1 hour ago, cheezemonkhai said:

I was told by a battery manufacturer that the sulphur ions being pushed off the plates can’t get away and end up instead damaging the plates.

 

Ctek and Optimate chargers (at least) are adamant that their recon mode will not affect AGM batteries one way or another. I have checked this several times with them.

 

1 hour ago, cheezemonkhai said:

but either way, why take that chance?

 

Agreed  no point risking it but smart chargers that have 'recon' modes are just that .... smart.   Always best check how your charger works RTFM

 

37 minutes ago, BigEjit said:

It’s a form of mild overcharging to soften off sulphate crystals formed during discharge of the battery so they can be reabsorbed back into the electrolyte.

 

No that is De-sulphation and happens when normal charging both Wet and AGM batteries using a smart charger (again on all the Ctek and Optimate chargers I use)

 

Recon is De-Stratification and only happens on wet batteries like EFB when they have been left without charge or received constant weak charge (like an un-programmed new battery) Recon causes controlled gassing to re-mix the acid and water

True, Recon is primarily to breakdown the hardened sulphur crystals in both AGM and EFB after deep discharge events. As a by-product of that, the mild gassing action disturbs the bulk electrolyte of wet filled battery types and de-stratifies them to some extent. So it covers both scenarios in one go. 

 

An annual recon to de-stratify isn’t a bad idea on wet filled but it’s not needed on Varta EFB as they have kinetic mixers built in to each cell which stop it happening in the first place.

Edited 22 April, 20206 yr by BigEjit

The 3.8 says it’s desulphination programme, the 5 mentions auto desulphination and separate recons programme.

 

It’s not exactly clear which it is. I guess that’s what is confusing.

In the manual for the 5 it shows stage 1 desulphination is 15.8v spikes/pulses, but the 7 shows 14.7v pulses.

 

 

Bit of a minefield of differing information from their own website.