Megapulse battery life extender

[sailcrazy]

FWIW....we installed a "Power-Pulse Battery Maintainer(desulfitator) on each of our 3 wet-cell house batteries(Trogen T105 x 2) when the batteries were new in 2002. They draw a very small amount of power out of the battery, and claim to desulfitate the plates and allow the battery to last longer. I think we paid $49 ea for the units. Those batteries lasted until 2012, without incident. When we replaced the batteries,we also bought 3 new Power Pulse units and installed them. Those batteries are still going strong and without issue. I have no absolute proof those 3 little "Power-Pulse" units are working wonders, but they certainly are not doing any harm. We cruised Asia, then to the Medd and now we're in the Caribbean......without a single battery issue, except to keep adding water. As I remember,I think I bought them at a battery store, and paid $69 each for them in 2012. If they give me another couple added years of reliable service out of each battery I consider it money well spent. But then a $69 price tag is a long way from $300.

[Tikka]

Working 50 years with lead acid batteries and as a electronic tested many so call genius designs. Deep discharging and tropical heat is a killer. anything else is disputable

[CapnBazza]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

How often we see claims like this. How seldom are the references to the "tests" posted so that one can verify the claims. My BS alarm is triggered by such verbiage.

Jim

"Tested and evaluated" (and found to be totally useless?)

[svthreecheers]

Originally Posted by SailFastTri

I had a battery saver of some type, using pulse tech. Exactly the same sales pitch as the OP. Lots of testimonials.
It didn't do squat for me. Sold it on eBay. Snake oil IMHO. In my opinion you should file this one in the same drawer with magnetic fuel enhancers.

Since I believe in Magnetic Fuel Enhancers and know that they are working
I guess I should get one of dose Battery Life Extender.
Cheers
Siggi

[David B]

Originally Posted by Rustic Charm

From Mysailing.com.au today. This instrument was released at the Sydney Boat show recently.



The Megapulse may well be the best product displayed at the recent Sydney International Boat Show last weekend .....

Their web page is Megapulse VEE System - Battery Maintainer & Desulfator

I have emailed the company to find out how much a unit will cost.

Anyone of the electrical gurus have any suggestions?

I noticed this article also, and immediately thought of the equipment I am using. I looked at the video presented on 'My Sailing', and the screen shots of the presentation. The pulses look the same as the pulses my equipment produces in 'Recondition' mode. If there is any real effect - and this type of technology certainly seems to be 'out there, so one would hope there is something in it - then the difference with this product is that it is working continuously, rather than occasionally when one connects a 'reconditioning' charger to ones battery.

As to what I do, at the beginning (if I have time), but certainly at the end of the season, I isolate, and connect each bank in turn (service, engine, generator, and bow thruster) to a 50A 5-stage 'smart charger'. The charger goes into analysis mode, then depending on what it finds, either goes into equalisation charge, or recondition then equalisation charge (not yet for my banks thankfully). This at least gets all the cells back up to maximum, before we leave the batteries in the care of solar and/or shore maintenance charging for the nine months we are away. So far this has worked well for us with batteries now having finished their fifth season, and still being OK.

Next season, I am intending to install 50A Anderson connectors next to the isolator switches, just to make it that much easier (isolate, plug, charge).

I guess a question will be what are the batteries we use? Well they are standard, 'sealed', flooded-cell lead acid. I have looked at the costs of gel and AGM vs the extended service life of these types of battery, and cannot see the value. You certainly get more life (and deeper discharge if you want to push it), but you pay more for it, and with AGM, you need to ensure your chargers can handle the more critical requirements of this type of battery.

It works for us - simple, cost-effective, and replacements when needed are available anywhere.

[Rustic Charm]

Originally Posted by sailcrazy

FWIW....we installed a "Power-Pulse Battery Maintainer(desulfitator) on each of our 3 wet-cell house batteries(Trogen T105 x 2) when the batteries were new in 2002. They draw a very small amount of power out of the battery, and claim to desulfitate the plates and allow the battery to last longer. I think we paid $49 ea for the units. Those batteries lasted until 2012, without incident. When we replaced the batteries,we also bought 3 new Power Pulse units and installed them. Those batteries are still going strong and without issue. I have no absolute proof those 3 little "Power-Pulse" units are working wonders, but they certainly are not doing any harm. We cruised Asia, then to the Medd and now we're in the Caribbean......without a single battery issue, except to keep adding water. As I remember,I think I bought them at a battery store, and paid $69 each for them in 2012. If they give me another couple added years of reliable service out of each battery I consider it money well spent. But then a $69 price tag is a long way from $300.

Thanks Sailcrazy,

Your $69 on each battery would cost me four times that amount. This unit 'supposedly' is meant to cover all four of my AGM's. So, at $249 it's cheaper than your option.

I'm not prepared to pay even that though without getting someone like Mainsail who has recommended them.

[Rick]

Having tested many Chargers in the lab we discovered that pulse Chargers offer no Advantage whatsoever over a 3-step charger that has an acceptance voltage exceeding 14.4 volts regardless of the battery lead acid type AGM gel or flooded 14.4 volts is an absolute minimum which must be exceeded regardless of what the battery people tell you that way each charge-discharge cycle will recover lost capacity of the battery so save your money on those irrelevant pulse Chargers