Novice question on battery maintenance

[Grizzly_Adams]

G'day all,

I'm rather embarrassed to be asking this, I feel it's such a novice question to ask but it's been so long since I have had to maintain a car battery (I usually buy maintenance free ones) that I have forgotten.

On my camper we have a non-maintenance free battery (ie. you gotta check it's water and give it a top-up now and then). My question is - should I disconnect it from the camper before topping up the water or would it be ok to be topped up whilst still connected? All the time it is getting a trickle charge from the solar panel so I am just not sure.

Also how high do I fill it's water to?

Thanks for your help all....

[Snapper]

Its ok to leave it connected.
Use destilled water. You can buy it from Dirtycheap Auto or the local servo.
You will find a high and low marker on the side of the battery somewhere to give you an indication of the water level. If no just make sure you have enough water in the battery to cover the cells but dont over flow the chamber.

[weeds]

i only use de-mineralised water, pretty sure thats what you should only use, no problem leaving it all connected, when you look down the hole your should see some plastic extending down from the opening, top water up till it touches

[drivesafe]

Distilled or demineralised are both good and you can get one or the other from most supermarkets, just don't use tap or tank water.

And as Weeds posted ( but left just a bit out ) top the water up till it touches the bottom of the plastic, don’t fill it all the way to the top of the plastic.

If you do put a bit too much water in, just leave it that way, it’s not going to harm anything, DO NOT attempt to remove any water if you do over fill, this WILL cause some harm because you will be removing some of the acid and the acid content MUST remain the same at all times.

Cheers.

BTW, it’s that time of year when everybody should check their batteries as the on set of cold weather is usually when a battery that is on it’s last legs, finally stuffs it.

[mcrover]

Weeds is spot on in both cases.

Just to add something, the reason for using demineralised water is that the minerals especially the heavy metals build up in the battery on the cells and can dead short sections of them and stop the chemical reaction so limiting the capacity of the battery.

You can buy stuff called battery conditioner, I have seen it and seen a trade demo but I have never used it but someone might know more about that.

Some maintenance free batteries are not really what they say they are, some times you can pop a cap off the top of the battery to find screw in plugs that you can open and check but then again, a true maintenance free wont have any access and usually are completely sealed.

Car batteries dont like cold weather either so in winter it pays to just chuck the charger on once every few weeks to top up charge as sometimes (most of the time) your auto system in your car doest top them right up and can create a memory that also ends up shortening the cycle of your battery.

probably more than enough info for you there.

[Grizzly_Adams]

Thanks all, I knew about the demineralised water (should have put that in the first post, d'oh) but wasn't sure on the other fact.

Thanks again :)

[Tank]

Weeds is spot on in both cases.

Just to add something, the reason for using demineralised water is that the minerals especially the heavy metals build up in the battery on the cells and can dead short sections of them and stop the chemical reaction so limiting the capacity of the battery.

You can buy stuff called battery conditioner, I have seen it and seen a trade demo but I have never used it but someone might know more about that.

Some maintenance free batteries are not really what they say they are, some times you can pop a cap off the top of the battery to find screw in plugs that you can open and check but then again, a true maintenance free wont have any access and usually are completely sealed.

Car batteries dont like cold weather either so in winter it pays to just chuck the charger on once every few weeks to top up charge as sometimes (most of the time) your auto system in your car doest top them right up and can create a memory that also ends up shortening the cycle of your battery.

probably more than enough info for you there.
mcrover recommends a battery conditioner, I use INOX Battery conditioner every 12 to 18 months in all my batteries, it De-Mineralises the plates, I first used it on a battery that I thought had given up the ghost, wouldn't start the car and would'nt hold a charge, it was 2 years old, I treated it with a small bottle of Inox and put it on charge for a few days, it has worked perfectly ever since, that was 2 years ago, I have Inoxed it once since then, still going strong, it's good to find something that actually works nowadays, Regards Frank.

[Snapper]

just for piece of mind regarding distilled water. (http://www.drive.com.au/Editorial/ArticleDetail.aspx?ArticleID=37330&vf=3)


Distilled and demineralized is the same thing.

[mcrover]

mcrover recommends a battery conditioner, I use INOX Battery conditioner every 12 to 18 months in all my batteries, it De-Mineralises the plates, I first used it on a battery that I thought had given up the ghost, wouldn't start the car and would'nt hold a charge, it was 2 years old, I treated it with a small bottle of Inox and put it on charge for a few days, it has worked perfectly ever since, that was 2 years ago, I have Inoxed it once since then, still going strong, it's good to find something that actually works nowadays, Regards Frank.

No sorry tank, I didnt say I recomend it I said I have seen it and it was the INOX one that I saw and was blown away from their claims but I have never given it a go as I get a reasonable life out of my batteries, 4 to 5 years just using normal maintenance so I havnt really seen the need.

I am glad to see it works for you though, I hadnt come across anyone who had actually used it so I was also a bit hesatant about puting it into something I had to pay for if it stuffed it up.

On that, if it is as half as good as they claim then you should be able to get a near unlimited life span out of a lead acid battery while using it, until the lead breaks down so it should be a good thing.

[Tank]

No sorry tank, I didnt say I recomend it I said I have seen it and it was the INOX one that I saw and was blown away from their claims but I have never given it a go as I get a reasonable life out of my batteries, 4 to 5 years just using normal maintenance so I havnt really seen the need.

I am glad to see it works for you though, I hadnt come across anyone who had actually used it so I was also a bit hesatant about puting it into something I had to pay for if it stuffed it up.

On that, if it is as half as good as they claim then you should be able to get a near unlimited life span out of a lead acid battery while using it, until the lead breaks down so it should be a good thing.
mcrover, sorry about that, I should have read more carefully, yes it is good to find a product that actually works and does as advertised, it wont fix a stuffed, collapsed battery, but for $9 a small bottle it is worth trying, works for me, Regards Frank.