Deionised Water?

[Octopus]

Is it true that water from a watermaker can be used as deionised water for topping up batteries?

Chris
L420, Octopus

[Jackstee]

Hi Chris
Water for a battery basically has to be "distilled" not deionised. When all and I mean, all, impurities are removed.
Then the water cannot pass an electrical current, as such it dosn't cause a short in the battery.
Water from a reverse osmosis unit, boat watermaker, will deliver different standards of water for different situations. Probably just to WHO drinking water standards and not to distilled standards.
I have used a RO plant that did give battery quality water but the biggest problem I had was putting the minerals back into the water.

Rgds

Steve

[mudnut]

Ya don't get demineralized water from water makers.Deironised sounds like the same thing,but,a water maker is not an anon/caton system.It reduces salt particles and certain impurities.To create demieralized water you need acid and caustic imputs to take out the iron in the water.It is by far something you wont find on a yacht.RO units kill micro organisms that still live in demieralized water by way of UV rays.RO water is used in things used for medicinal things like "Isicol" it's a sports rub thing.

Useing water from a watermaker for ya batteries is akin to being lazy and topping up with tap water.It works ,but ,its not to good for the life of the battery.Mudnut.

[southernman]

Um mudnut since when did Reverse Osmosis have UV properties? RO will not kill micro organisms. Ultra Filtration will remove them but not kill them. RO will removes/reduces natural elements such as chlorides, carbonates etc etc. Check the conductivity of the water coming out of your RO - if it's below 1 ms that should be fine. Rainwater also works and there is plenty of that stuff!

Cheers

[Steve Pope]

De-ionised water is an another name for distilled water in my book. Also you can use water from a de-humidifier along with rain water as long as the rain water is caught in a non contaminating vessel.

[Rick]

Assume that ALL water from either rain or any dehumidifier contains multiple contaminants as well as non-neutral pH levels. Neither source is suitable for use in batteries.

Rain water can be acidic or basic depending upon what air contaminants have "seeded" the rain drops in the first place. Dust, acid, microbes and even cysts could float in the air which gets removed along with the moisture in rain or dehumidification processes.

[mudnut]

Originally Posted by southernman

Um mudnut since when did Reverse Osmosis have UV properties? RO will not kill micro organisms. Ultra Filtration will remove them but not kill them. RO will removes/reduces natural elements such as chlorides, carbonates etc etc. Check the conductivity of the water coming out of your RO - if it's below 1 ms that should be fine. Rainwater also works and there is plenty of that stuff!

Cheers

Don't know about RO units having UV properties,but the one they used in the TGA area of the factory I worked at,Its last stage befor being able to use it making theraputic products was to go thru a section where it was bombarded with some sort of UV rays to kill any "LIVING" organisms which remaind after the initial filtration.I would guess that not all RO units have this,but some do.Mudnut.

[NoTies]

The UV would have been to kill any bacteria in the reticulation down stream of the RO unit.

[Nauticatarcher]

I use pure water from Supermarket, (not mineral water) it has a mineral anaylisis of 0, and is made by distillation, my TDS meter doesnt register in it, its a fraction of the cost ofv water sold through Battery places and just as good

[southernman]

yep Pete's on the money. UV is a seperate process from RO.

[GordMay]

Distilled & Deionized water is generally considered "pure".

Water used in Batteries should be free from Disolved Solids* (salts, chlorine, calcium, magnesium, and iron compounds).

* A purity of less than 50 ppm TDS is often recommended. Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) is the measurement of the quantity of a solid dissolved in water ,in parts per million (ppm). A purity of 50 ppm is roughly equivalent to a conductivity of 100 μS/cm (micro-Siemens per centimeter). A "disolved" solid cannot be filtred by conventional means.

When a cell gasses the water evaporates and escapes. Any solids within the water cannot evaporate, and simply fall to the bottom of the battery. To replace the water that has evaporated more water must be added, and with it comes a new batch of dissolved impurities, which also fall to the bottom of the battery when the water dissolves.

This continual process builds cumulative deposits of impurities in the bottom of battery, and mossing and dendrite growth on the separators. Chlorine bleaches separators. Calcium or calcium carbonate neutralizes the battery acid (electrolyte).