Water miser vent caps

[danes-on-tour]

Being a long way away from our MH when it is stored, have been a problem for us when it comes to battery maintenance. Up till now we have found the house batteries very short of water every time we returned, and that obviously is not doing them any favours.

When we left the MH last time, it was towards the end of March, and before leaving I installed Water Miser Caps on the house batteries, in a hope that we could keep more of the water inside the batteries.

Almost 4 month have gone, and our friend Benny has just arrived at the MH. Yesterday he checked the water level by re-installing our Flow-Rite filling system and tried to top the batteries up. Result: They never lost a drop

Both battery bank are being changed by a solar panel on the roof. House batteries was 12,8 Volts and starting batteries was 12,6 Volts. This means that the batteries certainly has been charging while we was gone.

It looks like we may have solved one more of our storage problems.

We can confirm that have no financial or other interest in the 2 companies that we mention. We are just regular customers and very pleased with the performance of the products. The reason for the review is that we think it may be beneficial to other fellow iRV2 members.

[Midniteoyl]

Agree Water Miser caps (or similar) are the way to go

[H. Miller]

Henrik,
That's great. I've been wondering how those units were going to work.
Question, as they work so well, why do we both need the Fill Rite system?

[danes-on-tour]

Hi Hal

With the Water Miser vent caps it's not easy to check each individual cell, and it it also not easy to fill each cell to the exact right level. For that reason I will still prefer the now "trusty" Flow-Rite system when I am within reach of the MH. However, when going into storage I am in no doubt that the Water Miser caps goes back on.

I did check out something else:

I have been thinking long and hard about adding 2oz of oil to every battery cell, but I have been afraid that this may not work with the Flow-Rite. Flow-Rite told me that they couldn't recommend it together with their system.

So I have made contact with the company that sells "Battery Equalizer", which probably is some form of baby oil in an automotive packaging. Here is my correspondence with them:

My first e-mail:

Dear Sir’s

More and more www.iRV2.com members are using Flow-Rite’s Qwik-fill system Qwik-Fill and Pro-Fill RV Edition | Flow-Rite for their RV’s it would appear.

I assume that you are familiar with Flow-Rite. Their system makes it so easy to maintain the exact right water level in your batteries. I can do a complete check and refill in less than 30 seconds without getting my hands dirty.

When I leave the RV for an extended period of time, my roof mounted solarpanel keeps my batteries topped up, but I unfortunately don’t have the option to drop by and check on the water level, and I am therefor keen to do what I can to prevent the water from escaping.

At the moment I am “test driving” the “watermiser vent caps” Water Miser Battery Vent Caps which will hopefully reduce water loss. However, this means taking off the Flow-Rite.

Now here is my question to you:

1. Have you got any experience adding Batteryequalizer to batteries that have the Flow-Rite system or the Water-miser caps fitted?
2. Will the batteryequalizer have a negative effect on the say the rubber componants in the Flow-Rite or the minerals in the water miser caps?

I would like to try your product, but I obviously wouldn’t want to destroy parts of the other add-on’s

Please, may I hear from you at your earliest convenience.

Regards

Their 1st reply:

Good day Henrick

We have had many years experience with these systems, they are available with multiple 'brand names' but all work in a similar manner. Before treatment with the Battery Equaliser formula, we have found problems relating to the acid spray emissions corroding rubber seals and congestion of the tube feeds. This is most common in the large traction battery field and golf cart systems. Normally one of our technicians remove the entire system, give it a good cleaning using a bicarbonate of soda and water wash. If seals need replacing, we replace. After this process, because Battery Equaliser reduces the volume of acid spray by at least 50% and reduces water top up by the same, you can be sure that the system will give you many more years of easy operation.

I trust that this answers your questions and look forward to being of service to you.

Kindest regards

My 2nd e-mail:

Hi John

Your reply is very much appreciated J

Let me make sure that I got your reply right (my first language is Danish, and English is a “foreign” language to me, so I just want to make sure):

Your formula is safe to use with a Flow-Rite system, as long as the Flow-Rite system is clean and free of all deposits when Battery Equalizer is added. Your formula will not “eat” the Flow-Rite seals or other components. Furthermore – the operation of the Flow-Rite will not be impaired when adding your formula – it will work as well with your formula added as it did without it.

Did I understand this correctly? It would please me tremendously if this was the case.


Yours Sincerely

Their 2nd reply:

Hi Henrick

1/ Cleaning the system of old sprayed sulphuric acid.
2/ After using the Battery Equaliser formula, the system will be doubled in efficiency.
3/ No corrosion of components due to addition of product.

Regards

Still a bit cryptic I think, but I read that as "Yes - their product will not harm either the Flow-Rite, or the Water Miser caps.

Once I have persuaded my self that this is in fact OK, I might add Battery Equaliser as an additional measure.

What do you think about this Hal?

Sorry for the long-winded reply.

[FlowSystems]

This is Drew from Flow Systems, Makers of Water Miser Battery Caps.

I sincerely and greatly appreciate the positive comments and stellar review.

If you send me your address, I will send each of you a couple of extra caps as back-ups or to share with other MH-ers. Though you probably won't need them as they should outlast your batteries.

If any one, for that matter, has positive things to say and post in the forums, the same offer stands, just send me your address and a link to your comments....GET A COUPLE FREE CAPS.

I'm always open for questions if there are any.


Thanks Drew from Flow Systems

[danes-on-tour]

and Thank You Drew for your kind offer.

I would be very interested in your view on adding things like the above mentioned Battery Equalizer (or even baby oil) to batteries with Water Miser caps. If I apply what I believe is logic thinking (thanks Boomers and other friends - no comments needed ) I would think that there wouldn't be any splashing from the "oil surface" of the cell and because of this, the "chemicals" in the Water Miser cap wouldn't be effected.

Having said this, I suppose that here may be some fumes or the like from the "oil surface" that may reach the caps.

What do you think Drew? Have you any experience with this? Maybe I should just try it out when we return in October?

[FlowSystems]

Henrick,

My thoughts are twofold....

One, first check the manufactures website for their terms and conditions related to adding any type of solution to your battery other than water. I'm not 100% sure, but I think this voids most warranties, if you are still under warranty.

Second and on the contrary, I have personally heard of Water Miser Clients who have used this "Top of with Oil" method in conjunction with the Water Miser Caps and cut down on their watering by up to 75%. Reason being, the oil breaks up the surface tension of the water disallowing concentrated electrolyte carrying bubbles to form and escape. The most common method that I have heard of is using mineral oil, 1 teaspoon per cell. I'm assuming the Equalizer is basically just that, an oil derivative of some sort.

OK now the disclaimer.....I can't support this claim other than what I have heard from my clients and like I mentioned its frowned upon by the battery manufactures.

Those are my 2 cents on the matter.

Drew - Flow Systems

[H. Miller]

Originally Posted by The Danes Are Coming

Once I have persuaded my self that this is in fact OK, I might add Battery Equaliser as an additional measure.

What do you think about this Hal?

Henrik,
Sorry but I didn't see this until today.
Knowing how the Fill Rite system works (floating ball that "seals" the system from more water when full) I fail to see how Battery Equalizer (oil) could affect that part of the Fill Rite. The rubber seals may be a different story as some rubber and oil "do not mix". That might need more study.
Hal