Topping up car batteries, and why?

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Topping up car batteries, and why?

Post by heeple » 24 Aug 2017, 5:36 pm

Tossed an old car battery I have in the shed today, noticed on the label it says check the water level inside periodically.

We all know 99.9% of people don't do that :lol:

Anyway, why do they leave the batteries open and have you refill them anyway? Why aren't they just a sealed unit and do without the problem? :unknown:
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Re: Topping up car batteries, and why?

Post by duncan61 » 24 Aug 2017, 6:52 pm

Confident that wet plate batteries generate gases that need to be vented.It has been my experience that if a battery needs topping up it is nearly dead.I have bought batteries dry and added the acid to create the electricity before using.It was a small motorbike battery not sure if it is common practice but it came with the bottle of acid and a filler tube
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Re: Topping up car batteries, and why?

Post by Col » 24 Aug 2017, 7:46 pm

Heeple, what happens when the battery is charged the acid has a reaction in it and Hydrogen gas (explosive stuff) is released. If you charge too quickly you can boil the acid dry and hence need to top up the electrolyte/acid. With general running of a car etc the battery is recharged all the time and hence loses some of the acid to evaporation or the chemical reaction and you will need to top up the battery.
This is my experience over many years and although the terminology for the chemistry is hazy, it was many years ago that I was at school, but the principle is correct. Sealed batteries are good in theory but can boil dry if charged too quickly, cheap chinese battery chargers are buggers for putting too much current into a battery when recharging.
Hope this helps. Col,
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Re: Topping up car batteries, and why?

Post by Tiger650 » 24 Aug 2017, 8:08 pm

G'day Heepie

A flooded cell battery will drop fluid level quickly when the charging system regulator goes tits up and charge voltage gets above about 13.6V for a 12V battery, lots of hydrogen generated [whoopee gas near an ignition source] and then the vehicle alternator will fail.

In the 1980s the Suzuki GSX250 was renowned for this, dealers would get to sell a kid a new battery, a new reg/rectifier and a new alternator, probably 30% of the value of a bike.

I could write a book on batteries but it has already been done several times, nowadays I use AGM/VRLA batteries and an ammeter, problem solved.

Rather than store an old battery in the shed think about dumping a 500g packet of Bi-Carb of soda into a bucket and empty the electrolyte from the battery into that, be careful as it will his and bubble and spit but the alkaline Bi-Carb will neutralize the Sulphuric acid in the electrolyte, better than having an acid bomb in the shed.

Used batteries are considerable pollution issue, lead and acid and such, but WTF would I know ? the greensters will have us all driving battery powered dodgem car ****** soon.

I have distopian visions of some poor bastard in his self driving ElonMuskMobile tapping away at his "device" when remote artificial intelligence decides that his latest post to Facetwitter is inappropriate, vehicle doors lock and he is delivered to a depot of The Ministry of Love for rigorous debriefing.

Excuse me wandering from the battery topic.
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Re: Topping up car batteries, and why?

Post by Thom318 » 24 Aug 2017, 8:39 pm

I think having unsealed batteries these days is mostly down to a cost cutting measure. Sealed, maintenance free (SMF) batteries are usually more expensive because they are shipped from the factory filled with acid, so they're a bit heavier and need specific dangerous goods transportation methods. They're also a little larger because of the way the case is designed.
After filling many tractor batteries with acid, sometimes upwards of two litres, and losing many pairs of jeans and boots because of small spills, I love a maintenance free battery
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Re: Topping up car batteries, and why?

Post by Monty » 29 Aug 2017, 1:46 pm

There are plenty of maintenance-free models these days.

Check out Century if you're in the market for a new battery. Most of their batteries are sealed, reputed to be good, and aren't overly expensive.
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Re: Topping up car batteries, and why?

Post by wrenchman » 30 Aug 2017, 2:14 am

i still see wet batterys i would think you guys see them more a lot of off grid batterys are wet.
i am in my 50 so wet batterys are what i have used most my life 20 years ago i was training a young guy we had been haveing -30 deg weather and we were trying to start a struck i put the start all on the batterys and started the heater to warm the eng i looked over just intime to say dont and watch him try to move a cable i watched 4 battery blow up in his face i was more supprised he didnt get hurt jusy covered.
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Re: Topping up car batteries, and why?

Post by goldiexxxx » 10 Sep 2017, 12:46 pm

Maintenance Free batteries should better be named "Unmaintainable Batteries". Both MF and top-up type batteries function the same, except the "Maintenance Free" ones don't last as long because you are not able to maintain them.
The chemical reaction in wet cell batteries vents off hydrogen (H2) and Oxygen (O) as a bye-product of the continuous chemical process between the lead and sulphuric acid. The way to replace these is to add pure distilled water (H2O). So you should get longer life out of a correctly maintained lead acid wet cell battery if maintained correctly.

Gel Cell and AGM batteries are different, they are sealed and don't vent gasses.
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Re: Topping up car batteries, and why?

Post by Chronos » 10 Sep 2017, 5:47 pm

they're open so they don't explode and cover everything in acid. I always checked battery fluid levels and topped up with distilled water before the days of maintenance free units

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Re: Topping up car batteries, and why?

Post by Hugh » 13 Oct 2017, 5:33 pm

Tiger650 wrote:G'day Heepie

A flooded cell battery will drop fluid level quickly when the charging system regulator goes tits up and charge voltage gets above about 13.6V for a 12V battery, lots of hydrogen generated [whoopee gas near an ignition source] and then the vehicle alternator will fail.

In the 1980s the Suzuki GSX250 was renowned for this, dealers would get to sell a kid a new battery, a new reg/rectifier and a new alternator, probably 30% of the value of a bike.

I could write a book on batteries but it has already been done several times, nowadays I use AGM/VRLA batteries and an ammeter, problem solved.

Rather than store an old battery in the shed think about dumping a 500g packet of Bi-Carb of soda into a bucket and empty the electrolyte from the battery into that, be careful as it will his and bubble and spit but the alkaline Bi-Carb will neutralize the Sulphuric acid in the electrolyte, better than having an acid bomb in the shed.

Used batteries are considerable pollution issue, lead and acid and such, but WTF would I know ? the greensters will have us all driving battery powered dodgem car ****** soon.

I have distopian visions of some poor bastard in his self driving ElonMuskMobile tapping away at his "device" when remote artificial intelligence decides that his latest post to Facetwitter is inappropriate, vehicle doors lock and he is delivered to a depot of The Ministry of Love for rigorous debriefing.

Excuse me wandering from the battery topic.

I have what your smoking :allegedly:
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Re: Topping up car batteries, and why?

Post by Lorgar » 14 Oct 2017, 12:43 pm

Monty wrote:Check out Century if you're in the market for a new battery. Most of their batteries are sealed, reputed to be good, and aren't overly expensive.


I upgraded to a Century MF one a while back, after my ageing factory one couldn't reliably power my winch.

I've been very happy with it. Clean, easy starts and reliable winching every time.
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