[PSUBS-MAILIST] battery acid?

["Alec Smyth" <Asmyth@changepoint.com>]

The batteries have been mounted in Solo a couple of weeks now, and to my alarm I'm noticing a small amount of liquid collects under them. Is there a quick home test to find out whether this is battery acid? I did get a little on my fingers and it did not burn at all, even though I didn't bother to wash it off. Also it does not seem to affect the epoxy paint in spite of multiple days' exposure. But on the other hand some plastic cable ties that it fell on seemed to dissolve a bit. The latter could be my imagination.

The batteries in question are AGM technology Lifelines. They are upside down, but these batteries are explicitly approved for mounting in any position. What I'm thinking is that I might have cracked one by torquing down too hard with the mounting hardware.  That would be really bad, not only because of the expense of the battery (they are 4D batteris, big ones) but also because of the hassle of getting them in and out.

Any thoughts or theories would be very welcome!

Alec