Tony's wife gave up a long time ago trying to keep him from getting killed. She decided to just film it so that the cops don't think she had anything to do with it.

10:50 Tony says I'm going to bring this thing up to like a hundred. You can barely hear Kathy say NO. The look on Tony's face. LOL

I've been using this process for many years. I live off grid. My solar power battery bank will get very weak after a few years use. I use much less amperage over many hours time to rejuvenate the cells. Yes, this process is for real and it does work very well. The real test is to use a battery testing hydrometer to check the specific gravity of the electrolyte in each cell. Check the SG before and after charging. That's the correct way to see how much it improved the battery performance. This process is not BS. It works very very well! Note: it's much safer and much easier on the battery if you use far less amperage and let it run for many hours. For a small car battery, 10 amps is enough. Depending on how bad the battery condition is, It may take 24 hours or more. Check the voltage as it's charging. It needs to be maintained at around 16.5 volts. Also check the electrolyte specific gravity of each cell from time to time. The process is complete when each cell has reached a specific gravity of 1.265. This is the proper way to do this. Using very high amperage for a short time is extremely hard on the lead plates. It will get far to hot.

Works great!!! I used a 12v charger with 50amp jump setting and left it on for two days outside caps off and i revived a 15 yr old schwab battery that was sitting out side for 5 yrs dead. Runs my chevy 2500hd like a champ.

My dad was doing this on our farm 30 years ago. He was always trying things. Don't know how he lived to 87 years. I have a 50 year old Associated Battery charger that on high charges at 18 volts. Works very good for this. I don't let anyone else use it, NOT because they will hurt the charger, BUT because like I did once, they will fry electronics. When I was 11 my dad had me driving the truck around the field at harvest. I couldn't see out so good so I sat on top of the extra battery. I knew not to sit on the top so i put it on its side. Later that day I asked why the back of my dads pants were getting large holes.....He had red buns for a few days. Be careful with battery acid. Thanks Tony!

So I tried this and it worked! I was gonna use my dad's old 200amp jump start battery charger, went to use it and it was broken. Did some diag, found out it was the switch, and man they're proud of that switch, $45 for a stupid switch. I bought a 200amp stick welder for $70 on Amazon instead. Tried it on my brother's old battery, which only had ~250cca in it, brought it around to ~500cca after only 3 cycles. I'm so happy, saved a bit of money, had some fun with family, and now I get to stick weld things. Always wanted to have a reason to get a stick welder. THANKS UNCLE TONY 💜

Tony, just for the record, batteries can and do indeed blow up if aggressively overcharged with a welder(ac/dc or dc welder - electrode positive dc setting). Twice I had seen a battery "explode". Once next to me while a fellow crew member try to jump-start a dead battery with jumper cables on an aircraft tow tractor with another tow tractor on an aircraft carrier. He shorted the battery out and it exploded, I got a face full of acid, and the top of the battery was gone. The next time was a decade later while I was working(ironworker) on a jobsite and a coworker tried to use a gas-driven welder to "charge" a dead battery and he overcooked it on the highest dc setting(300 amps), it completely exploded, there was virtually nothing left except the very bottom part of the battery and tiny bit of the internal lead/antimony plates and the battery box was blown apart. Exploding batteries can and will cause severe harm with very serious injuries and even death from shrapnel from the exploding battery.

Absolutely, learned this working on farmer electric fence batteries👍. I used old school shop battery chargers that had several options to help car crank.

You must use distilled water (then proceeds to flush all the dirt into the battery :D ) loved the video, learned something new today!

Had Uncle Cathy turned the camera around it would have shown her wearing a full hazmat suit and goggles because she knows Uncle Tony all too well. 🤣

Great video, been doing this for years it does work. Not on every batt depends on the plates like you said. If the battery isn't shorted/cells aren't damage that process works 8 of 10 times. Great job man!!

I am impressed with that. I would have saved a ton of money on batteries if I'd known this little trick. The stuff you learn on the internet.

You could let that battery sit overnight and retest it. If it passes a load test then it should be good. Most generally a overnight sitting will reveal if it's still good or not. A bad battery won't hold a charge very long at all.

Thanks for taking us along on your experiment with the rejuvenation of the battery . I am going to find out more about doing this . I am anxious to see how that the battery holds up, so give us updates . Thanks for the information and I will see you later on another video . So be careful and stay safe out there .

Dude you're a genius! I have a 9-year-old farm battery (very large car battery) brand new never ever used. I bought it 9 years ago to power a winch that I never ended up using. It won't take a charge. I have a car charger/jump starter, a big one you plug into a wall outlet. I connected it to the battery on boost mode 40Amps and left it for 5 minutes. Now my battery is at 10V and holds voltage when I test it using the same battery tester that you have. I am going to do this several more times. I didn't want to throw out a brand new battery (will try to sell it and the winch), you rule!

I would strongly advise against using a welder for this. A CC CV power supply can accomplish the same goal in a much safer way. Set the current to 100ma and set the voltage to 40v. When it reaches the current limit and drops below 15v, change the current limit to 2.5a and the voltage limit to 14.4v. Let it charge until it is drawing under 100ma (this may take over 24hrs). Then set the voltage to 20v at 0.5a for an hour. After that, it's fully desulfated, and the battery has a much lower likelihood of exploding because of the lower temperature and current. I've had a lot of batteries short out using this method, but none have exploded.

You’re much braver than me Uncle Tony, I wouldn’t stand that close, I’ve seen a few blow up.

Good idea. Never crossed my mind to use a welder. We always just used one of those heavy duty battery chargers. The ones with the 200amp boost. We would fill with water, plug in the 200 amp cables. Let it boil for 10-15 min. Then let it cool for an hour +. Then repeat. We usually did that 4 or 5 times for the great big ones. Usually only 2 or 3 that mes for the smaller car batteries. We kinda judge them by how fast they begin to violently boil. Brings them back from the dead. Good vid UT. *Edit. The charger must be the old school style analog. Not the electronically controlled ones, they will shut down before they do their job.

I learned a similar method a few years ago. Revived the battery in my truck. Been perfect for the last 2 winters, still good.

Thank God 4 ppl sharing their knowledge through these videos. 👍 I'm 48, I've never heard of doing this.

As a mechanic and a welder I can only think where this could go wrong in reality. That is where the broken plate would arc across it's gap and ignite the hydrogen gas internally like I have had happen to me. The plates stick together just enough to get things to start to charge, but when you hit the key and full amps are drawn from the cell the plate warps and separates causing an internal arc that ignites the gas quite explosively. This is much different than charging the battery and pulling the clip off creating an external spark. Both go boom but the external spark an we'll be avoided. Whenever messing with lead acid batteries a face shield should be your first line of defense. If for any reason you feel uncomfortable doing this sort of work trade your old battery in on a new one.

HAPPY NEW YEARS Uncle Tony & Uncle Cathy, That’s Amazing learn something New every time I watch you guys 👍👍

I was expecting an explosion the entire time lol I haven’t been on the edge of my seat from watching a video in a long time thx

Seeing how comfortable you are with this and how knowledgeable you are made me sub to you 😅

I run the battery room at my work, we mostly use AGM but the same process works with lead acid. If the battery is low clean it and top off(duh) hook to low amp charger. If it doesn't take. Run high amp for 15 minutes, then hook up to low amp. When you shock it back to life you're only charging the top of the battery and need low amp and time to bring to full health. Hope this helps someone.

I'm one of the unfortunate ones that had a battery blow up in my face. The pieces of battery cut my face and forehead, my coveralls deteriorated when I washed them. I was more upset over loosing my coveralls, hide grows back! I'm still thankful to the lord I didn't loose an eye!

Nice explanation and demo!

Thanks for the video. I always wondered if there was a way to clean those plates.

Oh the sweet memories of having a battery blow up in my face. This is good to know. Hopefully you get some longevity out of that old Battery. Happy New Year to UTG

Can we have a round of applause for the duty cycle on that welder.

Thanks for showing this experiment. I'm going to try ir this weekend

I've had a couple blow up in my face as well because in those moments of genius I turned on the charger before attaching the cables. The gas is hydrogen, btw, and it loves a spark. A professional desulfation is pretty much what you've done here, the only difference is the rate of pulsation of the current introduced into the battery.

Forklift battery chargers litterally do this as a desulfation setting and prompt you to refill the water level directly afterward because they actually boil a lot of the water off during the process it definitely works

It would have been a great time for one of the Junkyard Jet boy to come in with a paper bag to pop.

Really helpful, thanks Man. Tried it out and it totally revived my dying battery. Saved me a whole bunch of money

Thanks uncle Tony.... you always got the best advice bless you

Ahh, perfect video for Newyear's night for something to experiment with your buddies in your garage after a few beers!

And never charge a frozen battery.. acid runs back into the plate once discharged! Smelly batteries equals nasty booms . 1/4” of water over the plate . It will rise once fully charged.. 12.75 and above each cell . If blackened or dropped against the crew … its a dead core. 12 years of making sure Chicagoans had batteries to start the rides 82% of the volume of them was our warehouse.

That good for blowing the buildup that ends up bringing the plates over, it kinda just blows the shorted part out, et’s you have all the cells back operational again. It’s always worked for me and a pretty good success rate. But you’re still get a battery that has no hope for it here in there. Great info and hands on video.. thanks

You took the words right out of my mouth Im impressed!! Good job on the video!! Your Awesome !!! Im Mike Rowe Rowe's Restorations peoria AZ Keep up the good work!!!

Happy New Year! Very informative! I'd heard of this but never witnessed it. Thanks! It might make sense to disconnect the ground side cable at the welder (not the battery end) to minimize the risk of an arc.

Arc welders come in both AC and D.C. make sure you are using a welder with D.C. output or if yours is capable of both set it on D.C. looks like tony is using a harbor damage 225 amp D.C. unit. Also many units are capable of reversing the polarity so there's that too.

You the original mad scientist, living on the edge Tony.... I love it, Greetings from Gold Coast, Australia

Interesting. This reminds me of something my grandfather told me many years ago, he was an engineeer for Union Pacific, he retired in the late 60's, early 70's so this was before rechargeable batteries. He said when their flashlights would get dim or die, they would take their flashlight batteries and connect them to the big batteries on the locomotives for a few seconds and it would revive their flashlight batteries.

This is the stuff youtube was made for!! Love the content, keep it up.

WOW! I got one of those on the side of my house too! Awesome video! Thanks

I use to struggle with my motorcycle and e bike batteries all my life and I'm half way done doing this to my ebike battery and it was only at 1 volt before desulfateion and now she's 10 plus volts and I'm not Done yet 😎 love this trick!

I saw your follow up video, which brought me here. I have seen a few ways like this and one the one they suggest once you've done this rejuvenation, to let the battery rest about an hour between each cycle. Also afterwards to put the battery on trickle charge. I'm keen to try this on a battery I bought brand new but left standing due us loosing the engine on the car. Although I did use a trickle charge on the battery I didn't stay disciplined and the last couple of months I've noticed that it can't keep up with the other battery that I bought with it, since the engine required 2 batteries to start, (an old GM 350DX) The other battery stays above 12.6 volts but this one drops right down to 10v.

Thanks, Uncle Tony! Having witnessed a dramatic battery explosion at the range of 20 feet (on like my tenth day at my first job in a real shop!), you couldn't pay me enough to try this! PS: the guy working on the car had just hooked it to the big honking charger we had in the shop( think 1975...) and turned away to his workbench. Scared him near to death. He wasn't right for a week.

Desulfinating is actually reversing the polarity for a nano second using capacitive discharge. With the right charged capacitor you can even revive those small (non-lithium) batteries making them like new.

Back in 1967 my school auto shop teacher showed the class this procedure, I have a charger with a high boost setting and did this on the farm for many years. Some batteries did bang and split top or sides. Remove battery from vehicle, tractor, stationary power unit beforehand.

I worked on a DC power plant that had over 600 large batteries and put out over 7,000 amps. We always had eye wash kits and splash proof goggles on site for safety. Because the lead acid batteries were not exposed to the heat from under a hood or freezing winter temperature's some were rated for 60 years. When I retired some of the batteries were well over 25 years old and still going strong.

I used to do this at a used car lot , I talked the owner into buying me a old style big battery charger and would boil old batteries . It saved him a ton of money on batteries

If you only put in enough water to cover the cells and watch it, you can top it off after it settles down that way you don't lose acid due to boil over. On another note you mentioned the possibility of a cracked connection between cells I was full fielding an older blazer with the external regulator the battery blew up the acid hit the hood and rained down on the back of my head. I was glad it wasn't a Ford with the regulator behind the battery.

Wondering if you could do an HHO video. I'm hearing the units with tuners work pretty well. But so many different opinions I can't tell what's up. They seem to work on diesels better than gas. I have a 6.7 cummins. Would be great if this helps significantly.

This works very well. I did it last weekend on a battery from my Suburban. It failed to start and had to be jumped several times recently. The battery would not hold a charge anymore after being on a standard charger for several hours. Now it's just like new - full cranking power even after leaving headlights on for 5 minutes, or sitting overnight. Thanks Uncle Tony !

Staring at the battery waiting for it to explode in your face, good job.

Very cool. I'll be interested to see how it works long term.

no reason what so ever to dispute the process, but would have loved to see that battery on the load tester before as well as after to judge the improvement from one cycle. Great video to !!

Thanks Tony, going to try this trick myself, have a dozen or so batteries that are past prime. Going to give them another crack at life. Auto mechanic myself and haven't heard of this trick before

It works. I've done it. It's an electrical 'brute force' technique. I've done the same reviving many kinds of small batteries; using a pulse width modulator - which pulses the charge and keeps the battery from overheating; perfect for sealed batteries. The reason the welder works better than high amp battery charger, comes down to charge voltage. The welder is running at 16-19 VDC. The success of any brute force technique is the overvoltage. I used to do chemical desulfating on coffin batteries; for buses, motorhomes, heavy equip. It was a long and messy job. I much prefer the electrical method. For ultimate/OCD results, one could pour the acid through a fine stainless filter, to remove particulates; that have sluffed off of the plates. This may/may not improve longevity. Based on what i have learned, the next auto battery I do I'm going to apply some pulse applications. Going to try 1 min on, 2 min off, 10 cycles and see if that produces desired results.

Fluxie couldn't have pulled that much current for that long, one of the few videos without a cigarette hanging from his mouth

Hi Tom, you are truly a brave man. Thank God nothing happened and now you have a good battery. Wonder,how long it lasted.🤔🤗🤗

A critical piece of information missing from this "instruction" is that your welder needs to be configured for DCEP, with the electrode going to the plus terminal and your work lead going to the minus.

Thanks I always wanted to do this experiment I’ve heard about putting high amperage into a battery to rejuvenate it but I’ve never experienced it thanks I was great

Honestly love how genuine and informational every UTG video is, feels like we're all just mates in the shop stressing the important safety stuff but also accepting our own accountability similar to AvE, This Old Tony, and good old peg from zip ties and bia plies.

I might give this a try with a few old batteries I have laying around. Be an interesting experiment. One of the batteries is probably 20 years old. I'd be interested in seeing exactly how bad of a battery this could revive. Side note. I have an optima red top from 2017 that was sitting in a shed for two years. I hooked it up to my mustang and it cranked stronger than either of the 2022 batteries I had been using. The thing just won't die.

You probably should have had a timer and a thermometer as well ideally one of the infrared point-and-shoot ones you can use from a distance or you could just touch the battery on occasion to make sure it's not getting too hot which is what I do but I recognize the other way is preferred and much safer

I love your style man... You can always tell people who are genuine and you are it... Thanks so much!

I've had great results desulfating batteries, i used to take good cores when I worked at advance and refurbish them, gotten friends out of jams many times with my hoarder stash of fully charged batteries of all sizes. I just use the repair function on a NOCO genius charger, works same or slightly better than the standalone pwm desulfator I was using previously. to get full results with my method can take 1-2 weeks, I just swap the leads to the next battery every couple days so they all get it evenly

Just did mine today with a battery that died in 2018 ,has been sitting all since and truely works

I think my biggest concern would be to keep the top of the battery dry as NOT TO SHORT CIRCUIT between the terminals. This should also be a part of routine maintenance to make sure there are no wet tracks between those terminals which will cause overnight voltage leakage/drain.

This is simply using the high current DC to reverse the chemical reactions in the battery that has led to the sulfation buildup. Sweet Project Cars showed this on his channel a while back, and I have used this to revitalize my old batteries for a few years. Do this in 5 to 10 min increments. Do not use it above 80 amps, as that will cause trapped gases to blow out of the top. Always have baking powder nearby to rescue/neutralize any spill or splashed sulfuric acid. Several treatments should be enough to give the battery a new lease on life. Make sure it has enough time cool before each treatment. Nice video.

Would like to have seen a load test before the welder hack just to show how bad the battery was. I have seen dead batteries come back when the normal draw of the vehicle has been off for some time.

Thank you very much, from Trinidad

Tried this today, one battery fixed... 3 more to go😂 I now want to buy up "dead" batteries to add to my solar set up. Thanks man.

There are three basic types of lead-acid batteries used in automobiles and boats. The old style is referred to as flooded batteries like Tony was using. These can be maintenance style with removable caps to replenish the water. Variants of these either have water recapture like the Surette Roll$ batteries or may be totally sealed. A second variant is that the battery’s plate architecture is designed either for high cold cranking amperage for starting only or for deep discharge such as the batteries used on house circuits on boats or in golf carts. Automotive starting batteries do not like to be discharged too much. The next type of batteries is the gel cell. In these the electrolyte is not a liquid but as the name implies is a gel. The advantage of these is that they can be operated in any orientation, even upside down. My old Miata had one and they are popular on motorcycles. They do not like to be over discharged. If so, they will likely die. Whew, long post. Finally we get the the AGM battery. AGM stands for Absorbed Glass Mat a cross between flooded and gel cells. Supposedly these batteries can be used like car starter batteries for their high CCA, Cold Cranking Amperage, or as a deep discharge battery. The difference in the three types is their physical construction. The chemistry is the same. Each of these types has a different charging regime. Most modern battery chargers have three phases. Bulk feeds the highest amperage up to about 80% of the battery’s capacity. After that the charger drops to a lower amperage in the absorption phase which takes the battery up to 95% capacity. Finally the battery is on the Maintenance Charge also called the float. The three types of batteries discussed here have different characteristics in the three phases. The AGM can take the highest charge rate of the three, but a charger designed for flooded batteries can also be used on AGM. Gel Cell batteries use a different regimen and never the twain shall meet.

I seen one guy revive batteries like you did and he would pour out the old battery solution after getting the scale burned off and put in new solution. He said it would last longer and keep the old scale from getting back on the cells.

I find it funny I am not a Mopar guy, not even a rear wheel drive car guy.. but I find myself listening to everything Tony says. ❤

For science reasons! Thats the best answer ever, am gonna use it at the shop!

Thank you for this video. I watched your video and a couple of others as well. The battery in my Slant 6 D100 died a little more each time I charged it. Finally going from 100% to 10% in about 2 1/2 starts. At that point I took the battery to my welder and applied 150 Amps 4 times for 15 minutes each over several hours letting it cool down between each charge. I put it in the truck and after 6 starts trying to figure out why it won't run properly the battery never showed any signs of losing power. I think you saved me at least $80 with this video. Thank you.

Many old batteries around here and we all love an experiment ! Glad I found this channel - subbed and liked

I seriously envy that shop you're in!

Thank You, Sir!

If you mix baking soda in the water you have standing by in case of accidental skin contact, it will neutralize the pH. Much better than diluting to relieve the burn.

Your a lifesaver, I have hooked a battery up to 110 volt outlet and tripped the breaker four times and the battery worked perfectly fine after that, your method seems better

I've experimented with batteries before and I suggest that you have a container of baking soda which neutralizes the acid definitely suggests that. And any of the waste after that you have that you might throw away take baking soda and dump it in it and it will neutralize the acid and then you can just blow them properly and not cause any damage to anyting couldn't be eaten by the acid. Just a suggestion otherwise pretty cool stuff God bless have a great day.😎😃😀😁

Hydrogen gas is extremely volatile when if it burns it makes one heck of a flame. Since it is a gas it can if in a great amount of volume displace the oxygen in the lungs and smother you. Tonies warning and suggestion on shutting the charger off before disconnecting the charger is the way to go. Any way you look at it. Tony is right, do this outside and make sure you watch this several times so you will not miss one of his steps or safety tips. He does a good job with safety related videos. Thanks Tony

Back in the 40s,50s,60s,and 70s old men had those 150-200 amp battery chargers in their garages and they'd cook their auto batteries like this every few years or so whenever they started getting weak... They rejuvenated their batteries for many years instead of replacing them every couple or 4 years such as is the norm today...

That's true batteries definitely can explode. I've had it happen to me, I had an old Oldsmobile that had a flat camshaft. and because of that the engine wouldn't crank over. so I turned my father's Marquette battery charger all the up on high. and went to turn the ignition switch, I turned it to cranking position and blew the top of battery. going inside the car to crank it over saved me from getting hurt there's another method for rejuvenating batteries that calls for the use of epsom salts and only requires regular battery charger it's supposed to work but I haven't tried yet.

That's a fine way, I've been talking very old dead battery's starting at age17 &now 65. To remove the algae build up on the outside of the cells I take a teaspoon of epsom salt to each cell & then top off the battery with water between the top of the cells & the beginning of each cell filler hole. Charge the battery in the same way you did building up the voltage over time the smell can sometimes get very strong as the cells are boiled clean. I've taken 2 truck battery's & a set of Arc welding leads to weld on the PTO for the Semi's dump bucket with just the 2 battery's the tractor frame is 18 inch c-channel. I did 4 truck's but only 1 was with the battery's.Get back with me after you try it out, you will be amazed what you can do.

Great video on reviving a dead car battery. BTW the analogue load tester gets pretty hot with two consecutive load tests. Give the load tester a five minute break between each load test. I have a 100 amp jump starter on my battery charger and it does the exact same thing as the stick welder.

Would have liked to have seen a before/after reading with the load gauge. Plus, try load testing a couple hours after reconditioning to let everything settle.

Ive been wrenching on the family farm for decades. Ive heard of this being done. I never knew how to proceed to try it. Its impressive that it works

Hey it was a Duralast...lol.. you can theoretically melt the lead plates inside. There's so much more you can do and not do to rejuvenate a battery... What he did was pretty cool and it appeared to work..thanks for the video!

Great video, this follows the VIR law, Voltage, Current, Resistance. So the plates are insulated because of sulfation buildup on the plates, which intern gives the circuit higher resistance, so the battery will now not take current at normal voltage because resistance is to high. So if we raise voltage it will allow current to flow overcoming the resistance. DC arc welders output 20-40v DC under load from what I've read, put a multimeter on terminals when it's charging and see what voltage it's reading. You could then determine using a clamp meter how much current the battery will take if you wind the welder up for a second and via VIR law workout the resistance of the battery. Also another interesting thing to back this up is an alternator in a car is capable of producing 100amps on most cars, but there is a regulator to limit the voltage to around 14volts, otherwise the battery would be doing the same thing in your car driving down the road. Lastly when I do this I attach a thermal probe to the side of the battery and monitor the temperature.

Awesome! I would like to see you empty the old acid and crud out and refill with new acid and water for a long term test!

Did you mention the welder needs to be DC? Most people would know that but you can bet some damned fool is hooking up an old Lincoln AC welder to a battery right now. I'm guessing the results won't be good.

I would have liked to know how the battery was testing prior to starting this procedure. I have an deep cycle marine battery that's been sitting in the garage for years without a charger on it. It's currently reading 3.48V and will not come up with a basic 6 amp charger. Wondering if this method is worth trying or if my battery is shot beyond repair.

So did it last and worked on a car for a while, as you mentioned you were going to test it on a vehicle? Just wondering if it was a short term fix, or a long lasting fix(1, 2 or 3+yrs..)thx for the video, very interesting. 👍