Sealed batteries

[SIR tricky]

I was reading a web site about different types of batteries several days ago, I think it was when one of our members re-filled his battery with acid rather than distilled water after it had dried out. The battery in question was a regular wet cell battery. On the site it mentioned that it was wise to also check the level on a sealed wet cell battery.
Hmmm, I thought, It's sealed how can it dry out. Well they obviously can. My last purchase was a wet cell sealed battery, I also keep a battery tender on it to keep it fully charged. I decided to go for a ride yesterday, hit the switch.. dead bike. After checking several things, although the battery was showing 12V+ it was dead, I hooked up my garden tractor to it with a set of jumpers and it attempted to turn over ( battery too small) but it did show me that the installed battery was dead. This battery was installed June 06 so I was amazed when I opened the seal and found it was totally dry.
I purchased an Odyssey PC680MJ and installed it and of course plenty of power.
I am going to fill the battery with distilled water and charge it, if it is any good it can power my lawn mower for a while.
The bottom line.. is yes A SEALED BATTERY CAN RUN DRY.

[jcmaun]

Tricky,
Thanks for the "word to the wise." I installed a similar battery at about the same time, so will definitely be checking the water level.

[Guest]

water? what water? i have no stinking water! i got a dry cell battery :mrgreen:

[MikeM]

Thanks for the tip. Now that I'm back to riding the Pacific Coast again, I noticed the battery (sealed) is acting a little strange. I've had it for a little over 3 years and never checked it. Maybe it's a little low. I'll see if I can find someone that won't mind checking it for me. It's a major pain even getting to the battery on that bike.

[William_86]

yes i had a couple of sealed batteries went dry with other bikes.