Hydrocaps -- Worth While?

[Cadence]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

The old automobile garage way of topping batteries was a pitcher of water with a spout and tube - you pressed down the spout on the battery and it filled to the right level. I have not seen one of those in at least 50 years; let me check if they still exist.

I think you and I were thinking along the same lines. Probably scares since autos seem to use sealed batteries exclusively.
It was common place to find one sitting right next to the gas pump along with a bucket of water and a squeegee for the windshield. Days of yore.
Someone wanting one might look at semi truck supplies.

[roverhi]

Had hydro caps on my GC batteries but didn't seem to make a lot of difference. Switched over to a remote fill system as one battery required taking another battery out to get at it to check the water and fill. Used parts like the ones from this site to make up the system. It has individual caps joined by vinyl tubing so filler spacing of the batteries didn't matter. Cut the tubes to fit your batteries. The system is more robust than the ones that have a ridgid connection between the fill caps. Managed to break the linked caps trying to pull them off a battery.

May still have the HydroCaps laying around somewhere that you could have for postage but you'd have to wait. Currently held captive in CA by COVID and no telling if we'll ever be able to fly home to find them.

[ikanode]

Originally Posted by tkeithlu

The old...way of topping batteries was a pitcher of water with a spout and tube - you pressed down the spout on the battery and it filled to the right level.

They're around but the ones I've bought (3 or 4) are junk. They have poorly fitting plastic parts that jam and then water overflows the cell.

The other problem is all the ones that I've seen are for automobile batteries. The spout is too short for deep cycle batteries and even when not sticking they over-fill the battery.

I'd love to find a quality one with different length spouts for different batteries.

[oldersalt1944]

My GB 32 has 6 6-v (house) and 1 8d 12v (start), all FLA, all in covered boxes in a tight spot. Checking and watering them all was a total PITA. So for about $130 I bought a golf cart-type watering kit. 1 tube branches to all caps. Uses a bulb type hand pump (like your ob motor gas line). I just dunk the tube in a gallon of distilled water every month or so and count the pumps till it gets too hard to pump. Easy Peasy. I check the system by looking at my battery monitor frequently. in 2016 when the batteries were all new, the fully charged resting voltage of the house bank was 12.65. Today it is still 12.65 so I figure the batteries are fine. When it starts falling I will figure something is wrong and then do all the usual cell-by-cell checks. So far, so good.
Anything wrong with this method? Please let me know.
Thanks
Oldersalt
"Everything on your boat is broken. You just don't know it yet."

[Dougtiff]

I has access to HYDROCAPS for cheap, but the thread's were different, i cut the threaded part off the battery cap' and cut the threaded part off the H,C, that didn't fit the battery's, and glued the two part's together with SUPER glue, they worked fine, as a side note, the H,C'S were developed for W,W, two Submarine's, with Diesel engine's.

[wrwakefield]

DH,

I also opted for FLA batteries when the house bank needed replacing. Mine are not conveniently accessible [unless one enjoys moving hundreds of pounds of tools and spares each time...]

I went with Trojan T-105 batteries and instead of Hydrocaps, I chose Trojan's Hydrolink [Clampless Tubing version] centralized watering system. I can top up all 8 batteries in less than a minute- including stowing the distilled water bottle.

There are other 3rd party FLA centralized watering systems available as well. One that is popular here in the states is Flow-Rite.

Here is the link to the Flow-Rite demo video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yN_Q...owRiteControls

In case you would rather spend your $ differently...

Cheers! Bill

[skipmac]

Originally Posted by Sailmonkey

I’m sorry, you’re absolutely correct.

My brain was multitasking and failing.

We had looked at flo-rite, but dismissed them.

Ultimately we installed battery watering technologies fill valves. They have a level indicator.


https://www.batterywatering.com/prod...valves/vb-tbu/

I’ve been watching storm systems near the Bahamas where our boat is in quarantine.

Thanks. Checking them out.

Hope your boat stays safe. Last time I checked looks like the system will be moving N or NE away from the Bahamas.

[robert sailor]

I used these caps for may years on 6 volt Trojans...had great service with them. Cut my monthly waterings to every two months and even then the fill was less so I think they were very worthwhile.

[Joli]

We use them for 10 golf cart batteries, they work great and have for years. We water every two or three months.

[kmacdonald]

I have a friend that just purchased some hydro caps. He bought them to eliminate sulful smell from LA battery charging. He said they worked but I have no first hand knowledge of them. He said they use less water also.