Giving Lead-Acid Site Batteries a Second Service Life

Replacing every tired battery is simple and expensive. SARBS publishes a harder number on its homepage: ten thousand lead-acid batteries regenerated, beside thirteen thousand lead-acid batteries supplied and fifty-five thousand lithium-ion batteries supplied. Regeneration is a real service line, listed with rollout, radio work and operation and maintenance.

What regeneration is for

A lead-acid jar often loses capacity because of sulphation long before the plates are finished. A controlled regeneration process is meant to recover batteries that are still structurally sound so the site can stay on the existing string for another stretch of service. It is attractive where the access road is long and a full lithium swap is not in this year’s budget.

It is not a repair for a cracked case, a shorted cell or a battery that has been dry for months. Those should be scrapped. A useful visit tests the jars first, regenerates the ones that answer, and flags the ones that should be replaced with gel or LiFePO4.

How it fits the rest of the site

Regeneration works best when the rectifier settings are checked on the same visit. A charger that over-volts or never quite finishes the charge will undo the work. SARBS lists battery re-generation under services. Ask for it as part of an operation-and-maintenance round, not as a last attempt after the site has already gone down.

Figures and product notes on this page are taken from the public SARBS website, the SARBS LinkedIn page and the SARBS YouTube channel.