Battery Leaked

[bassinOUT89]

So i have a dual purpose power series 120 from bass pro. Over night It tipped over and leaked out what I'm guessing is acid. I hosed it down and hosed down the plastic container. Will it still hold a charge? Do I need to add water to it? If so is there a safe way to do so?

[RSM789]

I am not a battery expert, but I have ruined a few pair of jeans from battery acid, so I have a little experience. 

 

You should add water to any cells that are low, use distilled water.  However, from what I understand, if the battery is a "No Maintenance" battery, then the problem is you can't completely reseal the cells after you open it up.  No matter how careful you are, you will end up leaking battery acid on your clothes, boat and everything else it can destroy.  In that situation, it is better to bite the bullet & get a new battery, even though in theory it will work.

 

If the battery is the kind designed for maintenance, then you should be okay.  Open each cell and add distilled water as needed & seal them back up.

[bassinOUT89]

Well the battery is supposed to be no maintenance. I didn't add water to it. I cleaned it up and dried it. I'm charging it now. It's under warranty so if it doesn't work I'll just go swap it out.

[BassnChris]

I would mix some baking soda with a little water......and pour it on where ever the acid got to neutralize it and then flush the area very well.

[bassinOUT89]

She's got a full charge now, we'll see what happens tomorrow on the lake.

[Way2slow]

How much did it leak out?

Yes, most likely you can refill, but you would want to do so with electrolyte, since it leaked out, and not just dis tiled water. When a battery looses liquid normally, it's through evaporation, so they only lose mostly water, so you just refill them with distilled water, but when turned over and it leaks out, it loses the acid, and if you just add water it's running at a diluted state, making the cells that lost it weaker.

However, with that said, if you lost a lot of the acid, you have significantly reduced the life of the battery, but they probably have the caps under the label so you will damage the label and they would know you opened it and void the warrenty. So, now you have to play a little poker with it. Does it last until just after the warrenty and then gives out, so you wish you had added electrolyte when it first happened, or do you wait and see if it goes bad while there is enough warrenty to make it worth swapping it out, using the warrenty.

You migh want to see just how the warrenty works, most of the time, after much more than a year, the way they prorate them, it really does not save you much, if any money to use the warrenty.

You should have six round disc in the top of the battery with slots cut in them. If so, these are flush mounted caps and can be removed by turning them a 1/4 to 1/2 turn CCW wth a large screw driver or a quarter held with a pair of pliers, You only want to fill them to about 3/4" from the top.

The funny part is, some companies say you should check/refil them but the the seller will void the warrenty if you remove the caps. The main difference between maintenance free and regular batteries is the amount of electrolyte they hold, the MF has smaller plates so it can hold more. That's why you see MF batteries have lower capacity numbers than those you can service.

The next trick is going to be finding a small amount of electrolyte, the last couple of times I've bought it, I had to get in a container that's several gallons, which I use a fair amount of it anyway.