--- In [email protected], Bruce Napier <br...@...> wrote: > > Noticed the plug for the Megapulse battery conditioner in this > month's CB. Being cynical, my first reaction was that this was yet > more snake oil, not helped by this kind of blurb from their website: > > > It is the sulfur molecules in the electrolyte of the battery that > > transfer the energy between the negative and positive plates. When > > a sulfur molecule is totally discharged it will bond with the > > plate. This sulfation build-up produces an insulating barrier > > around the battery plates, preventing the desired process from > > occurring. > > > > Pulsing a carefully controlled DC current back into the plates has > > been found to energise the sulfur molecules again, returning them > > to the electrolyte and back into active service. > > > > > there's lots more like it in the "technical" section. > I think they mean ions, and I'm not sure that the description of the > electrolytic process in a lead acid battery is right anyway. > > Howsumdever, not to leap to judgement, does anyone have any > experience of using this beast, or any informed view of its > effectiveness? At 68 squidlets, it's not cheap, except in comparison > to the cost of a new battery bank, of course... > > Richard E, Tony B? > > > All the best > > Bruce
Are you prompting me? I am rarely consulted about such items which is hardly surprising when you consider I can remember the likes of Duckhams Acoids, air gap ignition improvers, little fans the are fitted between carburettor and inlet manifold to increase engine power, tail pipe exhaust extractors and battery pills. Funny how none of them seem to have stood the test of time. When I am faced with this sort of thing I try to find properly peer reviewed academic papers on it. In the case of pulsed anti-sulphation devices I found two from academic sources but I am not sure they were peer reviewed. One found they work and the other found they made no difference. More to the point an independent battery/charging expert who has shown through years of giving help and advice to any who ask that he knows a thing or two said that he had been commissioned to test the things, by whom he did not say. It might even have been for his own information. He said the results were totally non-conclusive. Some batteries were improved, some were no different and some got even more ruined than they already were. This is where I sit on the fence and say unproven. Unfortunately if someone has spent £70 on a gadget they are unlikely to admit they wasted their money so until a very large body of users report the things work or I see some proper academic research I will not be buying. If you are worried about minimising sulphation you either need a shoreline & multi-stage battery charger or a decent sized solar array and/or a wind turbine. Tony Brooks
