How to extend the life of a battery and restore its functionality

It is essential to know about those situations that can hinder battery performance: one of these is sulfation, which can degenerate battery performance until it is no longer usable.

Battery sulfation is caused by many different facts, but the battery remaining for long periods without being used, and therefore subjected to self-discharging, is probably the most common.

In addition, the continually growing number of devices in today’s vehicles that constantly require energy even when the engine is switched off, for example alarm systems, can cause the battery to discharge progressively and create the conditions for sulfation.

The concept of desulfation follows as a consequence of this, i.e. a process that allows to restore the functionality of the battery by increasing its life and eliminating the necessity of replacing it beforehand.

SULFATION

During discharging, the lead plates (electrodes) react with the electrolytic acid solution and create lead sulphate crystals. These crystals deposit on the surface of the plates, which stops the electrochemical process from working correctly, which in turn degenerates battery performance; this situation is called “sulfation”.

When a battery is recharged, the crystals should be re-absorbed by the electrolytic solution, and normal conditions be restored, but excessive accumulation of crystals makes it difficult to dissolve them, thus damaging the correct battery operation

The batteries unused for long periods get discharged.

The crystals are deposited around the plates thereby affecting their operation.

DESULFATION – RECOVERY

The term “desulfation” introduces a forced process that replaces the initial density of the electrolyte solution thanks to the application of special current impulses that disaggregate the crystals (breakage of the molecule bonds between the lead ions and the acid sulphate ions), and restore battery conditions