Battery Choice for 105 1750

[Jack]

Gee.
That charger sounds like the ducks guts.
I have a second hand battery in my baby which I know is wrong
but a negative terminal isolator and a tune means I can leave the car for
more than a month and on return within two trys on the key,
she fires and I'm off.
It's been that way for nearly two years.
I have a charger handed down to me by the old man that was manufactured in
about 1975 I think.
Question. How often should I disconnect and charge the battery to help it along
and give it a bit extra life?
Can I hurt it much by overcharging?
Also, there's a good old bloke that runs a battery business on George or Smith Street just around the corner from Queens Parade just North of Fitzroy.
He makes 'em and puts the liquid in there and then.
Dont know if they're any better or worse that a big manufacturer but I just cant resist plugging the one man band little Aussie business.
Cheers

[Gary Pearce]

Your Battery isolator is really a great way to go. If left disconnected a battery will only self discharge at a rate of about 1% per day. If then after leaving it for a month or two, you give your car a drive for an hour or longer, you will be topping up the charge with your cars charging system and shouldn't ever have a need for the battery charger.
Battery chargers don't offer any benefit over your car charging system (providing your car does start) and the older chargers often have a risk that they can over charge a battery. As a tip if you are charging a battery with a charger, make sure the fluid level is just over the plates (just use water to top up) and leave the screw caps off while it is charging in a ventilated area. Charge for 4 to 8 hours only, then recheck the water level before putting the caps back on.

[Ash Gordon]

I have heard you should use distilled water to top up the battery or is good old tap water fine ?

[alfagtv58]

I dont claim to be an expert in this topic (in fact i have found it all pretty interesting), but from what I understand water in the battery is a bit like fuel; Yes you can use standard unleaded, but you will get better results using a higher octane.....same with the water, tap water will do the job if its all you have, but far better using distilled.

[Scott Farquharson]

distilled is better (no impurities) and I guess will give you maxium battery life but tap water will work.