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I'm trying to restore a deep cycle 12v battery (for curiosity and sentimental reasons)

I've flushed it out with distilled water, rapping it with a dead-blow hammer to loosen anything that wants to fall out. should I just refill with H2So4 or do the Epsom salt bit that I've read mixed opinions on, and then put acid in? thanks
 
Restoring it may prove fruitless - the 'debris' is the chemical compound pressed between the lead lattice of the plates and an integral part of the 'capacity' of the battery. Any loss of this material will result in the battery being unable to retain a charge - a reduced charge at best (i.e. short discharge capacity) or even NO capacity at all.

If you want to restore it for some physical property reasons - maybe it fits a specific sized holder, or could be as part of a restoration project - then consider 'stuffing' it. This involves opening the case, removing the original contents and putting a modern equivalent inside it thus restoring full operation and increased capacity.
 
Yeah, the build-up between the lead plates is often deep down on the bottom, and 'shorts' the lead plates together.
May not be salvageable, but when I try it, I just get the sulfuric acid from the car parts store and give it a shot.
 
My advice would be to bin it, and buy a new battery. Even if you do manage to "save" it, you will probably have to replace it before long.

Kellys "stuffing" solution would be a good option if needed.
 
Okay over the years I've seen a lot of gmics and most of them are just a bunch of hyp. I will tell you this. Every thing depends on the condition of the plates. If this battery is just really old then the chance of restoring is probably not very good to begin with. But if there was any chance of salvation the dead blow hammer removed any chance of that. I will let you in on a little secret though. In the case of a newer battery that has just been left sitting dead and has sulfateted this trick works almost every time. And it works on all lead acid batteries flooded cell, jell, AGM. They sell battery chargers that are designed to remove salfation. And it sometimes works if it's not to sever. But I have seen this work on batteries that would not even draw current from the charger because the sulfation was so severe. I learned this when I was just a kid from my pop. How he discovered this was an accident by a coworker. The battery has to be completely depleted of all potential. Then you hook the charger up backwards. Some batteries just change right up backwards. Others take a while. Best to use a current limited charger or a adjustable voltage, current. Labrotory power supply. Just make sure you mark it as being reversed. Otherwise you will end up destroying something with it. PS works well if there's a battery thef in the nabor hood. One time steeling one of those reversed batteries he will destroy everything he tries to put it in before he figures out what is going on.
 
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