Yuasa YTX20L-BS battery...can I add water to this?

Patrick Maloney · Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 1

I have a '98 Kawi SXi Pro. I've been a little lax in trickle charging the
original battery regularly during the off-season. I tried charging it.
After 12 hours, the charger said it was done. Put it in the ski and barely
got a click. Pulled it out and just tapped the terminals with a
screwdriver (sorry, the only "battery tester" I had on me) and got nothing
resembling a spark. I'm figuring the battery is done.

I pulled off the sealed caps and they were a little wet from turning the
battery sideways during insertion, but there was no obvious fluid covering
the plates.

Can I add distilled water to this or is this a gel battery you can't do
that to?

A Walmart-brand Everstart replacement is $63. Sears DieHard is around
$100. Any comments on these?

tia,
Patrick

Archived from group: rec>sport>jetski

Lost In Space/Woodchuck · Joined: 17 Aug 2007 Posts: 6

Get a new battery, they don't last forever.

"Patrick Maloney" wrote in message @66.250.146.128...
>I have a '98 Kawi SXi Pro. I've been a little lax in trickle charging the
> original battery regularly during the off-season. I tried charging it.
> After 12 hours, the charger said it was done. Put it in the ski and
> barely
> got a click. Pulled it out and just tapped the terminals with a
> screwdriver (sorry, the only "battery tester" I had on me) and got nothing
> resembling a spark. I'm figuring the battery is done.
>
> I pulled off the sealed caps and they were a little wet from turning the
> battery sideways during insertion, but there was no obvious fluid covering
> the plates.
>
> Can I add distilled water to this or is this a gel battery you can't do
> that to?
>
> A Walmart-brand Everstart replacement is $63. Sears DieHard is around
> $100. Any comments on these?
>
> tia,
> Patrick

Nobody · Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 11

"Lost In Space/Woodchuck" wrote in$kk.116851@news.sisna.com:

> Get a new battery, they don't last forever.
>

Got the one at Wal-mart. Works fine.

-ron · Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 5

"Nobody" wrote in message @66.250.146.128...
> "Lost In Space/Woodchuck" wrote in
> $kk.116851@news.sisna.com:
>
>> Get a new battery, they don't last forever.
>>
>
> Got the one at Wal-mart. Works fine.
>

Really. I just bought one last week for my '96 Raider 1100 for about $55,
including taxes.
The old one lasted a little over a year before it starting getting weak and
that was with weekly trickle charging and making sure the battery water was
okay.
Wally World batteries are good enough to get you out on the water.
Otherwise, expect to pay quite a bit more at the dealer.
-ron

Chuck · Joined: 17 Aug 2007 Posts: 5

> I pulled off the sealed caps and they were a little wet from turning the
> battery sideways during insertion, but there was no obvious fluid covering
> the plates.
>
> Can I add distilled water to this or is this a gel battery you can't do
> that to?

Probably too late to help you now, but all batteries need to have the plates
covered with water, electrolyte etc. You can even add tap water if you like
to cover them. If you just want to experiment, try the trickle charger
again afterwards.

Nobody · Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 11

"-ron" wrote in$0$20564$4c368faf@roadrunner.com:

>
> "Nobody" wrote in message
> @66.250.146.128...
>> "Lost In Space/Woodchuck" wrote in
>> $kk.116851@news.sisna.com:
>>
>>> Get a new battery, they don't last forever.
>>>
>>
>> Got the one at Wal-mart. Works fine.
>>
>
> Really. I just bought one last week for my '96 Raider 1100 for about
> $55, including taxes.
> The old one lasted a little over a year before it starting getting
> weak and that was with weekly trickle charging and making sure the
> battery water was okay.
> Wally World batteries are good enough to get you out on the water.
> Otherwise, expect to pay quite a bit more at the dealer.
> -ron
>
>
>
>

Battery water? The one I have is a sealed AGM battery...I didn't think you
were supposed to put anything in those.

Nobody · Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 11

"Chuck" wrote in$Xa3.23510@attbi_s22:

>
>> I pulled off the sealed caps and they were a little wet from turning
>> the battery sideways during insertion, but there was no obvious fluid
>> covering the plates.
>>
>> Can I add distilled water to this or is this a gel battery you can't
>> do that to?
>
> Probably too late to help you now, but all batteries need to have the
> plates covered with water, electrolyte etc. You can even add tap
> water if you like to cover them. If you just want to experiment, try
> the trickle charger again afterwards.
>
>
>

You should use distilled water and not tap water. It's an AGM battery so
the water is absorbed into the pads.

JBDragon · Joined: 18 Aug 2007 Posts: 10

"Chuck" wrote in message $Xa3.23510@attbi_s22...
>
>> I pulled off the sealed caps and they were a little wet from turning the
>> battery sideways during insertion, but there was no obvious fluid
>> covering
>> the plates.
>>
>> Can I add distilled water to this or is this a gel battery you can't do
>> that to?
>
> Probably too late to help you now, but all batteries need to have the
> plates covered with water, electrolyte etc. You can even add tap water if
> you like to cover them. If you just want to experiment, try the trickle
> charger again afterwards.
A Sealed battery shouldn't be open again to add fluid. Also adding TAP
Water to a batter is a sure way of destroying it. Tap Water has Minerals in
it that will short out a battery, this is why Distilled water is used!!!
In fact if you plan to flush your Car's Radiator Fluid and want to continue
using the Long lasting 5 year stuff, you should really use Distilled Water
to fill it up along with the Antifreeze, not Tap Water. Again, because the
Minerals in the tap water will cause the Antifreeze to fail far sooner.
Instead of 5 years, you maybe get 2 years before you need to flush again.
Of course people abuse their engine and have lots of problems which keep
lots of people employed to fix them with costly repairs. Tap water is just
fine to drink, but can play havoc with other things.

If you want your battery to last in your Ski, Keep a good Automatic trickle
charger plugged into it and it'll last years, and not just 1 season. The
Battery last far longer when it's always fully charged. If it just sits
around and slowly drains down until dead and sits around like that, you
might as well kiss it goodbye and get a new one.