On 10 Mar 2007 12:23:23 -0800, "Chuck Gould"
wrote:

"Large battery banks that are difficult to access" sounds like a
serious problem, at least on a boat. What do you do when it's time to
replace 'em?

Also, with all of the plumbing, etc, how do you get the lid back onto
the battery box? Cut some additional holes?

(I use a hydro-cap on my Rolls batteries, does a lot to prevent loss
of electrolyte),

Funny you should ask about replacement since I just had to do that.
It was a heavy duty 8D weighing about 130 lbs or so. It's installed
back under a shelf in the engine room which makes checking and adding
water difficult. To make matters worse I've installed a bank of 4
golf cart batts outside of the 8D in their own custom box with a lot
of jumper wires for the series/parallel arrangement. In order to
remove the 8D I had to uninstall the golf carts, the jumper wires and
the golf cart box. Then I had to slide the 8D out of its hole under
the shelf and horse it up out of the engine compartment. Not a fun
job, and I ended up giving myself a mild case of tendonitis in my
right elbow.

My theory (thus far unproven) is that an automatic watering systems
would allow me to take better care of the almost inaccessible 8D and
get better life out of it. The tubing for the plumbing system looks
like it is quite thin and should exit out of the existing cutout in
the battery box. We'll see. First I've got to finish some other
projects and then find out how much these fancy battery caps cost.
The tubing and filling arrangement should be very inexpensive.

The Rolls hydrocaps are nice but I don't know if you can get them for
a standard 8D. How much height do they add?