How to Restore a Dead Car Battery? [Easy Repair Methods]

You will be happy to know-

Every dead car battery has a chance to restore. That’s why you should try to restore your dead car battery before buying the new one. But the question, how you restore the dead car battery?

There are several ways to do that and in this article, I will discuss the most effective way to reconnect your car battery.

So, without losing your valuable time, let’s get started-

Different Types of Car Batteries

Before knowing how to restore a dead car battery, it’s important to know about the car battery itself. You see cars use various types of batteries.

Although the vehicle battery types depend a lot on the vehicle, nowadays the same types of cars are seen to use the same batteries.

So far, we have managed to list up 4 major types of batteries. Now let’s take a look at each of those-

1. Deep Cycle Batteries

No, the battery isn’t deep or anything in here. These batteries supply sustained power for a long period of time. Golf carts and other recreational vehicles are regular users of this battery.

2. Valve Regulated Lead Acid Batteries

These batteries need low maintenance. As a result, these come in sealed. So, it’s super hard to repair these. There are two types of VRLAs out there. The Absorption Glass Mat and Gel Cell Batteries.

3. Lithium-Ion Batteries

Even though these batteries have a short lifespan, these are being widely used in modern-day cars. These can hold a lot of power within a small area.

4. Wet Cell Batteries

These are the most basic batteries. Lead, water, and sulfuric acid are the most common combo for making a wet cell battery. These batteries are also used in cars.

Now that we know all these batteries, we can explore the unknown world of how to repair a dead car battery.

Repair Methods

So, how do you revive a dead car battery? From now on we will focus on answering that question only.

But before starting we would like to clear things out. We will provide you battery reviving methods for each battery type. Now, let’s get going-

Restoring Lead Acid Batteries

Starting, Lighting and Ignition battery is the most common automobile battery out there. And this is a lead-acid battery. So, we will start out with this one. Restoring a lead-acid battery requires 7 steps. Here we will discuss all those steps in brief-

Gather the Required Items:

1. A Multimeter (our pick: AstroAI Digital Multimeter)
2. A Taper Charger or an adjustable PSU (our pick: Tekpower TP3005T Variable Linear DC Power Supply)
3. Tube of super glue (our pick: Gorilla Super Glue Gel)
4. A syringe (our pick: A AKRAF 3 Pack Large Plastic Syringe)
5. Dead Battery
6. Distilled Water (Nestle Distilled Water)

However, it’s better if you can gather up a few extra items like a flashlight, rubber gloves, screwdriver, and a paper towel.

1. Check Voltage: Here we have to determine how dead is our battery. So, connect it to the multimeter. Look at the readings. If the reading is below 30% or 11.8V then congratulations your battery is officially dead.
2. Open up that Lid: If your Lead Acid Battery has a closed lid, then remove it with screwdrivers. Wear gloves while removing the caps. Take that paper towel and start wiping any wet spots. Look inside the cells once you’re done with the wiping. Try to locate a white fabric. If your fabric is brown, then the work just became complicated.
3. Feed Water: Take that syringe and start pushing water into each of the cells. However, don’t flood the cells in the process.
4. Test the Battery: Connect the multimeter in a series connection with the charger and battery. While connecting set it at 10Amp. You’ll see that the battery is drawing 100 – 200 mA.  This proves that the battery is dead.
5. Recharge that Battery: Connect your charger if you have any. Or you can also connect a PSU. But before connecting the PSU set it to 14V. Once you’re done with that, let the battery sit for 2 days.
6. Calculate Recharging Time: After step 6 you’ll need to check that battery drawing again. You’ll see that the battery is drawing 500 – 1000 mA. Now, calculate the estimated charging time. For calculating follow this specific formula: Battery Capacity (Ah) = Drawing Amps (Amp) x Time (Hours)

After this, you’ll have your battery good as new. And that is how to restore a dead car battery cells

Restoring Deep Cycle Batteries

For reconditioning deep cycle batteries follow the lead-acid battery revival method.

Restoring Lithium-Ion Batteries

Lithium-ion batteries are mainly used by fully electric or hybrid cars. These batteries literally run the car. So, it’s better to go to the professionals while restoring these batteries.

But the core idea here is to jumpstart the lithium-ion battery. For this prepare a powerful DC current source. Hook up the battery positive end with the positive end of the power source. Do the same for the negative ends.

Hopefully, the battery will be back to normal. But again, we’re saying that take the whole package to experts. Because these are more sophisticated than cellphone lithium-ion batteries.

Repairing Dry Batteries

We’re not quite sure if modern-day cars use dry batteries or not. But as people ask us how to repair the dry battery, we are telling you the way.

Basically, this method is also the same as the lead-acid one. But here you have to use pure lemon juice instead of water. Open the lids and caps. Insert lemon juice via a syringe. Charge it for a day. Voila! You’re done.

And that is how to recondition a car battery that won’t hold charge.

Revive Car Battery Tricks

Sometimes, you may not get enough time for a full-on reconditioning. In those situations, a simple trick could save your day. So, we have gathered up 4 tricks of reviving a dead battery-

• Jumpstart

You can use jumper cables (our pick: CARTMAN Heavy Duty Booster Cables) and a second battery or a battery booster (our pick: DBPOWER 800A 18000mAh Portable Car Jump Starter and Battery Booster) for this. However, keep the engine running while doing that.

• Distilled Water

If by any chance, you have distilled water with you, then you can get your engine running for some extra miles. So, get some distilled water inside your battery.

• Aspirin

It may sound odd. But this is chemically proven. So, manage around 12 aspirin tablets. Crush those and mix with 6oz water. Insert the mixture into the cells in an equal amount.

• Epsom Salt

Make a mixture of 1-part Epsom salt and 3 parts water. Add this mixture to each of the cells. Make sure that the plates are covered by a half-inch electrolyte.

Conclusion

You know, the dead battery has a life too but they need support to reconnect again. I hope this article helped you to restore your battery again.

If you follow any other tricks to revive a dead car battery. Don’t hesitate to share. I would love to share your thoughts with my audiences.