Battery is old, but never had acid put in it. Any good?

[1957flhchop]

When I recently bought my Shovel, the guy gave me a "new" battery with it. The battery was actually purchased 8 to 10 years ago. But, it is still dry/never had any acid put in it or anything.
So my question is: What are the odds that it is still good?

I hate to buy a new battery if I could just get some acid for this new/old one.

[Andygears]

Should be still good, the chemical reaction don’t start till the acid contacts the plates and starts sulfating.

Read somewhere about lead acid batteries lasting a lot longer if you charge it, then run down then charge & run down again a few times. Don’t know why or exact procedure but “They” swore by it! I’ve settled on Deka AGM’s for my bikes so have never tried it.

Andygears

[Panacea]

Does it have a bottle of acid ?Battery Acid

[1957flhchop]

Does it have a bottle of acid ?Battery Acid

I'll have to go to the parts store to get some as the guy who bought it took the acid out of the box for another battery.

[Buddhahoodvatoloco]

Try some distilled water to filling point then charge it.
Then, drop some acid in it. Good luck.

[RUBONE]

Try some distilled water to filling point then charge it.
Then, drop some acid in it. Good luck.

That will kill it.

[RUBONE]

When I recently bought my Shovel, the guy gave me a "new" battery with it. The battery was actually purchased 8 to 10 years ago. But, it is still dry/never had any acid put in it or anything.
So my question is: What are the odds that it is still good?

I hate to buy a new battery if I could just get some acid for this new/old one.

It should be fine filled with acid. Fill it slowly and recheck the level after it sits a while as it will drop slightly. Than charge it at a very slow rate, no more than 1 amp until you get a fully charged hydrometer specific gravity reading. Do not try to fast charge it, heat will kill it.

[Buddhahoodvatoloco]

Been doing it for years, years.

Try some distilled water to filling point then charge it.
Then, drop some acid in it. Good luck.

That will kill it.

[RUBONE]

Been doing it for years, years.

Try some distilled water to filling point then charge it.
Then, drop some acid in it. Good luck.

That will kill it.

Distilled water in a dry charged battery that never had acid in it creates no chemical reaction. In an old previously charged battery you can occasionally get it to come back, but not on one never having had acid in it! Read his original post.

[Buddhahoodvatoloco]

Stand corrected

[1957flhchop]

I was going to put the acid in the battery yesterday and start charging it, but got stalled when I realized that the instructions didn't give any indication of how much to put in. Apparently it originally came with small pre-measured pouches for each cell. The batteries that I actually had to fill prior to this were the clear ones that just had a line to fill it to. This one is black instead of clear so I will just have to guesstimate based on what little I can see thru the fill holes.

How full should it be? How sensitive is the battery to being too full? If it is too full, is it likely to leak?

[RooDog]

Most fill holes have an internal tube extending down into the cell, but ending well above the plate. The bottom of those tubes is the full level. Just add acid to the bottom of the tubes. A little above that point is OK,just be sure to leave some air space above the fluid level. After charging, you may need to adjust the level again....
Never allow the tops of the plates to remain exposed to air, keep 'em wet, OK?
....RooDog....

[1957flhchop]

Got the battery filled, made sure there were no air pockets in it, and attempted to charge. I hooked up my 1.5 amp charger and it didn't ever say it was charging. Borrowed a 1 amp charger from a friend, hooked it up correctly and the light came on that says the polarity is reversed. I've never had this happen before. Is there a way to correct this?

[Andygears]

Got the battery filled, made sure there were no air pockets in it, and attempted to charge. I hooked up my 1.5 amp charger and it didn't ever say it was charging. Borrowed a 1 amp charger from a friend, hooked it up correctly and the light came on that says the polarity is reversed. I've never had this happen before. Is there a way to correct this?

Yes, give up on that battery & buy new before you burn up your generator chasing a bad battery.

My opinion only

Andygears

[1957flhchop]

Yes, give up on that battery & buy new before you burn up your generator chasing a bad battery.

My opinion only

Andygears

That's kind of what I was thinking. But, I thought I'd ask here before shelling out more money for a battery.