[net.consumers] Maintenance-Free Batteries: adding water to extend life

ijk@hropus.UUCP (Ihor J. Kinal) (01/16/86)

Recently, my wife's car's battery started to fail to hold a charge
real well.  After getting a new battery, I took a look at the old
battery: it's a maintenance-free Delco 50, about 6-7 years old.

This battery has no old-style battery caps; instead, it has 2
plastic covers.  Prying off these covers, I found battery caps 
that were glued on to the tops of the ceels, plus little holes to
discharge charging gases.  MOST of the cells were totally dry:
IN FACT, I managed to get almost 2 quarts of water back into the battery.

I'm not sure if the battery is salvageable - it still refused to take
much of a charge, but I'll try hooking some lights to it and
seeing how much capacity is left.

THE POINT of this article, is that maintenance-free batteries can
need water over their life-time.  What can the typical consumer do??
I'm not sure, but here are some thoughts.

1).  Buy only normal batteries, and make sure you add water periodically.
Disadvantage: most top of the line batteries are now maintenance-free -
if you want the added starting power, you can't get it.

2). Buy maintenance free batteries with open cells & covers.  I have
an 8 year old Sears Die-Hard with this construction.  Unfortunately,
most netters have had bad experiences with Die-Hards (I seem to be
in a minority).  And I don't know of any other maintenance-free
batteries with such covers.

3).  After the warranty on your battery is expired, you may want to
consider taking the caps off (if you do, please be careful; wear
eye-shields, etc, since battery acid is fairly strong stuff).
You can probably glue the covers back on, or perhaps throw them
away, and install individual battery caps.  If your friendly
auto store doesn't carry them, J.C. Whitney does.

4).  The preceding applies ONLY to wet-type maintenance free batteries.
A new type of battery is hitting the market, where the electrolyte is
more paste type (e.g., the TORQUE STARTER).  These can probably be
recognized by the lack of such plastic covers (also, the  TORQUE
STARTER states it can be mounted in any position - you can't do that
with other batteries, because the acid would leak out).  I believe
that Rickels (a store chain that may be local to NJ) has a CHAMPION
battery on sale for $49.95; it looks like a paste job also.
MAIN DISADVANTAGE of these batteries is their very limited warranty
(1-2 years).

I hope this article is of some help.
Ihor Kinal
ihnp4!houxm!hropus!ijk

paver@milano.UUCP (Bob Paver) (01/19/86)

If I could get 6-7 years of life out of any battery, I'd give it a
decent burial and not worry about removing the caps!

essachs@ihuxl.UUCP (Ed Sachs) (01/20/86)

> Recently, my wife's car's battery started to fail to hold a charge
> real well.  After getting a new battery, I took a look at the old
> battery: it's a maintenance-free Delco 50, about 6-7 years old.
> 
I wouldn't complain about any battery that lasted 6-7 years.  That's
pretty darn good for any car battery (I usually feel fortunate if they
outlive the 60 month warrantee).
-- 
				Ed Sachs
				AT&T Bell Laboratories
				Naperville, IL
				ihnp4!ihuxl!essachs

hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (The Polymath) (01/20/86)

In article <216@hropus.UUCP> ijk@hropus.UUCP (Ihor J. Kinal) writes:
>
>THE POINT of this article, is that maintenance-free batteries can
>need water over their life-time.  What can the typical consumer do??

Contrary to popular belief, opening a maintenance-free battery  and  adding
water  as necessary _does not_ void the warranty.  While they don't need to
be  checked  as  often  as  other  batteries,  they   should   be   checked
periodically.  This  generally  entails  prying  up  plastic  covers with a
screwdriver or similar tool.  All the usual precautions for working  around
batteries should be taken.

I note that few manufacturers are  making  maintenance-free  batteries  any
more.  They're  usually  called  low-maintenance  now  and  are  easier  to
service.

-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
The Polymath (aka: Jerry Hollombe)
Citicorp(+)TTI
3100 Ocean Park Blvd.             Geniuses are people so lazy they
Santa Monica, CA  90405           do everything right the first time.
(213) 450-9111, ext. 2483
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