Water Miser caps: Looking for positive and/or negative reviews

[Sunking]

This is my take....trying not being biased since Flow Systems is my company,

Wow that was fast. You must have a robot setup searching the web. I am glad you chimed in though. I am aware of the reported problems of Auto Water Systems. I know of quite a few people who have them in Golf Carts, and I use to have one in my racing golf cart until I switched to Lithium. I do not know of anyone who had a problem, not did I ever experience a problem. I do acknowledge it could happen though.

I see this just like using a BMS on Lithium batteries, especially the Shunt Bleeder Boards. Works great providing everything was set up correctly from the start. It gives the user a false sense of security. That same BMS can destroy a cell or pack in a heartbeat if part of it fails like a Shunt Bleeder Board fails shorted.

IMHO anyone running a large capacity battery be it Lead Acid or Lithium had better know the battery inside and out, monitor them personally on a daily basis, and how to take corrective action. Automated systems can help, but you have to monitor the Automated Systems and double check what it is suppose to be watching. Unfortunately people become dependent on those systems and become complacent.

[hammick]

Is there any risk if the batteries are manually watered with the system with a bulb pump and a gallon of distilled water? If a valve sticks open won't it be fairly obvious when the indicator doesn't go quickly to full? If a valve sticks closed I guess there is a possibility that the cell doesn't get watered.

[FlowSystems]

This is my take....trying not being biased since Flow Systems is my company, but in my opinion Mike90250 is absolutely correct about the risk of failure in moving parts in the automatic watering systems. We have seen every system in the market in an attempt to engineer a better automatic watering system than is currently out there. With every system we've seen in operation, or even our own internal design, eventually you run the risk of a moving part failure. According to our customers, they provide a false sense of security to those looking for an easy solution to what should always be a manual process. You just can't avoid (or shouldn't avoid) checking the electrolyte and watering manually if you want to feel confident . This is simply the only way to do it.

We ended up not pursuing the opportunity because of the liability associated with a system failure and the cost of replacing battery banks for customers, especially the larger expensive solar battery banks.

[Mike90250]

I used hydrocaps on by old set of batteries. They only help reduce acid mist escaping from the cell vents, Mine used a bunch of little plastic beads in the cap to collect the mist and had a drip spike underneath to return acid to the cell. They reduce mist, but do not reduce water loss from dissociation. they d keep the tops of the cells a bit cleaner.

I do like the auto-watering idea better. The risks there: a float/filler valve can stick, and flush a cell clean of acid

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrolysis_of_water

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[hammick]

Looking at the watering kit from "Battery Watering Technologies". Their valve looks pretty nice and a fully Kit is about $160. Valve doesn't have to be removed to check SG. The also offer gravity tanks to make their kits fully automatic but I suspect that's not a good idea if freezing temps are an issue.

http://www.batterywatering.com/catal...ial.asp?page=2

http://www.powerstridebattery.com/watering-kit-trojan-l16-batteries

[hammick]

Thanks Sunking. I'm intrigued by the Hydrolink system. Looks pretty easy. A couple questions. Does Hydrolink cut down on fluid loss? Does the fluid level eye check all cells for low fluid or just the center cell? If I had a neighbor checking my batteries is there anything that could go wrong?

I called Trojan and the Hydrolink does not work on L16 batteries. I would need the Single point watering kit. Not sure if that has the indicators when fluid is needed.

[Sunking]

Have not used them, but I know a bit about them. Their target market is ROUGH SERVICE like RV, GOLF CARTS, FLOOR MACHINES and other mobile applications where electrolyte tends to slosh around and gets spilled out of the battery. Not sure it has a lot of benefit in a stationary application.There are three basic model. Short, Medium, and Tall. It makes a water tight seal with a Sponge like material to allow gas to escape, but not liquid.

The other thing I know is they are not made by Trojan or Rolls. They are made by FLOW SYSTEMS and if you want to use then I suggest contacting them and see if you can get them a little cheaper.

What might be of more interest to you and achieves the same thing is an Auto Watering System. Rolls, Trojan, and US Battery all offer them with different Marketing Names. Trojan calls it Hydrolink Watering System. These I have personally used and reccomend to anyone with FLA batteries. Makes watering super easy, fast, and clean. You basically water ever cell at the same time. No opening each cell. .

[hammick]

I am thinking of getting the tallest Water Miser caps for my new Trojan L16RE-A batteries. What are people's thoughts on these? I see Crown Battery puts them on their RE line of batteries. Cost for 24 caps is about $130

Thanks.