Every day millions of batteries all over the world are thrown away only because they have stopped working. Batteries of cars, motorcycles, heavy equipment, trucks, golf carts and those used in hospitals, military and industrial farms are discarded unnecessarily. Usually most of the batteries die due to the build up or sulphation on the plates of the battery. It is actually build up of a gas, which hinders the contact of electrolyte with plates. This in turn makes the battery to stop holding the charge and stop producing electricity.

Reconditioning of a battery is to remove the sulphation by letting in some additives and making the battery rest for some time so that the sulphation breaks off on the plate. A question maybe asked that if battery rechargers are available in the market then why recondition? The answer to this is that battery chargers only charge battery for use but cannot avoid sulphation on them. Once you recondition them, they can be charged for a 100 per cent performance.

There are many ways by which a battery is reconditioned. Many people choose to recondition them using home tools and many people have decided to make it a profession by inventing new devices which recondition batteries.

One common way of reconditioning battery is to leave the battery in the refrigerator’s freezer for a night and them put it back for recharging. Normally 2-3 cycles of such exercise makes a battery work for 300+ minutes (3 hours). Perhaps they think they can break the crystals of sulphation by hitting it hard on the floor!?

Some of the professionals in the battery industry have invented rechargers, which have an option of recondition too. For e.g. Cheetah Universal Smart Charger with the MP2000 Cups. They work very well and if you pre-conditioned your batteries in the fridge then they can recondition the battery better.

NickelCadmium (NiCd) cells are very common batteries used in equipments. They are conditioned by putting them through cycling. In cycling process, the battery is charged and uncharged through its entire normal operating range.

Modern car batteries are complex and need care while reconditioning. The batteries contain dangerous acids as electrolyte. Therefore, when manhandling the battery, utter most caution must be taken.

The most important thing is, know your battery well. Test your battery occasionally for optimum usage. It saves the environment as you are recycling the battery and it saves your money, as there is no wastage on new batteries. One can even earn money by going into professional battery reconditioning.