Battery pulser
 

Is anyone using one of these battery pulsers to prevent/desulphate the lead plates of their car battery? I understand these devices to a great job to keep the battery vital.

Thanks,
V.

i understand that these devices strip the lead sulphate from the plates[which is the cause of diminished capacity in a battery].

These devices are mainly for sulphate prevention. They can only remove minimal sulphate once it has built up. All it does is charge up to some voltage (in my case 13.5) and then let the battery float down .1V and then repeat. I have one on some batteries I have for standby power. I have not had it long enough to know (check back in 5 or 10 years...). However, it is only for batteries kept on long term storage. A starting battery in normal use in a car doesn't need it. And if you had a battery sitting around for a long time it probably wont help it.

Mike

Not a voltage pulse, but -as I understand it- it sends every 30 seconds a 90Amp pulse of 100 micro seconds into a the battery. Reviews are very positive.

http://www.megapulse.net/FAB/howitworks.htm

I looked at that link. It looks interesting. I do not know how it compares to the one I have from VDC electronics (BatteryMinder). I am not sure I explained exactly how mine works, only what I observed on my DVM. I will put my scope on it and see if there is anything else going on. As far as voltage vs. current, to get a current pulse into a battery you will need voltage. Voltage is the pressure and current is the flow. So a voltage pulse will result in a current pulse. It is interesting that they do not sell this in the US apparently. Perhaps it is blocked by an existing patent? Anyway, on the one hand they state that prevention is best, but they also have a document purportedly from University of Vienna that says you can fix bad batteries to some extent. Still it is true that a good battery in normal car service will not need this. I personally would not waste time trying to rehab old batteries unless they were very valuable and only "slightly" bad.

Mike

The labtests & testimonials claim it extends battery life substantially aswell as keep battery power at maximum at all times. For 20 Euro's/Dollars, that's not bad. I'm sure these devices are sold under local brandnames in the US.

V.

Looks very fishy to me ....
 

I checked the site and I found no real explanation of how it works, under "Technical information" it talks about battery operation mostly. I did not find any reference about how it could send a 90 Amp pulse of 100 micro seconds duration into the battery every 30 seconds. That it is not so easy to do (as mpolli suggests), particualrly to an almost full battery, any equipmet that I know that could do that would cost a lot more than 20 $/euros. I am not saying that it does not work, just that the physics of the thingy do not add up.

My $0.02.

Jl

Here is an "interesting" site:

http://www.shaka.com/~kalepa/desulfparts2.htm

I really don't know what voltage you would need to put 90A into a battery for .1 mSec (100 uSec). Maybe 100V? I have no idea. The above link suggest that the voltage goes down as the sulphate is removed.

Making the 100V is not so hard with a charge pump. But it is hard to believe they can actually do this for 20.00 resale. But I have no first hand knowledge of the 90A or the 20.00. I am just going by what you guys are saying. It appears they are "shocking" the plates to set up some vibration and break the crystals off.

They show a picture on this page:

http://www.shaka.com/~kalepa/desulf.htm

I can tell you the thing in the first photo can definitely be made to sell for 20.00 ! The parts are worth about 1.25 total (not including the case). You might be surprised which is the most expensive part on that board...

This page is actually pretty interesting:

http://www.shaka.com/~kalepa/lowpower.htm

There are some tables at the bottom that show maximum pulse currents of 5 Amps into a 12V battery.

Mike

The voltage needed depends on the internal resistance of the battery which increases with charge, that is why when charging a battery the amperage decreases as the battery is charged. There is a huge difference from delivering 5 amps to delivering 90 amps, you would need 18 times the voltage, 5 amps is easy and cheap. The best power supply I got delivers up to 50 amps @ up to 20 volts DC continuous and it is not cheap.
It is possible that the gadget works though, battery chemistry is complex and people are alway coming up with new ways of improving cycle life of not only lead batteries but also NiCads and other types.

Jl

There are more devices like this, but Megapulse is the most familiar. This one is actually the one I'm considering to buy (German only...):
http://www.h-tronicshop.de/shop/detail.asp?wkid=&navi=&page=1&artikel=140