Batteries have become part of our daily lives, and nowhere is that more obvious than in our vehicles. Let’s face it; if your car battery goes out, your vehicle does too, but while these batteries tend to be on the expensive side, you do have other alternatives.
One of those alternatives is to recondition your car battery, and it’s a lot easier than you think. In fact, anyone can recondition a car battery at home with only a few materials and a little bit of patience.
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What is Reconditioning Car Batteries?
Over time, sulfate builds up on the positive plates of your car battery, thanks to being charged over and over again. Eventually, this buildup of sulfate reduces the efficiency of the battery and causes it to take longer to recharge the next time. Reconditioning a car battery removes the sulfate from the plates so it can run more efficiently. It doesn’t restore the strength of the battery to 100%, but it does come close.
What Are the Benefits of a Car Battery Reconditioning?
As you can imagine, there are numerous advantages of reconditioning a car battery as compared to throwing the battery away, and they include the following:
- You save a lot of money. The average car battery costs $70 to $200, but for roughly a quarter of that price, you can recondition your battery instead.
- You can extend the life of your battery. Car batteries last around five years on average, but by reconditioning your battery, you can extend its life by one to two years, allowing you to wait a little longer before getting a new one.
- It’s a great business idea. Not everyone knows how to recondition a car battery, so you can make some good extra money by offering this service to others.
- It reduces the number of batteries, and by extension the harmful chemicals, being put into landfills every year.
Some of these perks will be more important to some people than to others, but they are all great benefits to reconditioning your car battery.
How to Tell If Your Car Battery Needs to Be Reconditioned?
If you feel as if your car battery is on its last leg, so to speak, you can recondition it. You can also test the voltage, and if the number is between 10V and 12.6V, it could use a good reconditioning.
Testing the voltage, in fact, is the easiest way to tell if you should recondition the battery, but there are other ways as well. If the battery is dirty and filled with gunk, it’s a good idea to recondition it before it gets worse and dies on you.
How to Recondition a Car Battery at Home
The first thing that you should do is take a good look at your car battery. If there are bulges, cracks, or broken terminals, the battery should not be reconditioned and you should just buy another one.
Related Read: Will Vaseline Work On Battery Terminals?
- Apron
- Chemical resistant gloves
- Goggles or a face shield
- Distilled water
- Baking soda
- Toothbrush or paintbrush
- Steel wool
- Voltmeter
- Flathead screwdriver
- Plastic bucket
- Funnel
- Epsom salt
- Load tester (Optional)
Here is a step-by-step description of how to recondition a car battery at home:
1. Clean the battery.
Wearing protective clothing, gloves, and goggles, mix a 2:1 mixture of baking soda and water, then either pour the solution over the terminals or use a toothbrush to apply it. You’ll see a chemical reaction, but this is normal. Next, use either steel wool, a toothbrush, or a battery terminal cleaner to clean both positive and negative terminals. Clean completely, then wipe and dry off the terminals.
2. Check the battery reading.
Use a voltmeter to test the voltage of the battery. Make sure that the red cable goes to the positive terminal and the black goes to the negative one. If the reading says above 12.6V, your battery doesn’t need to be reconditioned. If the reading is between 10 and 12.6, it does need to be reconditioned. If it’s under 10 volts, this means that it has a dead cell and likely needs to be replaced.
3. Empty the battery.
This step REQUIRES protective clothing! Slowly remove the top caps off of the battery with a screwdriver. With the caps off to the side, pour the electrolyte solution from the battery cavity into a large bucket. Make sure that you are very careful and pour away from yourself. When you’re done, pour half a pound of baking soda into the electrolyte solution in order to neutralize the acid so that you can dispose of it.
4. Clean the battery cells.
Make a baking soda and water solution in a 2:1 or 1:1 ratio. Using a funnel, pour the mixture into each of the battery cells. Make sure that each cell is full, then replace the plastic caps of the battery until they are secure. Shake the battery carefully for two to three minutes. Then, remove the caps again and empty your baking soda solution into your waste bucket.
5. Replace the electrolytes.
You’ll start by warming four cups of distilled water, then pour it into a clean bucket. Next, pour about four ounces of Epsom salts into the water and stir until the water is clear (in one liter of distilled water, dissolve 120 grams of Epsom salt). Then use your funnel to refill the battery cells with this solution and replace the caps. Shake the battery just a little and you’re done.
6. Charge the battery.
This step should be done using low power. Remove the caps and place the battery charger far from the battery, then connect the red and black wires once again, to the positive and negative terminals respectively. Set the charger to 12 V / 2 amps and let the battery charge for 36 hours. After, use your voltmeter and make sure it reads between 12.43 V and 12.6 V before you test it.
You can test in one of two ways: with a load tester, or by using your car. For the latter, connect the battery to the vehicle and turn the key to the “on” position (without starting the car). Next, put your headlights on, you can also run the radio as well. Leave the car this way for a few minutes without turning the car all the way on, and test the battery with the voltmeter. If it reads 9.6 V, the battery is ready to go.
If you have an electric or hybrid car, the steps are a little different and a little more complicated. But keep in mind that the average hybrid battery lasts about 200,000 miles and therefore lasts a very long time. It’s still a good idea to learn to recondition this type of battery, however, considering that the average hybrid battery costs about $3,000.
You can recondition a battery for around $700, which is a huge difference. Nevertheless, if you’re going to shop for electric vehicles, you might research companies that lease the batteries to their customers instead of selling them, in which case they will take care of these things for you.
Safety Precautions That You Need to Consider
You have to keep in mind that you will be working with battery acid, so you have to take precautions to keep yourself safe. This includes wearing protective clothing or at least a heavy-duty apron, a face shield or pair of goggles, and chemical-resistant gloves. Even if you’re extra careful as you work, there is always a chance of getting a bit of acid on yourself, which is why the protective gear is so important.
Also, you should always follow the instructions to the letter to reduce the chances of any type of accident. And finally, go ahead and mix up a solution of 2:1 baking soda and water to use in case you accidentally spill something on your face or hands.
Related Post: Refurbished Car Batteries Near Me
FAQs
Q: When should I recondition a car battery?
A: The good news is that you don’t have to wait until your car battery is completely dead. Even if the battery is only one or two years old, you can extend its life if you go ahead and recondition it.
Q: How often should you recondition a car battery?
A: This is a tough question to answer because it varies depending on the battery and how often you use the car. People who drive every day will find themselves reconditioning the battery more often than someone who only drives occasionally.
Q: What causes a car battery to suddenly go dead?
A: Car batteries usually die if you’ve left the lights on for a long period of time, if there’s too much corrosion in the battery, if you have a failure in the charging system, or even if the car has been parked and left alone for too long.
Also Read: What Charges the Car Battery?
Q: How long do reconditioned batteries last?
A: A lot of it depends on the condition and brand of the battery. While some people find that their reconditioned battery lasts for several weeks or months, most people get a good one to two years out of it. But if you don’t, do not worry because it could’ve been that the battery was in worse shape than you thought in the beginning.
Q: How long does it take to recondition a car battery?
A: The process itself doesn’t take that long, but the charging period means it will take a minimum of 24 to 36 hours, sometimes longer. The charging of the battery is what draws out the process.
Q: What happens if a battery is overcharged?
A: It is not recommended that you overcharge your battery, simply because it can suddenly die on you while you’re driving. It is too much of an overload on the battery itself. And since you never know when or where the battery will die, not overcharging it in the first place is your best option.
Q: At what voltage is a car battery dead?
A: If your car battery is 10.5V or lower, it usually means you have a dead cell. If it’s fully charged and you can’t get the meter number to go above 12.4V, it means the battery is starting to sulfate. A battery at 12.4V is operating at 75%; at 12.7 to 13.2V, it is operating at 100%.
Q: How do you recondition a battery that won't hold a charge?
A: If the voltmeter registers at below 10.5V, you might be able to jump-start it, but the chances are even better that you simply need a new battery.
Q: Can a completely dead battery be recharged?
A: If your car’s ignition doesn’t even turn over, it can mean your car battery is dead. You can jump-start the battery to get it going again, but at some point, nothing will work and you’ll either have to recondition it or buy a brand-new battery.
The Takeaway
While a lot of people are unaware of the method of reconditioning a car battery, it is a great way to save money and extend the life of your battery. Interestingly, other types of batteries can also be reconditioned — including batteries for cell phones, laptops, golf carts, and many others — although the process itself changes somewhat depending on the type of battery being reconditioned. While the directions to reconditioning a battery may seem complex, it becomes a lot easier once you do it just one time.
But perhaps the biggest advantage of reconditioning a car battery is that the battery won’t have to go into a landfill. Reconditioning goes right along with reusing and recycling because it is just that good for the environment. If you care about leaving behind a smaller carbon footprint and being kinder to Mother Earth, reconditioning your car battery is a great option. It also costs a lot less than you might think, so it is a smart thing to do both financially and practically.
James is an engineer and a professional blogger. He has gained extensive experience over the years, handling all types of power projects. He loves to share his experiences with all things related to batteries, generators, and other power-related topics.
