Battery Water.

Wot ?? No comment form Krusty ?

 

Since you have invoked the spirit of krusty kritter (Krusty never
posts to rmt),
the following comments are in order:

The OP *never* wrote what voltage and RPM his regulator cycled at, and
still hasn't done so.

Furthermore, battery *electrolyte* and battery *acid* are two
different things.

There are four times when the motorcycle rider adds *electrolyte* to a
battery:

1. When first filling up a new battery to the upper level line;

2. After it has sat for half an hour, fibrous separator plates and the
spongy lead plates may absorb some of the *electrolyte* so it has to
be topped up again, with *electrolyte.

3. When the new battery is almost fully charged, it may be necessary
to add electrolyte again, bringing the level back up to the full level
line.

4. When a battery is being "rescued" from a long period of field
service without being charged on the bench, the *electrolyte* level is
brought up to the full line by adding *distilled water*, but when the
battery is as fully charged as possible, considering its condition, it
should be topped up with *electrolyte* to the upper level line.

Going through the procedure of bench charging a used battery and then
topping it up with *distilled water* after charging is simply
ignorant.

 

Oddly enough though, his description made it clear
to a number of people that he had an overcharging
problem. Only one of those who responded seemed to
not grasp this.

Agreed. Anybody but a total ignoramus would
add the distilled water first.

 

good number of this learned to add the distilled water FIRST before we
could legally drive/ride. Besides it's just common sense to do that.
Doesn't do much good charging a battery if it isn't topped off.

 

"What we have heah is failuah to commun'cate." ---Strother Martin,
"Cool Hand Luke."

 

Your experience with batteries is rather *limited*, isn't it?

 

What you have here is a failure to get it, compounded
by an unwillingness to admit you don't get it.

Very unsurprising.
you don't get it.

 

Yet he's able to grasp that which eludes you.

 

yeah, I've only been dealing with them 35 years. No experience at all.

 

Arguing with you is like arguing with religious fundamentalists.

It's an article of faith (in spite the obvious facts) with you people
that NO acid is ever pushed out the vent tube.

It's also an article of faith that *only* oxygen and hydrogen exit the
vent tube.

If that's the case, *why* does the vent tube ALWAYS point DOWN,
instead of UP?

When I worked on general aviation aircraft, I had occasion to install
a battery vent system with a draft tube on the bottom of the vent
hose.

A draft tube provides positive venting of the battery box. The tube is
cut
on an angle so that turbulence behind the draft tube sucks gasses (and
liquids) out of the battery box.

The vent tube pointed DOWN, not up.

 

Oh shut up you moron. You were dead wrong and now in your impotent
attempts to redirect people from your incompetance you yet again draw
up lies and strawman arguments. Go **** yourself you uneducated
incompetant moron...you don't even OWN or ride motorcycles much less
ever worked on one.

 

Not a matter of faith at all. I ran an off-grid house for 10
years off a lead/acid battery bank and observed over the
course of 10 years that an annual topping off with distilled
water and charging restored the electrolyte density just fine.

I already provided several links on battery maintenance.

Here's another good one from a lead/acid battery manufacturer.

http://www.trojanbattery.com/Tech-Support/BatteryMaintenance.aspx

Lessee now. Who should I believe ? Krusty or the manufacturer ?

That one's a real puzzler alright.

So what ? What mechanism(s) do you believe cause
loss of H2SO4 ? Only ones I'm aware of are spills and
overfilling, both of which are caused only by stupidity.

None of the above changes the fact that you misdiagnosed
the OPs problem and offered stupid and inappropriate advice.

I only point it out because you may not be aware that
you do this sometimes and then compound it by getting
emotionally invested in your incorrect answer.

 

When a battery gasses, electrolyte is *lifted* to the top of the cell
by the bubbles,
just like crude oil is lifted to the surface by the escape of methane
gas under pressure, or aquarium water is circulated by a bubble lift
pump.

When the bubbles in your battery burst, electrolyte is splattered all
over any available surface.

Just look at the top of a car battery that has filler caps.

There will be a film of electrolyte on top of the battery.

Just look at the battery cables on cars whose owners don't clean them
regularly.

They'll be covered with acid crystals.

Motorcycle batteries also have a problem with vibration in the battery
area.

Vibration causes the electrolyte to spritz at the surface, helping the
escaping gasses to carry electrolyte out of the battery.

Furthermore, consider the fact that motorcycle batteries do not always
remain level, they are being tilted from side to side, sloshing the
electrolyte at the surface.

Some electrolyte must surely be lost from a flooded cell lead acid
battery.

 

bullshit. It's been explained ad nauseum at both a professional level
and a bubba level and still you continue to deny reality. Damn you are
one STUPID inDUHvidual.

you life failure.

 

Not enough to significantly affect the electrolyte
density. As I've said, don't take my word for it.
Consult any manufacturer's maintenance instructions.

How hard is that ?

 

When a battery gasses, electrolyte is *lifted* to the top of the cell
by the bubbles,
just like crude oil is lifted to the surface by the escape of methane
gas under pressure, or aquarium water is circulated by a bubble lift
pump.

When the bubbles in your battery burst, electrolyte is splattered all
over any available surface.

Just look at the top of a car battery that has filler caps.

There will be a film of electrolyte on top of the battery.

 

There are lots of questionable urban myths, like only adding distilled
water to a battery that's low on electrolyte.

The battery manufacturers just don't want the ordinary customer to get
involved in mixing electrolyte because of product liability.

There is also the fact that if there were more knowledgeable battery
owners keeping their batteries alive for 9 or 10 years the sales of
new batteries would be reduced.

 

I'm in an internet cafe in the Atacama and have just chuckled out loud.

 

I sort of figured we were going to get to a conspiracy
of evil battery manufacturers to suppress this stuff
that you're asserting.

 

<Drain Man mode>

Bush did it!

</dmm>