different methods can be used. Hi out put batteries of 800 to 1000 cca have more plates but the plates are thinner. Using high current to recharge will warp the plates. Batteries of 450 to 700 can take a higher current because of the thicker plates. Proper way of recharging a dead battery is with a 2 amp charger which prevents hydrogen gas build up and warping of the plates. Bringing the battery to room temperature will help speed the charging rate.

you should always charge a battery that has needed a boost, in most cases the alternator will not fully charge a battery. I have seen a lot of alternators fail after the battery has been boosted several times. And most people believe it was the alternator failing in the first place. (Former exide dealer)

Lefty · Uber Guru

I only Switched out the acid because i had boiled it dry, this was in a Canadian tire with a life time warranty (bought in the 70's) and

i did not want to loose it.

think over the years they have replaced it at least 8 to 9 times. Seem to last about 5 years..

bjburnout wrote:

don't be switching out any acid..........that will be abuse and if it doesn't work then you will
be out a battery.........if it's a reputable shop - they'll take it back

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

He probably bought it from "himself" at "his" own dealership

Now he's feeling guilty and doesn't want to treat himself like a "normal Good customer"

Carl nailed it, I bought it off me at work!

427carl · A Poncho Legend!

Carl Stevenson wrote:
He probably bought it from "himself" at "his" own dealership
Now he's feeling guilty and doesn't want to treat himself like a "normal Good customer"

Carl nailed it, I bought it off me at work!

ALL THE MORE reason to warranty it Keep up the good reputation of the store

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

I may attempt to charge it here tonight with another battery hooked up, since we are storm bound here anyway.

Lefty · Uber Guru

427carl wrote:
Then you probably know the right guy to rreturn it to !!
Carl Stevenson wrote:
He probably bought it from "himself" at "his" own dealership
Now he's feeling guilty and doesn't want to treat himself like a "normal Good customer"

Carl nailed it, I bought it off me at work!
ALL THE MORE reason to warranty it Keep up the good reputation of the store

4SPEED427 · A Poncho Legend!

Lefty wrote:

Then you probably know the right guy to return it to !! _______________________________________________________________________________________

I do but the counter guy is a jerk! Maybe I'll talk to the parts manager!

Lefty · Uber Guru

That's probably the best cause i heard he was a little "slow" so you might pull it off

jmont64 · Canadian Poncho Superstar!

Lefty wrote:
I only Switched out the acid because i had boiled it dry, this was in a Canadian tire with a life time warranty (bought in the 70's) and
i did not want to loose it.
think over the years they have replaced it at least 8 to 9 times. Seem to last about 5 years..
bjburnout wrote:

don't be switching out any acid..........that will be abuse and if it doesn't work then you will
be out a battery.........if it's a reputable shop - they'll take it back
Dan, why in earth's name would you go through all that trouble to keep a warranty for a Canadian Tire battery that you've had for 40 years. Do you like them that much? AC Delco batteries aren't a thousand dollars last time I checked, closer to around a hundred I think. Sure a lot of horsing around for a hundred dollars and an old battery. I think batteries are a bargain and are better than they ever have been.