Where can I go to get a battery filled?

[Jackstand Johnny]

My girl bought me a battery off bikebandit for an early early christmas present. She wanted to make sure it was what I needed to fix my bike( I needed a fuel valve), and it came in the mail today with no "acid" in it?

Where can I go to get one of these mail delivered batteries filled up so it can be put to use?

[Blackgk]

just fill it with water, its becomes acid when the electrolytic plates have current put through them (ie charge it) some people reccomend distilled water, i just used bottled water...

[Blackgk]

just a follow up, you dont want to use heavily mineralized water, ie from a well....

[fred]

You probably want to use distilled water. Tap water will work, but it will decrease battery life in the long term. They are expensive enough that you probably want to treat it well with some nice distilled water...

[JeffD]

Hm... Every battery I have purchased has come with a 'bottle' of sulfuric acid to put in, and then it gets topped off with distilled water.  But due to shipping hazardous chemicals I bet they didn't include it with the battery so your gona have to find somewhere to get some Sulfuric acid.  

http://www.batterystuff.com/tutorial_battery.html

Just did some searching and some people said just to head on down to a local autoparts store and ask em if they can fill your battery.

[The Buddha]

JeffD - how you been.
Cool.
Buddha.
Yea I am now the buddha - I know, lame.

[Kurlon]

Napa sells acid, and you'll likely have a bike shop local that can fill it as well.

As far as just using water... you'll shorten the life and capacity of the battery by going that route, it really expects to start life with acid.

[Jackstand Johnny]

I guess Ill go to napa and get it filled with acid if they can do that there. Will it hurt the battery to just leave it like it is until spring? I dont need one and it'd be a waste to get rid of mine to put a new one in if I didnt have to. Thanks.

[DoD#i]

Leave it dry till you need it - they ship them this way for a reason.

[Trwhouse]

Hey there,
BlackGK is wrong!
You don't fill a new battery with water and it does NOT "become" acid by just adding water.
That's completely wrong.
You have to fill a new battery with battery acid. It should have come with a container of acid, like a previous poster mentioned.
You can try calling around to an auto parts place or your local motorcycle dealer to ask if you can get an acid fill for cheap.
Only after a battery has initially been filled with acid and charged do you ever add distilled water as needed.
Best wishes,
Trwhouse

[Jackstand Johnny]

This one surely did not come with battery acid. Its a bikemaster brand, how good of a battery are these? All it came with was the battery, battery post screws, and a clear tube. Again, it came via UPS so I figured it wouldnt be able to come with acid.

[sledge]

You need neat sulphuric acid with a specific-gravity of 1.28. Anyone who sells car batteries will have it.