Curious. Do you check water/electrolyte in "maintenance-free" wet cell/flooded lead-acid batteries?

Maintenance free batteries CAN have caps on them & what I've seen is that they are built better now for LESS water loss. I had some deep cycle no maint. Everstart marines to run my garage w/solar & they were excellent.
CharBaby said:
The battery(marine/deep cycle) for my back-up sump pump in my basement, which is on "maintain" 24/7 lasted 11 years before the lights on the maintainer were flickering RED.
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I did have some Exide's 24 Deep cycle on my Wayne battery backup that kept a constant charge of 14v. They both boiled dry after 1.5 years. Too high voltage. I went to Menards & bought two AGM's and they've been ticking along for 4 years now. Not sure when I'll replace them since that's probably not an area I want to gamble on. I get a lot of water in the spring/summer. House is right in the middle of a big ditch LOL.
 
I want to clear up my motivation behind my rookie questions here.

The whole acid level relevant to the "tube" is what I wasn't sure of. I sure knew what a meniscus is.
I wasn't sure if the meniscus indicated an over-fill. The warning regarding acid creeping up the tube got me.
Also, my aged eyes didn't "see" the difference in Snagg's photos. I see it now.
I particularly liked the "pop" method. Maybe that's it; I need a procedure for everything.

So...my 4 year old G59 in the Ranger (Walmart) took exactly 4 oz. of DI water to meniscusize.....a touch up really.
The new H6 in my V70 (Volvo dealership-7 years ago) had stickers covering the flush caps which hadn't been disturbed.
It took 22 oz. of DI water. No plates were exposed.

I've done periodic overnight charging since 2020 and the family's batteries check out well voltage-wise the morning after I remove the charger.
 
f355spider said:
Snagglefoot cleary showed what you want in the photos above, if it is "full", then the meniscus will show: "A meniscus is a curve in the surface of a molecular substance (water, of course) when it touches another material"
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The proper height is about 1/8" above the plate (normal). The maximum height is the bottom of the vent tube. And you want to add distilled water to cover the plates before charging. After charging (charging may raise the electrolyte level) you can add distilled water so the height is between the normal and maximum.

I think many (myself included) go for the maximum level as it provides the best chance of the plates never being exposed.
 
If you search the clublexus rz forums for 12v battery needs maintenance, you shall see Lexus recommends filling up their new car batteries with DI water from time to time.

They have give you instructions as well. Those batteries also have mini max fill lines on the casing as well
 
Donald said:
The proper height is about 1/8" above the plate (normal). The maximum height is the bottom of the vent tube. And you want to add distilled water to cover the plates before charging. After charging (charging may raise the electrolyte level) you can add distilled water so the height is between the normal and maximum.

I think many (myself included) go for the maximum level as it provides the best chance of the plates never being exposed.
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Yup, thus using the meniscus as the gauge for "full" as the battery manufacturer intended.
 
Donald said:
The manufacturer would say 1/8" over the plates is the proper level. Not the meniscus level. The meniscus level is the "maximum" level.
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Not sure about that...have you seen that in a written manual or instructions for use?

Exide doesn't make the recommendation, then say fill to maximum:
"Top up only with distilled water and maintain the level to the line that indicates, maximum. Never add acid."
 
I did, when batteries I needed still had accessible caps that wouldn't be damaged by trying to remove them, or have them completely covered by stickers, or otherwise made inaccessible.

One battery I had (forgot the make), had mini "dipsticks" markers molded into the case, to show the proper fill level.
 
Maintenance free batteries typically do not have removable caps. That's why they're called maintenance free. I'll bet some of these responses are coming from owners of ordinary maintenance-required type batteries. There are You Tube videos of ya-hoos digging at the battery top to get the caps off maintenance free batteries.
 
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