Battery life.

[Mark Jesic]

Good point Lew, and thanks for the response.

[Mark Jesic]

Well after firing the jeep up, with a sluggish battery, i have succumbed, and got out the new battery and poured the acid into it, 1/4 inch above the cells. Its now charging up nicely. On the downside ,i left the kitchen door open, and my better half is not impressed with the smell (the battery acid, not me).

[YLG80]

Don't smoke near the battery while it's charging!
Your wife would think that you are making too much noise when the hydrogen generated would explode.
Yves

[Joe Gopan]

Battery life also depends on using Distilled Water when doing PM, hard water is not so easy on the battery.

[Mark Jesic]

Point taken Yves, im still alive. Also good advice Joel. I wait till the good lady defrosts the fridge, and take the ice and water. Over here our water can be heavily chlorinated in certain areas, which is BAD for any battery.

[W. Winget]

Distilled water should be available in any decent grocery store, (we have it by the gallon) if not pharmaceutical suppliers (drug store here)would have it.
Rain water would be an alternative unless your down wind from a volcano or industrial complex
V/R W Winget

[Mark Jesic]

Wingett, no volcanoes in England ,thankfully, although we were slightly affected by the one in Iceland a few years ago.

[raymond]

De-ionized water will work just as well as distilled water.

Raymond

[Mark Jesic]

New battery is now fully charged, although it did take 36 hours trickle charge to get it that way. Maybe by charger isnt what it used to be, at 30 odd years old maybe its time for a new one. Can you still get 6v chargers in the U.K. ?

[raymond]

Using a slow (trickle) charger is the best way to charge a battery, especially one that is very low. It is about the only way to safely bring back a severely discharged battery and still get some useful life out of it.

Raymond

[Mark Jesic]

Well, the jeep has stood for three weeks, after some minor surgery on it, i fired it up with the new battery on today. Fired up first time, and she had a good 8 mile run. She ran beautifully, and got some admiring glances and thumbs up from other motorists. Got her home, and checked the battery and it was bubbling nicely. A really good morning, and the good lady came and enjoyed it, AND it didnt rain.

[Joe Gopan]

The Caterpiller Battery in my MB started to fail today.Normally I get 7 years out of the Caterpillar Battery My NOKO Genius 3500 Smart Charger added 3 Years, 3 Months to this battery. I have had 4 or 5 Cat Batteries in my MB. Used to use Exide. Going on 10 Years on the US 2 HN's in my M-38A1, up from 5 years. Smart Chargers do work.

[W. Winget]

My NOKO Genius 3500 Smart Charger added 3 Years, 3 Months to this battery.

So the real question is the cost of the smart charger offsetting the cost of the device plus electricity for 820 days (19,680 hours) of electricity paid into it?
Not assuming the 7 years (61,320 hours) it was hooked up in addition to the above 3 years.....

81,000 hours of juice went in to gain 3 years life?

I agree it will extend the life, but at what cost VS buying a new one at 7 years.
V/R W Winget

[raymond]

Not really germane to the subject of the economics of using a battery maintainer, but I installed an onboard 2 bank battery charger/maintainer/conditioner in my boat. This is the one I currently use. (I used to use a portable one and alternate which battery it was hooked to every couple of days)


https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00CB ... UTF8&psc=1


It is a 18.5 foot Four Winns with a 150 horse 4 stroke Yamaha. I boat on the Mississippi River. That is no place to get ready to start your boat and hear "click" from a dead battery, especially if there is noone around to jump or tow you, and especially if a barge is baring down on you. That is why I have 2 batteries, a battery switch, and the above referenced charger. I run on battery 1 on Saturdays, and battery 2 on Sundays. Here is the switch I use.

https://www.amazon.com/Perko-8501DP-Mar ... -1-catcorr

Which brings me to my point; I would suspect a lot of people use a battery charger/maintainer/conditioner in their military vehicle because it sits unused a great deal of time, and they don't want to hear that "click" when they want to go for a ride.


Raymond

[wreckless]

That is correct, Raymond. A vehicle is no use to you if it can't run.