To recondition a lead acid battery, you need to remove the lead sulfate buildup from the plates and restore the electrolyte solution. This process involves cleaning the plates, adding distilled water and sulfuric acid to the electrolyte, and charging the battery to its full capacity.
Try to avoid running the battery down to zero. Sometimes, lead acid batteries can suffer from irreparable damage that cannot be fixed through reconditioning. One common cause of irreparable damage is sulfation, which occurs when lead sulfate crystals build up on the battery plates over time.
Lead acid batteries often sulfate due to an accumulation of lead sulphate crystals on the plates inside the battery. However, you can recondition your battery at home using inexpensive ingredients. A battery is effectively a small chemical plant which stores energy in its plates.
A lead acid battery typically consists of several cells, each containing a positive and negative plate. These plates are submerged in an electrolyte solution, which is typically a mixture of sulfuric acid and water. The plates are made of lead, while the electrolyte is a conductive solution that allows electrons to flow between the plates.
When a lead acid battery is charged, the sulfuric acid in the electrolyte reacts with the lead in the positive plates to form lead sulfate and hydrogen ions. At the same time, the lead in the negative plates reacts with the hydrogen ions in the electrolyte to form lead sulfate and electrons.
A lead-acid battery acts as a store of power because of the reaction between the lead plates and the electrolyte. The reason that both sulfation and acid stratification cause batteries to lose power and the ability to accept charge is because they both reduce the contact between the lead plates and the active electrolyte.