Is it okay to equalize maintainence free batteries?

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1. Only attempt to equalize wet cell deep cycle batteries. Never equalize gel batteries or maintenance free wet cell batteries.

2. The batteries should be fully charged and near ambient temperature before beginning an equalize charging cycle.

3. There should be a sufficient amount of electrolyte in each cell to cover the plates, but do not top-off each cell until after equalizing. Since there is some heating of the cells during equalize and some electrolyte will be displaced by the increased bubbling action within the cells, the electrolyte will expand and could overflow the cells if they were topped-off before equalizing. This would not only make a mess, but force you to terminate the equalize cycle too early to gain maximum benefit and would result in diluted electrolyte when water is added to replace the missing electrolyte.

Well this is a CONTINENTAL battery, Group 31 and it says on the side EXTREME DUTY XHD-31C. It is a wet cell. It has a telephone number on it 1-800-442-0081. When I called that number it seemed like the guy had a foreign accent and he didn't even seem to know what "equalize" ment? Then he gave me another number to call 414-524-1200. The woman had me on hold so long I gave up. I figured I could get faster service on here. So here I am. Thanks Terry.

Some AGM batteries call for a "reconditioning" charge procedure if a loss of capacity is noted. Check with your battery Mfg for details.

Maintenance free can mean a lot of different things. AGM, Flooded, GELL, Lithium are examples and all would be treated different.

Going to need to post what exactly you have. And why do you think it needs equalized?
What charging system maintains the battery may also help.

Hi Gary, this is not a direct answer to your question but I think it may help.

I recently purchased an AGM (sealed maintenance free) battery for a powered pallet truck here at work and wanted to be sure that we treated this $4,000 battery well. Checked the manufacturers instructions and they say equalize, once at the start and after every 50-100 hours of use.

This is from GNB Industrial Power which is a division of Exide Technologies.

Terry