Wasn't sure where to stick this as it's sort relevant to Series, Fenders, Discos and laning so thought this was the best bet.
I deal with disabled equipment so with scooters and powerchairs I've spent years handling glass mat and gel batteries. You lot would know these as leisure or traction batteries. Recently a big scooter came into workshop fitted with aftermarket calcium batteries. Having checked that they were labelled as 'sealed' I treated them as glass mats and they charged and tested exactly as these. Then I left the rebuilt scooter standing up on it's rear end overnight. In the morning I had two puddles of acid burning through the padding I'd left under the scooter.
On investigation I found a little vent hole in the top of each battery and the acid dripping out.
So, for any of you that are liable to have your vehicles on anything other than four wheels can I strongly suggest that you avoid calcium batteries. Seemingly 'sealed' means that you don't have to top them up - it does not mean that the acid cannot escape if you turn the battery over.
I deal with disabled equipment so with scooters and powerchairs I've spent years handling glass mat and gel batteries. You lot would know these as leisure or traction batteries. Recently a big scooter came into workshop fitted with aftermarket calcium batteries. Having checked that they were labelled as 'sealed' I treated them as glass mats and they charged and tested exactly as these. Then I left the rebuilt scooter standing up on it's rear end overnight. In the morning I had two puddles of acid burning through the padding I'd left under the scooter.
On investigation I found a little vent hole in the top of each battery and the acid dripping out.
So, for any of you that are liable to have your vehicles on anything other than four wheels can I strongly suggest that you avoid calcium batteries. Seemingly 'sealed' means that you don't have to top them up - it does not mean that the acid cannot escape if you turn the battery over.
