[Ravi Parwan]

Congratulations on reaching 100K with Redsparkle in just 3 years. You sir have the wanderlust in you....

Originally Posted by abirnale

• Battery check: found that the distilled water levels had gone to almost dry level. Topped up from another spare battery and it is fine now. Apparently if we fill in the fresh distilled water, the battery ned to charge with external inputs. Since it will take more time, the ASC used their spare battery, transferred the distilled water form their battery into my car's battery. I am expecting the battery to give up sooner than later - have to be prepared for jump-start or replacements!

I find this very strange that the ASC is doing this. When you add distilled water to a battery, it immediately mixes with the acid within the cells. You can not remove distilled water from a battery, period. So they took out acid from their battery and added to yours. I can't understand why.

Adding acid to a working battery is generally contraindicated. Normally, when a battery gets discharged, the pH drops. It is restored when the the battery charges. You almost never need to add acid to a lead acid battery, unless there is an abnormal drop in pH of the cell. When that happens, the battery is anyways unable to hold a sufficient charge. Since you were able to reach the ASC without needing a jump, the battery was still in normal operating range and did not need acid, IMHO.

Further, the theory that the battery would need to be charged on adding water is fully bogus. You charge the battery and then add water, as the electrolyte expands on charging so if you are adding water to a depleted battery, it will lead to leaks. Hope that doesn't happen in your case.

Finally, you are absolutely right in assuming that the battery will die sooner due to adding acid instead of water. Fingers crossed...

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by JediKnight

I would recommend battery change as soon as possible.

Originally Posted by Ravi Parwan

....
I find this very strange that the ASC is doing this. When you add distilled water to a battery, it immediately mixes with the acid within the cells. You can not remove distilled water from a battery, period. So they took out acid from their battery and added to yours. I can't understand why
.....
Finally, you are absolutely right in assuming that the battery will die sooner due to adding acid instead of water. Fingers crossed...

Thank you @JediKnight and @Ravi Parwan - I am mentally prepared to replace battery anytime - also carrying the jumper cables now in the boot just in case. Often there are good people around who want to help you on the road but don't have right accessories. I should well placed with carrying jumper cables along for now until I see the tell-a-tale signs of weak battery.

If I heard it correctly, this is what ASC personnel said:
They topped up distilled water from another battery. If we use the fresh distilled water (the one we get from the battery shops in 2 ltr bottles or cans) would need the battery to be charged to 100% before it goes into the car again. using it from another battery means it's already to some operating level, I was told. I noticed that the RedSparkle's battery gulped around 650ml of borrowed distilled water and that was a lot n my opinion. Hence I believed whatever was told to me - no point keeping the car there just to charge the battery! If they are willingly trying to do some jugaad to help me get out faster, I will give them the brownie points even if they are wrong. In my mind, I have already assumed that RedSparkle's battery needs replacement - it has lasted longer than most other cars I know. In a way we are running on bonus rewards

Ideally, I am just pushing my luck to prolong changing battery unless I see issues - and I have backup plan when it dies on me somewhere in the middle of trip - the jumper cables I already have - just need a good samaritan to stop by for 5 mins to jumpstart and reach to nearest battery shop!

Hope this clarifies my thinking better - which I understand may be wrong too.

[Ravi Parwan]

Originally Posted by abirnale

If I heard it correctly, this is what ASC personnel said:
They topped up distilled water from another battery. If we use the fresh distilled water (the one we get from the battery shops in 2 ltr bottles or cans) would need the battery to be charged to 100% before it goes into the car again. using it from another battery means it's already to some operating level, I was told. I noticed that the RedSparkle's battery gulped around 650ml of borrowed distilled water and that was a lot n my opinion. ...

This is what I am still failing to understand. When you add "water" to "lime juice", you get lemonade. How do you then remove "water" from the "lemonade"?

And you can not charge a battery with electrolyte, since the charge state of a battery is a set of chemical reactions across the anode, cathode and electrolyte. All it takes is 20-30 min of highway driving with low accessories load to charge up the battery, if healthy and if the alternator is working properly.

I remember the small ventilated battery in my M800 used to take about 400-500 ml of water in a regular top (3-6 months interval). My inverter batteries (135 AH) regularly take about 2 liters of distilled water every quarter. So 650 ml in a car battery (80 AH) tracks, the only difference being this is in a maintenance free battery, while my examples are of serviceable batteries. I haven't checked the electrolyte level in any of my cars for more than 2 years, trusting ASC to do the needful . Need to check myself, for peace of mind.

[abirnale]

Originally Posted by Ravi Parwan

This is what I am still failing to understand. When you add "water" to "lime juice", you get lemonade. How do you then remove "water" from the "lemonade"?

All I really cared for is, in your words, car needed the lemonade in the battery and they ensured it to be there (by adding water to lemon juice or juice to water or extra lemonade itself - maybe they just used that terminology to make "naive me" understand it!)

And it's working as of now. In any case, neither they charged me nor troubled me for anything. I am not a technically sound person when it comes to vehicles so I guess I will just leave it there for now. I have been trusting this ASC for the last 2.5 lakh KMs (TheRedSparkle and Orange Cheetah) - I dint think they are intentionally trying to fool me but can't help even if they did - like I said, I am not the expert. As long as things work, I will be fine.