charge new battery with caps open?

[stanton]

buddy swears by doing this but ive never heard such a thing. they are vented batteries, why open them?

 

[Cliff]

seems like that would just boil the acid out of it but i have never tried it. may learn a new trick

 

[Matt_E]

Meh. I'd go with the Manufacturer's instructions.

 

[Swooperjet]

I've been running some junk ass batteries for the last couple of years (Wal Mart), but the instructions do say to leave the caps off when initially charging the battery. I tried one with the caps on, and they blew off and sprayed the acid all over.

 

[guiness92]

Ive always done it with the caps on and never had a problem. I could have just gotten lucky though, since im not an expert on the subject my opinion doesnt really mean much though.

 

[750SX]

Leave the caps loose. It will build up pressure if you don't

 

[orangefinger]

Caps loose if no vent, if vent put a old rag or something under vent line, otherwise acid all over table/workbench whatev...

 

[vjhardcore]

Ya I don't know 100% - I put a trickle charger on it after almost every ride never loosing caps. But over winter when I store the battery(s) in my Fathers heated garage he looses them while its on a charge and says "you have to" and that they don't even need to be charged all the time and even that I should leave it in the ski over the winter - "if its fully charged it'll be fine in the spring".

I almost always listen to my Dad. But I still like to trickle all the time.

 

[Super Dee]

I always pull the caps off my batteries when they're being charged. Yes, the batteries are vented, but some of them have little check valves that can sometimes prevent the excess pressure from venting properly. I've tried starting the charging with caps on a couple times, then part way through pull the off. Every time I've done this I've heard a short 'hiss' of the pressure escaping when I pulled the caps.