Banner Batteries - topping up

[peterc10]

I havewa couple of 110Ah Banner batteries that need topping up. For the life of me I can't get the tops off! Tried all sorts of way to unscew them, but all I am doing is distorting the plastic. Is there a knack to it please?

 

[GJH]

I had similar problems when we got our van 3 years ago. Use a coin of appropriate size (I use a 20p) rather than a screwdriver.
@Terry gave me a tip and that is to use a pair of pliers to grip the coin rather than your fingers.

 

[Bluestar]

Not stating the obvious but they are not the sealed for life type are they?

 

[Roryboys Dad]

How do you know it needs topping up if you can't see inside?

 

[peterc10]

How do you know it needs topping up if you can't see inside?

Transparent sides show the level. Clever these Austrians

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[peterc10]

Not stating the obvious but they are not the sealed for life type are they?

No they are not - they are supposed to be filled up and there are 6 screw in tops on each to do so. But I can't unscrew them.

 

[peterc10]

I had similar problems when we got our van 3 years ago. Use a coin of appropriate size (I use a 20p) rather than a screwdriver.
@Terry gave me a tip and that is to use a pair of pliers to grip the coin rather than your fingers.

Graham, thank you so much. Spot on with both tips. A 20p coin plus pliers worked a treat. Thank goodness we had a 20p coin here in Portugal.

 

[GJH]

Graham, thank you so much. Spot on with both tips. A 20p coin plus pliers worked a treat. Thank goodness we had a 20p coin here in Portugal.

Glad it worked. Now that you have taken the caps off once you probably won't need the pliers in future - unless you've power-tightened them of course

 

[Big Lad]

When I top batteries up (and I have encountered your problem) the trick is, whatever your using to unscrew the caps, make sure it's thick enough to fit snuggly in the gap. We've probably all used a flat blade that's too thin and ended up chewing the head up. .. I found a large chunky flat blade that covers the width of the recess did the job for me, it helped that i applied a bit of downward pressure to avoid any slipping, but works well for me.

 

[peterc10]

Banner says that you need a flat screwdriver 14mm - 16mm wide. That is a very wide screwdriver. I did not have one in my toolkit and could not find one in shops in Portugal.

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[trevorf]

Banner sell a special tool to remove the caps but its about £20. You can make one yourself quite easily. Go to your local hardware shop and buy a couple of "T" shape cabinet support brackets. The thickness is a perfect fit but they are slightly too wide. A couple of secs with a bench grinder (or couple of mins with a metal file) sorts them out. I found a slightly rusty one lying around my garage.

See photo.