Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Battery Maintanence Tips
Battery Maintanence Tips
html
1 of 2
1/19/99 7:49 AM
http://www.home.gil.com.au/~mside/battery.html
batteries in parallel. This still gives 12 volts, but the capacity is doubled or tripled. This means what was originally a heavy current draw on one battery now becomes a light current draw in several batteries." "Always add distilled water to batteries. Impurities in water, such as minerals and iron, can cause reactions within the battery and reduce its capacity." "Do not add additional acid to a battery (unless it replaces some which has been spilt or emptied from the battery). Adding additional acid to a battery will do more harm than good and excess amounts will quickly destroy the battery. It is fine while the battery is flat and the liquid in the cells is mostly water, but with additional acid having been added the higher density creates adverse chemical reactions within the battery. Your hydrometer reading would always be wildly inaccurate because of the extra acid density (a flat battery would be showing up fully charged if enough acid was added)." "Dissolving Sulphation with Distilled Water - Empty the electrolyte from each cell, and in its place put distilled water. Allow to stand for an hour or so, then put it on a slow charge of about 4 amps. The sulphate crystals will gradually dissolve (they are more soluble in pure water than acid/water) and turn into sulphuric acid. A combination of battery charging and chemical reaction will cause a rise in temperature within the battery. If it reaches 45 - 50C turn the charger off and let the battery cool down." "Keep the slow charge going while the 'specific gravity' reading is increasing. If the specific gravity goes over the normal figure of about 1.300 it means someone has added acid to the battery. The best move then is to tip it all out and start again with fresh distilled water. When the specific gravity reading stabilises tip it out, then refill each cell with a fresh acid solution, then run the battery through two or three charge/discharge cycles and check your specific gravity reading." "The fresh acid solution is made up of sulphuric acid and water. If you cannot buy a ready-made mixture, then mix a small amount of acid and water together (Caution: Always add acid to water - do not add water to straight acid. If you get acid in your eyes, flush them for 15 minutes with fresh water)." "With the mixture in the battery, and the battery fully charged specific gravity should be 1.650 to 1.850 in summer and up to 1.300 in winter. If the reading is too low add more acid."
2 of 2
1/19/99 7:49 AM