Battery acid refill help!!

[Cmiller]

So, my charging system for my 81 gs450 wasn't working right, but I think I've fixed it by replacing the rectifier. The old one had a bad diode. But the old rectifier dumped all the acts out of my battery. So it was reading 12v but 0amps. I threw in an old battery for a few months but this ones too old. So is it possible to refill the battery with acid again? If so do I use the same procedure as if it were old or can I somehow clean the battery out with some sort of solution, maybe vinegar? The plastic is semi clear, it looks dirty in there, possible some rust.

 

[chuck hahn]

Get a new one ( sealed )

 

[Guest]

The acid is still there, fill it to the marks with distilled water and let it sit overnight. It will probably start the bike without putting it on a charger. I would not trust it for long term use but it might work for a while if it is not too damaged.The next step is to get rid if what you replaced your R/R with and get a Series R/R, check out or replace your Stator so it will never happen again. There can be stator damage with overcharging issues. There is tons of information on this site about that.

 

[DimitriT]

You can try topping up the cells with distilled water. The battery should have lines on the side which show the correct electrolyte levels. But it sounds like your battery is pretty old. There's really no way to recondition a lead acid battery. If the battery doesn't work after you've topped up the cells then you are looking at getting a replacement.

 

[bwringer]

There's frugal, there's cheap, and then there's just plain silly. This is way into silly territory.

Replace the battery with a modern sealed AGM battery.

And don't just get the cheapest wet battery at Walmart -- it's the same crappy old tech that will go bad fairly quickly and puke acid all over your bike. The few extra bucks for a decent AGM are well worth it.

And make sure you fix your charging system.

As mentioned above, the acid didn't go anywhere; it's the sludge still in the battery but the water boiled off. (Should have paid better attention in chemistry class...) However, the battery is almost certainly damaged by sulfate deposits and even if you try to reconstitute the acid by refilling it with distilled water, it's probably not going to work at all. At best, it will be very weak.

Whatever you do, do NOT just dump in more acid, Coca-Cola, aspirin, or any of the other old hillbilly tricks. It's dead. Recycle and move on with your life.

The problem with hillbilly fixes and/or marginal or cheap batteries is that they also place a lot of strain on the other components of the charging system -- if your Reg/Rect fails, your stator has to work harder and your battery boils dry. If your battery fails or you run around with a marginal battery for very long, the stator and R/R have to work harder and will accumulate damage and fail sooner. It's a balanced system, and each part is important.

 

[storm 64]

Everyone knows you're not supposed to add Coca-Cola and aspirin to your battery silly. You're supposed to drink the Coca-Cola with a few aspirin then pee into your battery... (I always love Brian's posts)

 

[RichDesmond]

There's frugal, there's cheap, and then there's just plain silly. This is way into silly territory.

Replace the battery with a modern sealed AGM battery.

And don't just get the cheapest wet battery at Walmart -- it's the same crappy old tech that will go bad fairly quickly and puke acid all over your bike. The few extra bucks for a decent AGM are well worth it.

And make sure you fix your charging system.

As mentioned above, the acid didn't go anywhere; it's the sludge still in the battery but the water boiled off. (Should have paid better attention in chemistry class...) However, the battery is almost certainly damaged by sulfate deposits and even if you try to reconstitute the acid by refilling it with distilled water, it's probably not going to work at all. At best, it will be very weak.

Whatever you do, do NOT just dump in more acid, Coca-Cola, aspirin, or any of the other old hillbilly tricks. It's dead. Recycle and move on with your life.

The problem with hillbilly fixes and/or marginal or cheap batteries is that they also place a lot of strain on the other components of the charging system -- if your Reg/Rect fails, your stator has to work harder and your battery boils dry. If your battery fails or you run around with a marginal battery for very long, the stator and R/R have to work harder and will accumulate damage and fail sooner. It's a balanced system, and each part is important.

+1000. Actually, it's worse than silly, it's counterproductive and will cost you more in the long run. Maybe a lot more. Get a new, good, battery.