Thought my batteries were shot, but I filled them last night.....and they took a bunch of h20.

Check the cells every couple of months and if you can see any lead that is exposed or even close to being exposed to dry air, add distilled, and only distilled, water to each cell until the levels in each cell are even. Fill them up to about 1/8 inch below the fill tubes. Be very careful, wear gloves and glasses. You don't want that stuff to splash out on you, and don't do this around anything that may be sensitive to corrosion.

ONLY use distilled water...Fill them to the bottom of the plastic recess tubes.

It's something to check whenever you get a chance. Not necessarily every week, but you get the idea.

Do you guys fill and charge or charge then fill? What is the proper method?

I run sealed batteries currently, but in the past I've always filled and then charged. No different than a golf cart.

Unless it's been a long time since you've checked them, you shouldn't need to add a crazy amount of water.

If you have one cell that's a lot lower than the others, keep an eye on it.

Funny, I've always heard to use distilled water, but have been using faucet water 30 years and my batteries always last 3-4 years.

As often as they get low.
In the Summer check them about once a month.

Charge then fill....to avoid "boiling" over the acid. Then float charge if needed.

Check mine monthly and fill as needed.

very useful thread , last week , one of my batteries died off early in the day , group24 , bought some distilled water and stole the wife's turkey baster , that battery took 1/2 gallon of water to fill to the recommended level ---hoping this will recharge and extend the life of this one .

I only buy AGM batteries. No water to add and a lot better discharge rate before you kill the battery.

We check it the first weekend of every month. Every time we have to add water to every battery. They get used quite a bit though. I'm sure how often you need to add water depends on not only how often they are used, but how far they are run down and how much charging is required.

Never

I hate putting water in batteries so I quit buying those many years ago.

I've re-filled with the same type battery acid it comes with as needed, as above check monthly, especially during hot weather, charging combined with heat "seems" to dry them out quicker (or maybe higher rate of use = more charge cycles) haven't done a scientific study:). It seems that battery acid doesn't dry out as quickly as the distilled water I used in the past. Not all faucet water is created equal, if your faucet water has a high mineral content will will foul up the lead cells as it evaporates. In 20 years, I've never been able to take advantage of the warranty:). Probably just jinxed myself, gonna go test my batteries right now.

This