Automotive Battery Revitalization

Automotive Battery Revitalization

As promised, DIY videos with some off-color humor.

Tyler Sims, Owner of Flint Hills Roofing Company shows us how to restore an old, dead truck battery from 1996 with some distilled water, a welder, and battery acid that he purchased at O’Reilly’s.

Steps To Restore Your Battery

As Tyler shows us, the first thing you need to do is to safely remove the old battery acid/electrolyte.

Remember, any cloth, carpet, paint, etc that the acid on it will be destroyed. Make sure you have proper safety equipment for neutralization or flushing the eyes.

Now, Fill the battery cells with distilled water.

Next, attach the welder terminals to the corresponding positive and negative battery posts.

Tyler started with a setting of 50 and increased to 85. Be sure to know what units you are working with. Do more research before attempting to replicate these procedures.

After running voltage to the battery for long enough, dump out the distilled water and fill the empty cells with new battery acid that can be purchased at any auto parts store.

Finally, do an over-night trickle charge.

This battery improved to over 13-volts in a matter of minutes and over 14-volts within the hour. The next day, performance was good as new.

The total cost of the battery acid used was about $7.00.

The result: Instead of spending $120 at the auto parts store, Tyler was able to achieve the same result with less than ten-dollars.

Sure, there are instances when new batteries are needed, but most dead batteries sitting in cars and shops can be restored to a new or near new level of performance. This ultimately saves you money and reduces stress on the supply chain and environment.