Has anyone on here converted weak lead acid batteries into lead alkali batteries? There are at least four alternate chemical electrolytes I have heard about, Alum (Aluminum Sodium Silicate) used for cooking, Aluminum Sulfate used in water purification, Sodium Sulfate used in textile manufacturing and Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salt).
Of the four Magnesium Sulfate is often referred too as a supplemental addition to weak lead acid batteries to reboost their capacity and stabilize them to get another 12 to 18 months use out of them. See
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G0odjtntH3IThe other one that seems to have great success is Aluminum Sulfate, but instead of just adding it to the sulfuric acid electrolyte you remove all the fluid from the old weak battery and flush it at least twice with distilled water before replacing the electrolyte with Aluminum Sulfate electrolyte. You make the electrolyte yourself by mixing 1 part by weight of Aluminum Sulfate to 10 parts by weight of distilled water, warming it up and stirring to make sure it all dissolves into solution. You then refill the old battery with the new electrolyte re-manufacturing it into a Lead Alkali battery that is supposed to last as long as the original lead acid battery did.
Multiple people on Youtube show their attempts at each of these alternatives but youtube home video's are not exactly peer reviewed for honesty and accuracy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_EVOE-ZxY7w is a pretty good example of the lead aluminum sulfate conversion.