Any way to revive a SLA battery?

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Kevlarr

Kevlarr

New Member
Jul 22, 2009
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I'm posting this here because it don't really think it fits in with the e-bikes.

I'm using a little 6v 1.3Ah SLA battery to run my LED lights and with everything I draw about a quarter of an amp. I have it connected to my white wire through a diode but it's never really been enough to charge the battery so whenever I use my lights I usually hook it up to a trickle charger overnight. I've been running this setup since last year and it's worked great up to today. Ran it down coming home in the dark last night so I hooked it up to my trickle charger. Went to unhook it today and no lights. Got out the DVM and it shows 7.2v static but it drops down to 4.5v under load.

Did I kill it or can it be saved?
 
2door

2door

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Sep 15, 2008
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Littleton, Colorado
Kev,
It's been my experience that once an SLA battery dies...its dead. We use them all over our plant for emergency egress lighting, fire alarm panels, back -up power for all kinds of systems and when they go, they're gone. As you found out they will show a full charge, called a 'top charge', but when loaded they'll drop way below rated voltage. Replace it. A 1.3 ah is cheap. If you have the room to mount, go up to a 3 or 5 ah for longer life.
Tom
 
GearNut

GearNut

Active Member
Aug 19, 2009
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San Diego, Kaliforgnia
I know of nothing that works on 6 volt batteries. :(
Certain Optimate brand battery chargers have a rejuvenator/ desulfator mode that has revived 12 volt batteries for me in the past. If the battery is too far gone though they will not help.
Consider it a temporary fix until you can get a new battery. The longest I have had a rejuvinated battery last was 4 months.
 
Kevlarr

Kevlarr

New Member
Jul 22, 2009
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We have the same for our emergency lighting at work (I'd use one but they're big 7Ah batts) but they usually don't go bad for years and when they fail they usually crack.
 
scotto-

scotto-

Custom 4-Stroke Bike Builder
Jun 3, 2010
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Ridin' inSane Diego, CA.
I've had a bit of luck with some SLA's....just carefully popped the sealed caps off, topped them off with some electrolyte, sealed them back up and gave em a charge. As long as the cells are not too erroded inside, the battery can be revived. Not so with gel cells however.zpt


a battery is only as strong as it's weakest cell.....
 
scotto-

scotto-

Custom 4-Stroke Bike Builder
Jun 3, 2010
6,505
24
38
Ridin' inSane Diego, CA.
Kevlarr said:
I'm posting this here because it don't really think it fits in with the e-bikes.

I'm using a little 6v 1.3Ah SLA battery to run my LED lights and with everything I draw about a quarter of an amp. I have it connected to my white wire through a diode but it's never really been enough to charge the battery so whenever I use my lights I usually hook it up to a trickle charger overnight. I've been running this setup since last year and it's worked great up to today. Ran it down coming home in the dark last night so I hooked it up to my trickle charger. Went to unhook it today and no lights. Got out the DVM and it shows 7.2v static but it drops down to 4.5v under load.

Did I kill it or can it be saved?
Click to expand...
You might try running the white wire through a rectifier and not just a diode, you may get it to charge that way. That's what I do with AC generators that run off the tire.....works great!
 
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