Maintenance Free Battery Died without Warning + Battery advice

[nfssaad]

for those who have not mixed Sulphuric acid and water before.

BEWARE. ITS NASTY.

fill you container with distilled water.

add acid, drop by drop. it will immediately boil. go very slowly. use acid proof long gloves and face mask.

open air environment and do it outside your house.

freshly prepped mixture is VERY HOT. you need to let it cool down to room temp before taking SG reading

[Xulfiqar]

I thought this was common knowledge.

its an exothermic reaction, thats why most larger battery supply places use refrigerated distilled water to prepare electrolyte as it absorbs some heat from it.

when dealing with acid - its basic common sense to use face mask, gloves etc.

yes - let it cool till its room temperature before using that electrolyte or even thinking of measuring its SG. (SG changes with temperature)

[smiling.tulips11]

please add that it needs to be measured two ways at least. once with the cheap SG hydrometer that you buy from market and once with a digital scales and only measure at room temperature after stirring the acid mixture first

Have a perfectly fine running battery with a specific gravity of 1.22. A few months back, flushed the old electrolyte having similar specific gravity to 1.25. Within a few days, it went back around the previous mark. Should one continue with that? 85 Amperes battery (Volta), 2 years old.

[pwuser154807906061]

This can be caused by bad diode in alternator (generator). I faced a similar problem

[Xulfiqar]

How did you verify the sg?

[Xulfiqar]

This is an example of it, i made it myself by cutting a larger piece.

[dms664]

Sir which material you have used?

[Xulfiqar]

Same as you see in kids puffer jackets

[chdemon]

battery insulation

i have no idea about that material, can you please name it so that its easy to find in market ?

[mrdeejay]

Had the same thing happen to me. Daewoo battery was 3 years old, by coincidence I had checked health indicator last week and it was green. Today, I was driving car and making several stops. After one short stop, the car failed to start altogether. Very strange, as I've never experienced anything like this before.

I even tried locking and unlocking the car, thinking there is an issue with the immobilizer but engine starter even won't turn. The minute new battery was installed it worked fine. Now I'm wondering whether disconnecting and reconnecting battery cable reset something and fixed the issue, but too late now.

[Xulfiqar]

That POS daewoo/AC Delco battery does exactly what you described,

That little green eye thing is just a hydrometer in one cell with a lens on top, problem with such is that if the battery material is no good or very lightweight the SG of the electrolyte can be perfect but the battery will not be able to provide any amps at all (what you experienced)

Buy a regular lead antimony battery which you guys call “wet/geeli/tarr battery) and prep it with high quality electrolyte, it will work perfectly after that, just will need a check and maybe topup every other oil change.

And if you have garbage quality terminals on the wires then replace them for genuine items or higher quality upgraded parts.

[mrdeejay]

That POS daewoo/AC Delco battery does exactly what you described,

Is Phoenix SLA battery better? The person I got replacement battery from (shop nearby where the engine failed to start) he was recommending Phoenix Sealed Battery (Calcium Lead Acid) and was saying its much better than Daewoo and that many customers were experiencing issues with Daewoo battery, but I went with Daewoo again - since that battery had lasted 3 years. Now thinking about it, its a huge flaw, what if the battery stopped working on a deserted road - the consequences could have been really bad for me and my family.

Should I go back to him and get Phoenix instead? I know you personally recommend Wet battery, but honestly its too much hassle keeping it topped up. All I'm looking for is for the battery to Not DIE on me completely unexpectedly - like the Daewoo did.

[Xulfiqar]

If checking electrolyte level once a year is too much for your current mechanic then find a new one. (Once a year means every other oil change meaning every 2nd oil change)

Your japanese car is not setup to charge a lead calcium battery fully, its s full volt lower than its required 14.5V, while regular lead antimony or so called wet/geeli/tarr battery requires 13.6V

If you want to redesign so it has no maintenance then do the required jobs like changing the charging profile (may require a separate ecu controlled alternator) to install an MF,AGM or EF type battery and make sure the system can perform flawlessly under maximum load (use a 200 amp carbon pile to test the cars grounding for optimum performance)

Or just use what your car was specced for.

If you are hell bent on using lead calcium or the so called dry/sookhi/khushk bantree then make sure to put a 14.5V battery charger on it once a week to keep it in good shape. (Thats an even bigger hassle than topping up)

[abdullahsh2728]

Hello everyone,

I bought a Daewoo maintenance-free battery in September 2024 with a 1.5-year warranty.

In February 2025, the battery died, and I got a replacement under warranty from the company. Now, in July 2025, the replacement battery has also died.

My question is:
Since I'm still within the original 1.5-year warranty period (from Sept 2024), can I claim the warranty again for the second time? Or does the warranty end after the first replacement?

Would appreciate any expert advice or anyone who has faced a similar situation.

Thanks in advance!

[sardarg]

you shall visit an electrician who can thoroughly check the electrical system of your vehicle. there must be a leak in system

you may find this link useful to understand battery leak