# Topping off old school lead acid batteries made easy



## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

This may have been covered before but I just wanted to post this for someone new to doing maintenance
on the old school batteries. Topping your batteries with distilled water can be a pain.
But with an old school tool it's really easy. Just put the nozzle in the fill hole and press down it will fill
the cell to just the right amount then stop. Years ago when I was working at the Rambler/AMC dealership 
before the day of "maintenance" topping the battery was just part of servicing a car when it came in for 
an oil change and this is what we used. I hope this helps someone out


----------



## PaulS (Mar 11, 2013)

Remember to use distilled water in your batteries - especially if you use a well with higher than normal amounts of minerals in the water. Those minerals will kill a battery fast.


----------



## rickkyw1720pf (Nov 17, 2012)

If we are talking taking care of batteries then get a battery hydrometer. Walmart has them for a couple dollars next to the anti-freeze tester another thing to have.

PS: A little battery fact, if you let your battery get down below 11 volts the it can freeze in cold weather also if the battery voltage gets to low the internal resistance will be so high that most battery chargers will not charge it because to the charger the battery will look fully charged. So you will have to do something to force current through it before it will start charging again.


----------



## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

rickkyw1720pf said:


> If we are talking taking care of batteries then get a battery hydrometer. Walmart has them for a couple dollars next to the anti-freeze tester another thing to have.
> 
> PS: A little battery fact, if you let your battery get down below 11 volts the it can freeze in cold weather also if the battery voltage gets to low the internal resistance will be so high that most battery chargers will not charge it because to the charger the battery will look fully charged. So you will have to do something to force current through it before it will start charging again.


 Does anyone make a low battery buzzer that doesn't have a bunch of extra stuff on it?


----------



## budgetprepp-n (Apr 7, 2013)

yes you are right PaulS I should have mentioned that 
Need to keep in mind there some people on here that have never messed with anything like this before it's a good idea not to 
leave anything out. I didn't know anything about setting up a solar system but with advice and suggestion from forum members
it was easy -sort of LOL


----------

