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Old March 5th 05, 07:30 PM
Lawrence Glickman
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On Sat, 05 Mar 2005 16:26:29 GMT, "Gideon" > wrote:

>LG,
>
>I learned this many years ago, probably because I'm such a cheap SOB.


The word is "Frugal" Gideon. I like to think of myself as, eh,
"thrifty," yeah that's it

>Sometimes those covers over the cells are extremely difficult to remove,
>but I refuse to let a manufacturer convince me that a wet lead-acid battery
>is "maintenance free."


As Mr Romain says, this -has- to be a SCAM. Why? Maybe because the
mfgr. can sell -more- batteries this way, by saying leave em alone,
they're "sealed for Life." ???

> I know that I once spent considerable time with a
>Dremmel tool cutting loose the battery cell covers which had been bonded
>to the battery case. I got many more good years of service out of that
>"maintenance free battery" by treating it the old-fashioned way.


See there, although in fairness, Al Bundy might be correct that I need
to keep an eye on this thing. But it is OEM 2003 and I think I should
expect 5 years out of a battery. IOW, I =should= be able to use this
thing for at least another 2 or 3 years. In fact, I had one that went
7 years in a Merc Tracer.

>"Maintenance Free" is often little more than a euphemism for a battery
>which is designed to fail prematurely because the manufacturer made it
>difficult to add water.


Hear Hear. They could be doing this because it is protection against
lawsuits from consumers fooling around with hydrogen gas and sulphuric
acid. Or maybe they're just _greedy_.

> Valve-regulated lead-acid technology is a great
>theory, but I still trust visual inspection and the addition of distilled water
>a few time per year. How much effort is that, really?


Took me 2 seconds, but I wouldn't normally have looked since the
hydrometer ball is still green. I am pretty sure it wouldn't have
been green much longer if I didn't get to it when I did.

>As you know, the big rules to get maximum life out of a wet lead-acid
>battery a
> 1) Top off the charge - avoid even modest undercharge states.
> 2) Avoid deep cycle.
> 3) Examine and top off the water.
> 4) Avoid high temperatures (>104 ?), especially during recharging.
> Many bad things happen to lead-acid wet cells at high temperatures.
> Charging at high temps is particularly bad because it results in
> improper battery chemistry which shortens battery life. I can't
> remember the particular wrong chemical reactions anymore. Let
> me know if you remember.
>
>Isn't it fun defeating planned obsolescence?


It is fun beating the &astards at their own game 8-).

>Gideon


Lg
( MISTER Frugal, eh..."Thrifty )
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