Topping Up Batteries With...

**donP** · 06-20-2010, 04:22 PM

Batteries should only be topped up with destilled or purified water, nothing else - so they say.

A few years ago somebody (who knows a lot about batteries) gave me the advice to use a mixture of 25% battery acid and 75% water (quality as above) for older batteries when they tend to gas more during charging.

Now, our inverter batteries have been in service for just under three years and I have seen battery liquid around some of the vent caps which I think is a sign of their imminent demise.

Would it not make sense to replace some of the escaped acid with the above said mixture and thus maybe get some more months out of the (16) batteries?

donP

**Daniel10** · 06-21-2010, 03:19 AM

On a car forum I once got this cheap reviving-your-batteries tip. As I don't live in the DR yet, I don't know how different the batteries you are using are from normal car batteries, but might worth a shot. If costs of replacing is too expensive.

Over the life of a battery the plates get corroded. This is the main reason to only use distilled water in batteries. In worst cases the plates get so corroded that they touch each other causing the battery to give less voltage than original. Say you have 6 pairs of plates on a 12 volt battery. when one pair touches each other, your battery will only supply 10 volts.

To get rid of the corrosion you will have to do the following:
- Discharge the battery fully, by using a little bulb.
- Charge the battery reversed, so plus on minus and minus on plus. Trickle chargers work the best as you don't want them to charge too quickly.
- When fully charged, discharge the battery again with a bulb. Of course plus on minus pole and minus on plus pole.
- Replace the water in the battery and charge the normal way.**

By reverse charging the corrosion will let go of the plates, making sure the battery works fully again.
Oh, this will take a few days to do. You don't want to quickly charge them, so a trickle charger will be necessary.

off topic, but related: any metal can be cleaned by electrocuting it while it sits in a bath of soda water. Rust removal by electrolysis
Of course, no soda in a battery, that wouldn't be very healthy!

**This tip I got years ago, and not too sure if you have to replace the water. Will give an update on this when I find the post back in the car forum

**donP** · 06-21-2010, 10:00 AM

Our batteries get a very harsh treatment:
DAILY they are depleted down to about 30% of their capacity and then brought up again during the day in three intervals (total time = 2hrs.)
The previous set we had was Trojan-T105 and lasted 3 years 10 months which IMO was good.

As said this time we are at 3 years almost (mid August) and - si Dios quiere - I hope the new ones will be my X-mas gift...

I do equalize them from time to time but maybe not as long as I should.

Prices in La Sirena, SFdM, last week:

US2250: 2,499.- (RD$)
Trojan, black: 3,645.-
Trojan, T-105: 4,600.-
Trace, T-105: 3,750.-
Trace, T-115: 3,975.-
Trace, T-135: 4,450.-

Trace should be "Trace" as TRACE (now Xantrex) does NOT make batteries.

donP

**Daniel10** · 06-21-2010, 10:01 AM

Originally Posted by windeguy

I suspect the reverse charging of lead acid batteries would be very dangerous.

A little, if you reverse charge a charged battery, yes things could very likely go bad. That's why you need to discharge it.
Just do a quick google search, there are a lot of topics, there are even packages for sale to do this.
And no, you don't need to replace the water in the battery.

There are dangers, of course. You're working with a chemical reaction. So do it safe, and protecting your eyes and skin, just in case.

And yes doing it repeatedly with the same battery will shorten the life in the end. But then you already saved your wallet.
I would certainly do it, if necessary. Of course it's up to you to do it or not. But it's been done before and with a higher success rate than failure.
The failure was usually reversed charging of a charged battery or using a battery that was reversed charged.