battery acid/electrolyte?

[750Y]

I have an unused sealed 12v battery that i want to use. The same battery is used by DOC to power some sort of beacons. The manual recommends an electrolyte of dilute sulphuric acid. Where do i get this stuff from? the local garage tried to tell me to just use unchlorinated water which is easy as I'm not on town supply & have plenty but it's not what the instructions say...
any takers?

[scooterboynz]

if its a sealed battery not much you can do? is it a gel cel? how old and how many amp hours? i know the gel cels have a life of five to eight years

[Ixion]

Any battery place (Marshall's, Battery Town etc) will be able to supply electrolyte (which, as you say, is dilute sulphuric acid). They may prefer you take the battery in and have them fill it, cos the acid is a little bit nasty and they sometimes don't like selling it in case someone does something silly and it comes back on them

[vifferman]

I have an unused sealed 12v battery that i want to use. The same battery is used by DOC to power some sort of beacons. The manual recommends an electrolyte of dilute sulphuric acid. Where do i get this stuff from? the local garage tried to tell me to just use unchlorinated water which is easy as I'm not on town supply & have plenty but it's not what the instructions say...

Does this mean that it's currently dry, or very low? If so, then what Ixion said. If it's just not charged, given that it's sealed, you shouldn't have to do anything to it.
If, however, the electrolyte's just a bit low, you can buy distilled water from the supermarket, ~$10 for 10 litres.

Incidentally, using distilled water for batteries that aren't 'sealed' or 'low maintenance' makes a HUGE difference. I got 7+ years (it was still the same battery when I sold it) out of the battery on my VF500 by only ever using distilled water to top it up.

[750Y]

sorry, it's brand new but been stored for a few years still in the box. it has a foil seal over the holes still(never broken) & supposedly just needs electrolyte & it is instantly charged. I've had it in my shed a few years but now i have a use for it. i rang a couple places & they told me they had no idea. will try battery town etc. I just want to power a portable electric fence unit with it.

[scooterboynz]

last time i bought a battery was for my girlfriends bike , it came with the electrolyte in little bottles which you peirced over the individual cells , this didnt how ever instantly charge the battery , it still had to be placed on charge over night so yep go to a proper battery place they will be able to help you !

[Virago]

sorry, it's brand new but been stored for a few years still in the box. it has a foil seal over the holes still(never broken) & supposedly just needs electrolyte & it is instantly charged.........

Yep, any battery shop should sell you the electrolyte for the job. It usually comes in a squeezable dispenser bottle, with a filling tube.

However, the battery won't be at full charge when the acid is added, you'll need to trickle-charge it for a least 24 hours.

[XTC]

Sealed lead acid motorcycle batteries use a higher specific gravity (1300) than normal motorcycle batteries. Normal motorcycle batteries used a higher specific gravity(1280) mix than car batteries (1260). Also you need to find out the correct volume of acid for your battery as sealed batteries when filled with the correct volume of acid rarely cover the plates - overfilling is not reccommended. Motorcycle shops can order you the correct acid pack for your battery if itis a motorcycle one. If they don't know where to get them tell them to contact R2 or darbi's.

[Pixie]

What the man means is that he has a brand new,unused,dry charged,maintenance required battery.
Get the electrolyte from a battery company.
PS rain water/tank water is not deionised try to get some D I or distilled H2O