Anyone have any experience with battery desulphators?

[POD]

Have been doing a bit of reading on these as I currently have 2 sus batteries- cranking battery in my old rangie that spends most of it's life unused, and now the gel deep-cycle aux battery in the Defender is looking down-at-heel. There seem to be varying opinions on whether this is genuine technology or mysticism. I came across this gadget which seems to combine smart-charging with desulfation:
Xtreme Charge XC100-P PulseTech Charger (100X010)
and as the price seems good even just for a smart charger, I'm considering ordering one. Even if it has genuine potential to extend the life of a battery that is currently okay, it would be worthwhile, as I have a range of gear with lead-acid batteries, including a mammoth tractor battery that I dread having to replace.
Does anyone have any actual experience with desulfation? Would be interested to hear.

[Hall]

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lead%E2%80%93acid_battery"]Lead–acid battery - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
Some very good info here. Looks like pulse charging is a valid form of desulfation.
Cheers Hall

[101RRS]

Any decent smart battery charger does it automatically . I have a cheap SuperCheap 12A smart charger and it does it as the first stage of its automatic charge program.

Garry

[Tote]

I bought an 8 amp smart charger from repco for around $50 on special and I'm very happy with it, it has a pulse stage and has resurrected a battery that was dead flat for a week from a faulty light switch.

Regards,
Tote

[superquag]

The C-Tek range of chargers have a pretty good reputation.... Pricey, but I've been happy with mine's performance. - Has 'resurrected' a couple of neglected batteries. It is the 7 AMP model and was well over the $100 mark IIRC

I don't think you're paying for the technology so much as the quality and build consistancy.
For the price of a C-TEK you could almost afford a couple of bigger cheapies...

Jaycar sell a look-a-like clone, have no idea as to how good/bad it is.

IF I needed a very big charger, I'd buy a Super ????? model with no qualms, because I've got the C-Tek to fall back on... in case it dies....

You can never have a too-big capacity battery charger !

[DiscoMick]

My $150 Projecta does it as one of its seven stages, I believe.

[POD]

So a few people have them or chargers with a desulphating cycle, how about any experiences of whether they are effective? Any stories of miraculous resurrections of dead batteries, such as mentioned in numerous internet pages? Or increased performance from a flagging battery?

[Eevo]

ive got a 5amp C-Tek, got it for about $120 from repco.


when you take your battery in for warranty, this it the recharger they use.

and the C-Tek couldn't disulfonate my optima.

[Saitch]

I've got a 25 amp Projecta 7 stage which does several types of batteries and it did recover an old, & I mean old, AGM boat battery which I got another 3 months out of. Not bad, but I suppose there's no miracle cure for a knackered battery really.

[POD]

Well I went in to Super Crud and bought a smart charger with a desulfating stage today. I've got it running on the old rangie battery, for which I don't hold much hope, but next in line is the gel deep-cycle auxilliary from the Defender. Quoted $380 for a replacement for that one, so here's hoping I can get a bit more life from it.