2005_LS_V8
Active LVC Member
My LS has been down for about a week with a dead battery. I was going to buy a new one and the only one the local parts place sold was $142. It had a 5 year warranty, 3 of those being direct replacement and 2 being prorated. They had a sale where if you bought it online and came into the store to pick it up, you got 20% off, so that got me down to about $120 plus tax.
Instead, I went with something called the Battery Minder, from Amazon, for $45. This is a trickle charger with temperature sensitivity and desulfation. It claims to repair the desulfated state that batteries end up in when they die. So far, so good, but it's only been a couple of days since I started driving it again. It took about 36 hours to charge. And it can't start from a totally discharged state of zero Volts. I had to jump it and charge it long enough to get it past the 3 Volt minimum for the unit to accept, then it started charging.
http://www.amazon.com/BatteryMINDer-Charger-Maintainer-Desulfator-System/dp/B00D7HZ6FC/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1408340840&sr=1-1&keywords=batteryminder
This device is supposed to lengthen the life of a battery by a factor of 4. Reviews on Amazon are very positive, mostly 5 stars. I had no idea this technology was available (the desulfator part). A friend told me about using a desulfator on his solar system batteries and getting them rehabbed enough to sell.
I didn't take any measurements of amps or voltage. I figure the proof will either be in the pudding or it won't. I had thought letting the battery be dead for a week or more would reset the car's computer, and it was dead enough it wouldn't power the lights or unlock doors and pop the trunk with the remote fob. But upon full recharging, it didn't seem to go through the chimes and checks that it has done before, when I've disconnected the battery on purpose. I wonder if I should do that, to have the computer reset after installing my plugs and coils a few months ago?
Instead, I went with something called the Battery Minder, from Amazon, for $45. This is a trickle charger with temperature sensitivity and desulfation. It claims to repair the desulfated state that batteries end up in when they die. So far, so good, but it's only been a couple of days since I started driving it again. It took about 36 hours to charge. And it can't start from a totally discharged state of zero Volts. I had to jump it and charge it long enough to get it past the 3 Volt minimum for the unit to accept, then it started charging.
http://www.amazon.com/BatteryMINDer-Charger-Maintainer-Desulfator-System/dp/B00D7HZ6FC/ref=sr_1_1?s=automotive&ie=UTF8&qid=1408340840&sr=1-1&keywords=batteryminder
This device is supposed to lengthen the life of a battery by a factor of 4. Reviews on Amazon are very positive, mostly 5 stars. I had no idea this technology was available (the desulfator part). A friend told me about using a desulfator on his solar system batteries and getting them rehabbed enough to sell.
I didn't take any measurements of amps or voltage. I figure the proof will either be in the pudding or it won't. I had thought letting the battery be dead for a week or more would reset the car's computer, and it was dead enough it wouldn't power the lights or unlock doors and pop the trunk with the remote fob. But upon full recharging, it didn't seem to go through the chimes and checks that it has done before, when I've disconnected the battery on purpose. I wonder if I should do that, to have the computer reset after installing my plugs and coils a few months ago?
