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Sterling battery "zapper"


swift1894

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If you don't want your battery to sulphate there's one simple, guaranteed way to achieve that. Charge them to 100% or as close as you can get it on a daily basis.

 

As Nick says, Sterling's supply of Chinese snake oil has now run out.

 

Tony

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If you don't want your battery to sulphate there's one simple, guaranteed way to achieve that. Charge them to 100% or as close as you can get it on a daily basis.

 

As Nick says, Sterling's supply of Chinese snake oil has now run out.

 

Tony

That is what kills my batteries; poor charging regime (no mains.) Hope to see an improvement with solar fitted from April.

I think the Sterling device ran a desulphating charge IIRC, similar to some smart chargers, but this would be no substitute for a proper charging regime.

 

I asked a similar question (can't believe it was so long ago!) I didn't bother with one at the finish.

http://www.canalworld.net/forums/index.php?showtopic=10503

 

Edited by Guest
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I believe they "worked" by building up some charge in the device (from the battery) and then converting it into a high voltage pulse to momentarily "zap" the battery.

 

Why are engineers so negative about these devices?

 

The deliver an accurate pulse of positive energy that resonates with the crystals in the sulphate and thus rejuvenates the spirit of the battery.

 

.............Dave

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Why are engineers so negative about these devices?

 

The deliver an accurate pulse of positive energy that resonates with the crystals in the sulphate and thus rejuvenates the spirit of the battery.

 

.............Dave

.... whilst emitting whale noises.

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What a LOT of desulphators, it must be getting really trendy. Interesting and depressing (but hardly surprising) that the DIY kits of parts (even without a box) cost more than the ready made units.

 

I read a couple of articles about all this a while with people claiming good results with restoring dead batteries. They said that a bad one can take several weeks to restore. I suspect that leaving it on a standard charger would have done the same but probably much quicker.

 

................Dave

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Way back in 2007 Gibbo said that he'd experienced mixed results with them, mostly disappointing.

 

Battery University says...

Applying random pulses or blindly inducing an overcharge can harm the battery by promoting grid corrosion. There are no simple methods to measure sulfation, nor are commercial chargers available that apply a calculated overcharge to dissolve the crystals.

http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/sulfation_and_how_to_prevent_it

 

Tony

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Hi

 

I have two sterling desulphation units fitted, one on the starter battery and one on the domestic bank. Looking at the earlier relevant clicky link the similar units available seem cheap (in money terms) as I paid around £51 each via chandlers.

 

Cant say how good they are just yet, but they are silent and the led when lit means they are active (they only kick in around the 12.8 volt mark).

 

Just recently, one of the units led indicator has failed to illuminate. I emailed Sterling on monday to ascertain if there is anyway to test the unit to see if it is dead or just the led bulb that has failed. No reply as yet, so wondered if any members can suggest how to test these units with a multimeter. The blurb states that they work by pulsing a high pitched radio frequency into the battery to desuphate the plates.

 

Thanks in anticipation.

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Hi

 

I have two sterling desulphation units fitted, one on the starter battery and one on the domestic bank. Looking at the earlier relevant clicky link the similar units available seem cheap (in money terms) as I paid around £51 each via chandlers.

 

Cant say how good they are just yet, but they are silent and the led when lit means they are active (they only kick in around the 12.8 volt mark).

 

Just recently, one of the units led indicator has failed to illuminate. I emailed Sterling on monday to ascertain if there is anyway to test the unit to see if it is dead or just the led bulb that has failed. No reply as yet, so wondered if any members can suggest how to test these units with a multimeter. The blurb states that they work by pulsing a high pitched radio frequency into the battery to desuphate the plates.

 

Thanks in anticipation.

From my experience the only chance you have of an answer is to ring Sterling, even then you may or may not get much help.

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Ah perhaps that explains it.

 

I think I have seen on the forum that Sterling's Customer Service is not the best ?

 

You are quite right. Mr Sterling is quite helpful if he thinks there's actually something wrong with one of his products. If he thinks otherwise, he will tell you in no uncertain terms and can be quite acerbic and very dismissive.

 

His stuff is generally quite good though, IMHO.

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Hi

 

I have two sterling desulphation units fitted, one on the starter battery and one on the domestic bank. Looking at the earlier relevant clicky link the similar units available seem cheap (in money terms) as I paid around £51 each via chandlers.

 

Cant say how good they are just yet, but they are silent and the led when lit means they are active (they only kick in around the 12.8 volt mark).

 

Just recently, one of the units led indicator has failed to illuminate. I emailed Sterling on monday to ascertain if there is anyway to test the unit to see if it is dead or just the led bulb that has failed. No reply as yet, so wondered if any members can suggest how to test these units with a multimeter. The blurb states that they work by pulsing a high pitched radio frequency into the battery to desuphate the plates.

 

Thanks in anticipation.

 

 

Fascinating. Pulsing radio frequencies into wires wrapped a pipe also prevents water scale forming too, apparently. What a coincidence!

 

Doesn't work though. I earn a significant proportion of my income descaling scaled up boilers which have such devices fitted.

 

I'll be most interested to hear how long your batteries remain sulphate free. What's your charging regime like, by the way?

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You are quite right. Mr Sterling is quite helpful if he thinks there's actually something wrong with one of his products. If he thinks otherwise, he will tell you in no uncertain terms and can be quite acerbic and very dismissive.

 

His stuff is generally quite good though, IMHO.

However if you point out the design flaws in his CSE projects that he markets as products he gets a bit tetchy and starts swearing at you down the phone. This after he admitted that the unit concerned was faulty!

 

Cheers

 

Gareth

 

Edited to add

 

It wasn't fitted to my boat I'll hasten to add!

Edited by frangar
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I fitted a Sterling Battery management panel, now called a Power management panel. On the instructions it said 12/24 volt power, for 24 volts remove the link. Now I am not 100% daft where electronics are concerned although I must admit to being half a century out of date. I couldn't find anything that looked like a link so I took the back off in case it was on the main board somewhere. still no luck so I photographed it and emailed Stirling's to ask if they could pinpoint the link.No reply so I printed it out and posted it with a prepaid return envelope, no reply. In the end I rang him up and spoke to him, A very short conversation saying just connect it to 24 volts it automatic. No apology for not replying earlier of the fact his instructions were wrong.

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