Battery sealed?

[DeTomato]

I have a Exide EA640 12V Battery in my Corolla. 

http://www.exide.info/spec/ea640.html

Does anyone else have one of these?

It's not showing "Green" as charged so I suspect it may have deteriorated somewhat with standing.

Simple question which I cannot get answered on any search engine or anywhere else, even in the literature above.

Question, is it a sealed Battery? If not, how do I get the top cover off to add distilled water without breaking it?

[FROSTYBALLS]

Why not raise a question on https://www.exide.com/eu/en/contact-us

[oldcodger]

Hi,

This page should answer your questions.

https://www.tayna.co.uk/tutorials/caring-for-your-battery

As it says, most are  'sealed' and do not have any not have any means of topping up these days.

How long was it standing, it might be unusable as mentioned  in that text.

After 4 or 5 years use, you are tempting fate anyway.

Have you measured its voltage and the alternators charging voltage ?

[DeTomato]

Thanks for the feedback. I found this Battery has a "Magic Eye" which should be green for above 65% charged. I've only seen this glimmer green once on a long run. Otherwise it's black meaning the charge is less than 65% in general.

It seems to be enough to start the car first time every time presently but with the charge being generally lower than it perhaps should be, I was thinking that putting some distilled water in may help perhaps if the levels are low. But taking the Battery out today I see there's no fluid level indicator or any way to see or check the internal levels in the Battery. This makes me think it must be a sealed battery.

I've cleaned up the + and - terminals and put it back together.

But I've contacted Exide re Frostyballs info above to see if Exide can advise if its sealed or not. Expecting to hear back next week I hope. Cheers all.

[oldcodger]

Hi,

If is the old type that can be topped up then its usually obvious to a blind man, so think is safe to say its a modern sealed type.

You need to take it to a garage /battery supplier where they can use test equipment to test  the condition of the Battery.

You have not mentioned its age, but as said over 5 years old, its bound to be on the way out.

If you have a simple multimeter you can do some basic tests yourself, measuring the Battery voltage first thing in the morning before anything is switched on and then when running at over 1500rpm to see if the alternator is producing the right voltage.

Again as mentioned in your other post, all such detail in the Haynes manual ( Halfords or online etc)

 

[Notoyboy]

Don't think I'd read too much into the "green indicator".  As OC suggests, use a multimeter and get a better picture of the battery's condition.  Halfords will load test the Battery for free.

First thing I do when I buy another car is buy the Haynes for it (or as near that model as possible).

[DeTomato]

There doesn't appear to be a UK Haynes for the 1.8 T-Sport  Perhaps it was too technical for them

Will get the Battery checked because if it's too old then the alternator will be doing overtime and then that will likely fail too! Cheers.

[oldcodger]

14 minutes ago, DeTomato said:

There doesn't appear to be a UK Haynes for the 1.8 T-Sport  Perhaps it was too technical for them

Will get the battery checked because if it's too old then the alternator will be doing overtime and then that will likely fail too! Cheers.

No, its just that they only produce a book where they know the can sell enough to make a profit, the UK 1.8 were only a small part of the Corolla range so not worth it.

Just bought a new Battery online myself, got a Varta one this time,  4 year warranty,  they say they also make batteries for Bosch.

[DeTomato]

Got this from Exide today:

"The Premium Battery that you have [EA-640] is maintenance free (sealed). This cannot be topped up. We no longer produce batteries with the magic eye. These were designed to help re-sellers with Battery management and were not meant as an indicator for the state of charge of a Battery long term. Quite often we find that the ball in the indicator gets stuck. The only way to check the state charge of a battery is with a voltmeter."

Sounds to me like Exide are more interested in selling new batteries. The Magic eye has worked because it showed up green on a long run and goes back to black soon after, but whether it's a reliable indicator is questionable now. Will check the voltage later on.