Lead acid battery watering is a task you have to do every now and again, it’s part of the regular battery maintenance schedule that keeps your forklift truck batteries performing as well as they should. We’ve had a look at the best practices you should follow when you’re watering your lead acid batteries.

WHAT LIQUID IS IN A LEAD ACID BATTERY?

The liquid in your lead-acid battery is called electrolyte which is a mixture of sulphuric acid and water. When your battery charges, the electrolyte heats up and some of the water evaporates so over time the electrolyte level in the battery lowers over time due.

If that electrolyte level gets too low, then the plates inside the battery cells become exposed and get damaged as well as the sulphuric acid becoming more concentrated due to low amount of water in the mix.

To stop this happening it’s important to make sure that the lead acid battery watering task is carried out as part of your schedule or when an indicator on your battery, like the SmartBlinky, tells you to.

WHAT KIND OF WATER DO YOU PUT IN A BATTERY?

Not tap water that’s for sure! Tap water contains minerals and micro particulates that are harmful to batteries, more so in water softened by water softeners that contain chlorides.

There are a couple of options depending on what is going to best for your situation. You can buy bottles of pure/distilled/deionized water and get them delivered to your facility. This works fine for really small sites with low usage batteries although this would rely on you having to water the batteries by hand and manually check the levels when you are filling the battery.

Another option is to make it yourself. All you’ll need a simple tap water feed and a demineralisation device such as the Hydropure. It’s really easy to use and creates the water you need to water your lead acid batteries. Once connected to the water supply the tap water flows in, the special resin filters the metals and minerals out of the water and you’re left with the deionised, demineralised, distilled water that’s suitable for use with your forklift truck battery. The cartridge needs to be changed periodically, depending on the quality of the water going in to the unit. The HydroPure System lets you know when you will need to and there a replacement PS-600 Cartridges available to buy.

HOW MUCH WATER DO YOU ADD TO YOUR BATTERY?

That’s a tricky question to answer as it varies from one battery to the next depending on the age, condition and size of the battery. This is one reason why we recommend using a battery filling system like the AFS.

A battery filling system uses float valves that are placed into the vent caps and connected to each other via tubing or hoses. They are designed to stop your battery from over-filling, save you time when watering the battery and are considerably safer to use compared to watering by hand. All you do is run your distilled water into the connector and the AFS battery filling system does the rest.

There you go, a little bit of information about what liquid is in a lead acid battery, what you should use to refill it and how to carry out lead acid battery watering safely! If you have any questions or comments get in touch below or via hello@batteryaccessories.net