new dry battery

[jimborbm65]

I have just taken delivery of a new lead acid type battery ,dry charged with seperate acid bottles
to add to the cells .
What is the best way to bring this battery to life ?
Add acid , wait for a day to soak , then charge ....or charge straight away etc .
In the past Ive got a battery from the shop ready to go so dont know the best proceedure .
my batteries tend to last 5 years of summer only use which I dont think is too bad really
for this old type of technology . what do you think ?
Regards to all for a very respected forum .
JIM Manchester England .

[barryh]

Jim

Unlike a shop, you have the time to do it right. Add the acid wait overnight to soak shaking out the bubbles then charge it. Snowbum's site covers this in great detail.

With due respect to the shops that do it right I never had a shop charge a battery before giving it to me in my life. They didn't really have the time and I wouldn't wait and being brought up in Manchester I probably used some of the same shops as you.

[Deleted User 287]

Snowbum's site covers this in great detail.

Linky: http://bmwmotorcycletech.info/newbattery.htm

[Roy Gavin]

I had two very expensive gel batteries fail , suddenly and completely,after two years each, so just bought a dry charge self fill cheapy for 20% of the price from the lawn tractor shop.

Figured that if I got a year out of it I was still in front, and it would die slowly and not suddenly and strand me like the high tech stuff.

That was six years ago and it still works like new, best battery I've ever had.

But I only charge it on a trickle charger, and I dont jump start a flat battery, ever.

[Garnet]

"Figured that if I got a year out of it I was still in front, and it would die slowly and not suddenly and strand me like the high tech stuff."

That is the design of many modern batteries. In particular the ones with a low self-discharge rate, they perform very well through their life span but give almost no warning before they fail.