Deep Cycle Battery Acid Question

[Damn Ugly]

To top off my "Murphys Law - Anything that can go wrong, will" fishing trip to Winter Harbour last week, one of my new deep cycle marine batteries tipped over in the previously pristine back seat of my truck spilling battery fluid all over the carpet. I lost about 20% of the fluid out of most of the cells (and a nice patch of vehicle carpet to boot). Yay me. I had been told that you had to have the right water-to-acid ratio checked with a hydrometer, but people I've talked to are telling me to just fill it up with distilled water and charge it back up. Very few places still sell sulfuric acid. Should I just add water and charge it back up? I don't want to wreck it and add to the cost of everything else that broke last week.

 

[zurk]

maybe take it to battery world in burnaby ? those guys sold me acid 4-5 years ago when i hadnt jumped on the lifepo4 bandwagon.
they have a hygrometer as well and can test it. i wouldnt just charge it back up. you could dilute it and damage the plates charging it up. have those guys look at it.

 

[Flashman]

Using distilled water is ok when the level is low in the battery from evaporation. All the chemicals are still in the battery. When you spill, as mentioned, adding water will leave you with a diluted acid.

If you lose acid and replace it with water alone the battery will have a reduced capacity. Basically the sulfate and lead trade places in the battery to make electricity. Less sulfuric acid means less sulfate means less amp hours. Not sure if that would cause permanent damage or not.

Try Canadian Tire. They have it on their website and seen to stock it in a few stores.