Has anyone used a smart battery charger with a “repair” function to recover discharged AGM batteries? I apparently need to learn about this now.
Two weeks ago I took some friends out for a sail. Upon returning we hooked up the AC cord and I asked them to flip the breaker. Apparently they both did so, leaving the breaker off and the refrigerator running. It was a smelly day when I opened the fridge a week later. I turned the AC on,but today - after a week of charging - my 3 year old Lifeline AGM batteries were only up to 13.3v. And when I unplugged to go for a sail, it dropped to 12.8v and stayed there unless the engine was running. Lifeline rep said they are probably sulfated and can be repaired by some smart chargers and then went on vacation before I could ask which ones.
OK, well no answers, but I’ve got one. I bought a Noco Genius10 and it worked. I unscrewed each battery and did the “repair” on each one separately and now they seem to have and hold a full charge. $1000 worth of batteries either completely repaired (possible, according to the manufacturer) or at least given extended life.
I then brought it home and repaired an old smaller AGM battery I’ve had hanging around in the garage because I never had time to take it to a toxic waste depot. No voltage lost after three days now. That was worth twice the price of the charger right there.
And then I used that battery to boost a Milwaukee 12V 6ah (expensive) battery which was run down too low for the crummy Milwaukee charger to recharge. Once boosted for a few minutes the charger was able to recover that one.
All in all, a very pleasant result and learning experience. It’s rare for things to go this well.
Hi Brian,
I looked up that charger online and was impressed with its versatility. I wonder if it’s possible to revive an 8v golf cart battery also. I’ve got six of them in my golf cart that are failing. It would be nice to find a charger that does 6,8,12 and 24v I have a 48v charger for the cart that goes up to full charge and shuts off. I am also interested to have it to redeem my 12v boat battery’s when they go to hell in the near future.
Brian Cayer
I’ve only used it these few days and have been happy, but the two AGM batteries that it “repaired” were probably just sulphated. There are other failure modes that may not be recoverable.
I googled and could not find an 8v battery with repair mode. I talked to the Lifeline Batteries tech support and they were very helpful. You might try calling tech support for your batteries. If anyone would know how to recover your batteries it should be them.