Shaking my battery

[Turkeyfoot]

I'd heard this before but I'd never seen it work. Yesterday at 30 °F my loader tractor (800 series Ford) started and died, started and died and then would barely turned over. Pulled battery and put on charger. Battery showed 12.7 volts after charging at six amps and passed the load test right off the charger. This seemed encouraging but the charger had been still delivering 3.5 amps after several hours before the load test. I put it back on at two amps thinking I'd top it off and then load test it after sitting overnight. After a couple of hours the charger was still delivering 2 amps. So I shook the battery a few times. Tilted it back and forth picked it up shook it, etc. I then hooked the charger back up at two amps and could watch the amp needle move to zero in a matter of minutes. Seems that sediment must have been shorting some cells??

I'm going to go load test it in a few minutes after sitting for 15 hours, what do you think I'll find? It's a five-year-old battery - 575 CCA. Wouldn't mind getting a few more months out of it, but will replace it if the test fails as I'd like it to start on cold days. I'd heard of the shaking cure, but had never seen it in action.

 

[M-MAN]

Then again you could have a broken plate barely making contact. It's common now a day's. Used to be a battery would always get weaker and weaker and you knew it was shot. I haven't seen one do that in a couple decades.

The problem with trying to resurrect batteries is the explosion rate jumps dramatically.

 

[Geo-TH,In]

I'd heard this before but I'd never seen it work. Yesterday at 30 °F my loader tractor (800 series Ford) started and died, started and died and then would barely turned over. Pulled battery and put on charger. Battery showed 12.7 volts after charging at six amps and passed the load test right off the charger. This seemed encouraging but the charger had been still delivering 3.5 amps after several hours before the load test. I put it back on at two amps thinking I'd top it off and then load test it after sitting overnight. After a couple of hours the charger was still delivering 2 amps. So I shook the battery a few times. Tilted it back and forth picked it up shook it, etc. I then hooked the charger back up at two amps and could watch the amp needle move to zero in a matter of minutes. Seems that sediment must have been shorting some cells??

I'm going to go load test it in a few minutes after sitting for 15 hours, what do you think I'll find? It's a five-year-old battery - 575 CCA. Wouldn't mind getting a few more months out of it, but will replace it if the test fails as I'd like it to start on cold days. I'd heard of the shaking cure, but had never seen it in action.

The best battery tester is your starter and a voltmeter to measure cranking amps.
This is my favorite meter to measure cranking voltage, Charging voltage and it will tell you if you have a bad cell.
I've used it for many years and have a lot of confidence in what it tells me when measuring the conductivity.

 

[Turkeyfoot]

I'd heard this before but I'd never seen it work. Yesterday at 30 °F my loader tractor (800 series Ford) started and died, started and died and then would barely turned over. Pulled battery and put on charger. Battery showed 12.7 volts after charging at six amps and passed the load test right off the charger. This seemed encouraging but the charger had been still delivering 3.5 amps after several hours before the load test. I put it back on at two amps thinking I'd top it off and then load test it after sitting overnight. After a couple of hours the charger was still delivering 2 amps. So I shook the battery a few times. Tilted it back and forth picked it up shook it, etc. I then hooked the charger back up at two amps and could watch the amp needle move to zero in a matter of minutes. Seems that sediment must have been shorting some cells??

I'm going to go load test it in a few minutes after sitting for 15 hours, what do you think I'll find? It's a five-year-old battery - 575 CCA. Wouldn't mind getting a few more months out of it, but will replace it if the test fails as I'd like it to start on cold days. I'd heard of the shaking cure, but had never seen it in action.

It passed the load test. I put it in and used it. Started easy five or six times but it got warm here, about 50° F. It had 12.9 volts when I put it away shut it off. 14.3 when it was running. I suspect I'll end up buying a new one this winter but it got me through the day.

 

[BarnyardEngineering]

Then again you could have a broken plate barely making contact. It's common now a day's. Used to be a battery would always get weaker and weaker and you knew it was shot. I haven't seen one do that in a couple decades.

The problem with trying to resurrect batteries is the explosion rate jumps dramatically.

My understanding is that old batteries used solid plates of lead, while modern batteries use perforated plates which are physically weaker but have much more surface area. That's why batteries just suddenly fail now vs. slowly fading away as in the past. The fading was due to the surface of the lead becoming corroded by the chemical reaction that produces electricity.