Battery help!!

[simurray]

Hi there,

To begin, thanks for all the advice so far, keeping an eye on other people's threads usually solve all my problems but I can't find the answer to this!!
My TA is struggling to start on a Monday morning after a weekends rest in the garage. I've deduced that the battery is at fault so taken it out for an overnight charge to see if that helps. It's an MF CT12A-BS super sealed battery and I'm wondering whether it needs a wee top-up of water. It has six holes along the top with rubber caps on but do I just pur distilled water in until it reaches the top or is there some other method? Can they be topped up at all? I'm thinking I may jus have to buy a new battery..
Many thanks
Simon

[severs]

"sealed" battery means exactly that. You are not meant to open it.

Modern batteries are not filled with watery solution, they are filled with a solution in a gel. This has a number of advantages, not least of which is that they don't spill acid all over the place if they crack open! After all, it's right next to your leg.

But this means you can't top them up. Don't even try.

The stoppered holes are the holes through which the gel was originally injected at the factory.


If you can't make it get better with a charger or a "battery conditioner", a new battery might be the answer. Another gel-filled battery is best. Yuasa make the "standard" one.

Mine gave up after 7 years of year-round use and it is now relegated to being the low-capacity mains-fail backup battery for a low-current 12-volt device I have in my house.

Some gel batteries last longer; others die young.

[simurray]

cheers for that. I think some battery shopping is called for!

[j]

Calm down check your battery first, see if it is Gell filled if not you can just fill it with Distilled water from your kettle up to the level marks. I work with batteries and only specialised batteries are permenently sealed.