Battery Maintenance

By Scott Butera

It is said that the value of a thing can be measured as the difference between where it exists and where it is absent.

Ever since I fabricated a new battery box and crammed (4) 6-volt batteries into the nook designed for (2) 12-volts, battery maintenance has been a difficult task whether I removed all batteries or used a combination of flashlights, mirrors and a rubber dipstick to check the fluid level.  That has all changed with the Pro-Fill On-Board Battery Watering System from Flow-rite.  It works by replacing the existing battery caps with a series of pre-mounted manifolds that provide your batteries with a precise amount of water, never over or under filling them.

Installation is simple as the manifolds come pre-assembled to fit the standard spacing of 2 11/16” for 6v batteries. Simply remove your old caps, snap in the new ones and twist to lock in place. Next, cut the feed tubes to best suit your layout, run the tubing from one set of manifolds to the next and finally to the fill tube.  From there, you attach the filler hose bulb-pump to the quick connector coming from the battery bank and give the hand pump a couple of squeezes. This forces distilled water from your container into and through each of the Pro-fill manifold caps. When the displacer in each cell rises to a preset level, it shuts off water flow to that cell. Within seconds every cell in the bank of batteries is filled to within 1/16 inch of optimum level. You can’t over or under fill.

When I initially used the Pro-Fill to fill my batteries, I anticipated a little water would be used since I kept my batteries a little lower that the optimum level because it was nearly impossible to see the exact level without removing each battery from the battery rack to inspect. But I honestly did not expect my batteries would take nearly half a gallon of water so I removed each battery to be certain I didn’t overfill them, but the system worked as advertised as each cell was filled perfectly.

For me, the Pro-Fill was a no-brainer and an excellent value. I bought mine from RV Power Supply for $147 for the complete 4 battery RV-2000 kit. Their service was fast and shipping was VERY reasonable at only $7! For those of you with 12-volt batteries, Pro-fill makes the Quik-Fill that waters two batteries for $81. Each kit contains everything you need … except the distilled water. 8D battery kits are also available.