Sunday, October 25, 2009

Good advice and the art of battery maintenance

Well, here I am, trying to take a photograph of what it looks like when doing routine battery maintenance. A word about battery maintenance: This is perhaps not an ideal situation in which to pick up a mating partner unless, of course, you stumble across a prospective companion who is turned on by protective eye wear, rubber gloves and a headlight.
That headlight thing is to be able to peak into the holes of each cell to see how much water you need to add.
"Battery maintenance" involves mostly adding completely sterile water in each little cell, and occasionally rubbing the knobs where wires are attached with a little petroleum jelly. This is not something I've discovered myself, of course. I've just read a million times that this prolongs the life of the batteries, and in general makes them work better. Not only solar power weirdos say so, but car people too. Millions and millions of grease monkeys and shop owners and automobile fanatics. So I'm taking a wild chance that all these people know something I don't.
This is, however, one of those things you can never, ever suggest anybody else should do. I know a number of people with small solar systems in summer houses or remote skiing cabins, and usually they have spent weeks and weeks of wages on a system that ends up powering two measly small lamps a couple of weekends a year.
And they have never, ever added water to the battery. Usually they seem to never even have heard of the concept, which is interesting as almost all of them have cars.
I am not such a genius when it comes to taking heed of advice myself. This is probably an evolved chimp-thing, a trait most of us share. We will all run around with scissors and jump into the water straight after eating until it kills us.
If sloshing water into the cells does not feel right for you, go for sealed batteries, which are actually, and incredibly, just about as maintenance-free as the people who make them claim. But if you, like me, go for the batteries that look sort of like car batteries, fill them up every now and then, until the liquid almost reaches the bottom of the vent well. It's hard to say how often this should be done. I haven't done it for half a year and boy, I should have done this a lot earlier. And only use absolutely sterile water, and (not shown) an absolutely clean funnel.
There are automated systems for watering batteries, too. This can make some sense, but also looks suspiciously much like just yet another doo-dad.

Update: Read the comments. Turns out rubber gloves and distilled water are more optional than I thought.

6 comments:

coastkid said...

dont worry about the rubber gloves,theres a big `rubber fetish `this now...,though it is embarassing when single buying big tubs of vasoline,i prefer to go to the shops by bicycle so when you crack the joke about needing it for all the cycling you do the young girl at the till believes you!!!

Oldfool said...

I have lived with flooded lead acid batteries for over 35 years (house and starting batteries in boats and house cars) so my experience has been extensive.
I no longer use distilled water as I find the battery last just as long (about 5 years) with plain tap water. Besides every since my step-daughter did the science experiment in high school (checking the purity of water) and found the tap water to be cleaner than store bought distilled I have shied away from the added expense. My iron doesn't seem to care either. I would stay away from water with heavy mineral content.
I have used everything from a coffee cup to a insulated water bottle for filling. I now use a large turkey baster that I got in a dollar store three to a package for a buck.
I never use and have never used rubber gloves when dealing with the batteries because I think that the only thing a man can do well with gloves on is pee his pants. If it gets on your skin it will sting a little but I pour a little water on it and wipe and I'm good to go. It will eat your jeans into another dimension never to be seen again.
I just bought two new 12v batteries, one flooded and one sealed. The price was about the same for each and warranties are the same. No matter how I do maintenance both kinds go at least to the warranty and usually beyond by varying amounts.
Lead acid batteries do not like a discharged state of any level. The secret to long life is keeping the charge topped up and in the case of the flooded type keeping the plates covered.
I have known battery fanatics to get 10 years (so they say) out of a flooded lead acid battery.

Northmark said...

This is great feedback. I am generally not one for following instructions ("brake pads only to be adjusted by professional or you will die!") but those warnings about acid and the need for rubber gloves and distilled water has, it is now obvious, brainwashed me completely.

The mineral content in my drinking water (filtered rain) must surely be low enough to be safe?

ine bv said...

Hei,
Jeg kom over bloggen din da jeg surfet rundt på temaet "bo i marka". Det er jeg glad for! Veldig lærerik og inspirerende. Jeg har lenge tenkt på å flytte ut i marka, men aldri skjønt helt hvordan jeg skal få dette til. Har ikke funnet noen hytter til salgs eller leie, men i det siste har jeg tenkt på lavvo. Da tenker jeg mest på den typen som er bygd av tre, og som på mange måter virker som en mobil hytte.
Selv kommer jeg fra et lite sted og er vandt til å telte hvor det passer meg, men noe sier meg at Oslomarka er annerledes, vet du noe om reglementet her? Lurer også på om du vet om andre som bor i skogene rundt Oslo. Håper å finne noen, som jeg i beste fall kan dra nyttige tips utav!
Mvh Ine B Vik

Northmark said...

For et spennende prosjekt, Ine!
Generelt er reglene slik at man ikke skal telte mer enn tre netter i strekk på samme sted. Folk jeg kjenner som har jobbet i fiskeadministrasjonen har fortalt meg at kommer de over langtidsleirplasser har de pleid å pakke sammen ting på mest mulig ryddig måte, og bare satset på at når beboeren kommer tilbake er hintet oppfattet og vedkommende flytter på seg. Man havner altså neppe i fengsel.
Jeg kjenner folk som har bodd i årevis i selvlagde små skur og i lavvoer. Det er ganske lett å finne seg et sted der ingen noen gang kommer. MEN DETTE GJELDER IKKE VED VANN. Det går skogsbilvei til nesten hvert eneste vann i Nordmarka, og det vil aldri gå mer enn et par dager uten at noen stikker innom.
Skulle jeg gjort som deg ville jeg valgt en såkalt "gamme" fra Venor (http://www.mamut.net/venor/subdet145.htm). Jeg ville nok vurdert å lage et skikkelig gulv, og så kan man isolere gammen om vinteren (finnes flere alternativ).
Min erfaring er at å bygge med tre krever helt avsindige mengder med transport og bæring, og man vil garantert bli oppdaget underveis i prosessen av å bli observert bærende på trelast.
Lafter man seg en bu med trevirke fra tomten der man har tenkt å slå seg ned risikerer man større problemer i forhold til grunneier.
En del interessant informasjon om forskjellige bostrukturer her: http://www.simplydifferently.org/
Send gjerne epostadresse for mer kontakt!

ine bv said...

Hei, tusen takk for gode råd og info! Slikt har jeg lett lenge etter.
Dette med at permanent telting ikke er lov, har nok vært et av de største hindre i planleggningen min, jeg er ikke kjent nok i marka til å kjenne til hvilke plasser som ville vært passende. Men det er klart, jeg hadde ikke tenkt å bygge opp lavvoen på stranda ved sognsvann heller.
Av lavvoer har jeg faktisk sett på modellen Gamme, og tenkt mye av det samme. Du har nok helt rett i det med å bygge i tre. Har sett en morsom modell fra LavvoNova, men det får bli når jeg engang skaffer meg en lovlig permanent leirplass!
Har også fått tips om å flytte opp på en campingplass. Vel er det nære skogen, men det var ikke helt hva jeg drømte om.
E-post adr. er inevik@hotmail.com,
jeg blir bare glad for innspill/diskusjon rundt dette, mange jeg kjenner har ikke mer å si enn at det er skjære galskap.
Ine