Zapping Cells

[jwill]

There were comments in the batteries thread about zapping cells at 150 and 200 volts.

I don't know much about zapping them but I use a 20K MFD 50 VDC capacitor charged to about 16 volts. Am I doing anything for my batteries.

What is the proper way to zap a cell?

[eddieh]

Jim, your leaving out the part about shorting the capacitor with the battery (+ to +, - to -) this sends thousands of volts (like a sparkplug) through the cell, I think what they mean by zapping is to charge at a few seconds at a much higher voltage but i am not sure & am interested too ...

[eddieh]

jim do a search on zapping...
here is one that explains what we were doing
http://www.rumrunnerracing.com/feforums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=3845&highlight=zapping

[eddieh]

here's another
http://www.rumrunnerracing.com/feforums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=459&highlight=zapping

[Dan Chase]

Originally posted by jwill
What is the proper way to zap a cell?

In a bomb shelter!!! 8) :doh: ;)

[Zippifried]

Actually, whatever voltage you charge a capacitor with (minus the decrease in leakage from the time the capacitor is charged to when you discharge it into the cell, leakage within the capacitor, negligible in this instance) is the voltage you're zapping the cell with. Now, more fun, how much capacitance is useful in cell zapping? I dunno, ask Andy, I believe he built a zapper. I would suppose, however, that a less than ludicrous farad (capacitance) value could work with repeated zapps to equate to the higher storage capacitors used in zappers. Maybe not as well, maybe better, who knows, let's see what Andy has to say on this...... ;) ;) ;) hahahaha

Take Care,
Paul

[AndyKunz]

The Integy zapper I worked on did 400V.

Andy

[Steven Vaccaro]

Andy is this the one you worked on?

http://integy.automated-shops.com/cgi-bin/ams/shopzone30.cgi/st_prod.html?p_prodid=1976&p_catid=21&sid=4wSJJh0mdA5T9lr-57103094221.cf

I always wondered if it worked any good.

[AndyKunz]

I was doing stuff for Xipp immediately before they were bought out by Integy. Integy bought another company that had a zapper and stuck Xipp's label on it as Xipp had a great reputation.

The one I worked on disappeared into the annals of history.

Andy

[froggy]

question... when zapping cells do they need to be fully charged, fully discharged or does it matter? Where does the energy in the capacitor end up?

[AndyKunz]

There's not a lot of charge stored in the cap. Voltage is very high, enough to kill you, but the total number of electrons isn't enough to charge the cell. It only takes a few seconds for the cap to be full. The energy is "dumped" in order to rattle the brains of the chemistry in the cell, making it more effective.

Andy

[Andrewg]

The energy is "dumped" in order to rattle the brains of the chemistry in the cell, making it more effective.


Andy

Oi tink I might give dat a try - do you tink it would help??

[jwill]

Well my brains have been rattled and I'm not discharging any better that before I was Zapped.

Thanks for the information.

Here is what I have pulled together:

1. Be careful its potentially dangerous
2. An individual cell can be processed either loose or in a pack.
3. the zapping voltage used by individuals varies from several to several hunderd volts.

Beyond this, descrepencies take off. high currents, high voltages

All this for hot boats.

[eddieh]

Jim, I have a good idea why fool around, why don't you buy that itegy gizmo, and I will try it out for you :D
as for that rattling sound in your head, if you stop shaking your head maybe those two peas wouldn't be working overtime LMBO......:D

just kidding bud....

[Dr. Jet]

Zapping only shows an improvement at very high (for that particular cell) currents.

Be VERY CAREFUL with any cell zapper. It can KILL YOU if you are the object being zapped. Leave it to the pros if you have any reservations. A buck a cell is cheaper than an undertaker.