pulse units that extend battery life by 4 to one

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Gary North's most recent Reality Check talks about "pulse units that extend battery life by 4 to 1" and "EDTA powder. . . it can get rid of any sulfation. . ."

Could someone comment on this? (The relevant paragraphs are below.)

Specifically, are these pulse units an off the shelf item that could be bought locally, and ditto for the EDTA powder?

BEGIN NORTH QUOTE:

The next step is to buy some of the pulse units that extend battery life by 4 to one. They cost $70, and you use one per half dozen batteries. Barry Hutchinson sells them. (Specify 12-volt or 24-volt systems.) Then buy the EDTA powder that he sells. It can get rid of any sulfation that the pulse units leave. Better: it can remove sulfation from dead batteries, thereby resurrecting them. The stuff is cheap: $25/pound, and a tablespoon of it can restore a battery.

There will be a lot of dead 12-volt car batteries for sale next year. You can restore them. You will be able to put them to use in a simple home power system. They're going to be worth more to you than to the owners. Car batteries are not as good as deep-cycle marine batteries, but dead ones will be cheap. He sells a pulse unit for 6 Trojan L-16s, a battery safety kit, and a bag of EDTA for $128. Address: Barry Hutchinson, P. O. Box 783, Deming, WA 98244.

-- robert waldrop (rmwj@soonernet.com), July 21, 1999

Answers

Some dealers of these units advertise in Home Power magazine (what! you are interested in alternative energy and you don't read Home Power ? ) Home power is at "www.homepower.com". Two companies that make these pulse units are found at "www.innovativeenergy.com" and at "www.pulsetech.com" I'm an alternative energy (wind and sun) nut, not a computer nut, so pardon the lack of proper links. I have purchased EDTA from Trailhead Supply (don't have any other info here at the moment) who advertises in the small ads in the back of Home Power magazine.

-- Jim (jiminwis@yahoo.com), July 22, 1999.

Jim, or whoever else has used EDTA, please tell us exactly what it does, and how well has it worked.

Have you resuurrected any dead batteries using EDTA?

Must you recharge after using EDTA?

Thanks

-- Rick (rick7@postmark.net), July 22, 1999.


Rick, I've used EDTA to rejuvanate a battery for an electric lawnmower. I bought the mower at a garage sale years ago, it was used then, and I think I bought it in 1990 or 1991. It sat in the barn until last year, when my youngest son decided to try it out. He charged the battery, which was almost dried out, and nothing happened. I remembered the bag of EDTA that I bought for another set of batteries, and hadn't used, so we mixed up some according to instructions, added it to the lawn mower battery, and charged it up on the trickle charge setting on the battery charger. The next day it was able to mow for about an hour- as good a performance as I could hope for, even if the battery had been new, instead of 6 or 7 or more years old. Haven't had time to try it with other batteries, but I plan to use it on some of the old deep cycle cells that we have had for 15+ years. As to how it works, I don't recall the details (Home Power had a couple of articles about it over the years), but I think that it helps break down the sulphation and put it back in solution in the battery's electrolyte (acid). And, yes, the battery does need to be recharged after the EDTA treatment. Hope that this helps.

-- Jim (jiminwis@yahoo.com), July 22, 1999.

Thanks Jim

-- Rick (rick7@postmark.net), July 23, 1999.

Jim,

Oops, no I don't subscribe to Home Power, actually, or any other magazines currently. But I have been to their site on the web. I'm paying more attention to alternative power because I want to write one of my "printable flyers for use during y2k disruptions" on cobbling together a light and radio system from car batteries, brake lights, and auto-alternators. This pulse and edta thread is related to that, as if disruptions are prolonged, restoring auto batteries will be critical. Is this EDTA powder something that is widely distributed in normal times through typical industry powders (e.g. can I get it off the shelf at maybe an auto or battery store), or is it so new or rare that it available only by mail order?

-- robert waldrop (rmwj@soonernet.com), July 23, 1999.



Re: Home Power Magazine:

This mag used to be a GREAT pub for the alt. energy field -- I used to write for them. However, it's gotten yuppieish and quite political in the past few years. So I don't read it anymore.

However -- their "Solar CD #1" and "#2" are great; they are Adobe format archives of all their issues from the beginning up to about last summer if I recollect. MAKE SURE TO BUY THESE NOW. THEN READ THEM IF YOU HAVE TIME, AND PRINT OUT THE ONES THAT SEEM RELEVANT. THEY ARE AN UNMATCHED TREASURE TROVE OF ALT. ENERGY STUFF --- COVERS MUCH OF WHAT NEWBIES ARE ASKING ABOUT ON THE Y2K FORUMS.

Bill

-- William J. Schenker, MD (wjs@linkfast.net), July 23, 1999.


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