Charging/Problems with Lead-Acid

Hi Rob,

I would imagine that using the 12V Minelabs charger for long periods wouldn't do any harm but an old trick to keep batteries (in storage) healthy was to put a small wattage globe in series with a charger to only allow a trickle charge. I am not familiar with the Bond battery from Minelabs so can't help you there. I also have had a run with batteries over the past 6 months having 3 that read 6.xV but when under load drop to less than 3V! I have an article somewhere about bringing old batteries back to life including SLA types and will try to dig it up and post the article, but the gist was this: You open the top of the battery (on SLA types you will see a small outline of the cover that is either glued or pressed in) and remove the plugs (generally rubber in my experience) and remove old fluid (if any) add something like battery boost liquid (for car batteries) or proper battery acid to the normal level. You then put the battery on a very slow charge over a week or so (using the globe example I said above). This article said that he had revived old car batteries to a usuable state doing this and he was talking of batteries that had been left for months and years even!

Hope that this helps a little. I must admit I have only revived one SLA battery doing this. When I find the article I will let you know.