Hi Bill
On (05 Sep 96) BILL BAUER wrote to Roy J. Tellason...
 BB> ........................ But that makes me wonder about a product
 BB> that used to be on the market many years ago called VX-6 that was
 BB> supposed to do something to help old batteries rejuvenate. The product
 BB> is not on the market anymore
Battery additives are in the Snake Oil category of human remedies.
If there was a useful gunk to help old batteries, betcha it would be used by
the big time owners of lead acid batts ie the Phone Exchanges, the Railroads
and the Navy Submarine service.
FACT. The acid in a battery is not an active material that participates in 
he
electro- chemical business of charge/ recharge. It has the job of a passive
electrolyte, "connecting" the pos and neg plates with a friendly fluid but 
ot
bridging these. It allows an extensive and intimate connection with the 
ctive
pastes which are packed into the lead plates, and does so both on the
surface and under the surface, being fluid.
The reason we check the acid density [hydrometer] is as an indicator of the
state of charge, and as a diagnostic check of cell condition if unhealthy.
Thru the life of a cell, acid should never be added...... unless there has
been a major spill eg cell toppled while cap removed.
1250 is a convenient and optimum SG for the acid inside a charged cell. If 
ou
experimentally changed that concentration to anything in the range 1300 down
to say 1200, the cell would still work real well but you might puzzle a
future user who owns a hydrometer.
So if you use a 13 inch foot rule, it will work OK as a foot rule. Different
yes. Wrong? No!!
The motoring organisations and consumer groups in this country have many
times "exposed" marketters of battery additives as shonky and unprincipled.
But the motorist is seen as keen and willing to spend good money on all kinds
of rubbish!  Cheers....ALEC
... ....Horsepower was a wonderful thing when only horses had it
--- PPoint 1.92
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