Battery time

[old PJ]

Hi all it came to me today that i havent check my battery for a while and as its winter and more demands are put on the battery so of with the battery and blow me how time flies by i always mark the battery with a marker pen when i get them so i know how old they are and i was thinking its only a year ago i put it on the bike but it was 2002 and  very low on acid so i have topped the battery up and its on a 1 amp charge for a while amazing its still working fine but its worth checking your battery in the winter .

OLD PJ     

[groily]

how right you are old PJ! I checked the (relatively substantial) 12 volter on my AMC steed this week - must be all of 6 months since the last time - and lo and behold, the electrolyte was v low .  . too much use in the dark maybe, or the 12 volt regulator is a bit aggressive, who knows. Working fine, but on the verge of abuse. Memo to self - check more often - and re A10 (6 volter), put brain in gear, don't be idle, get that seat off once a month and have a good look . . .with a mechanical regulator, winter use, cold temperatures etc etc, neglect is all it needs! Plus of course one can see the state of the important bits of the wiring a lot easier with the seat off . . . . Groily

[LJ.]

It's a funny thing... Now I have one of those electronic battery status monitors on two of my bikes and they have both been flashing this week, warning that battery is very low and needs charging. All because of a bit of frost. If I only had one i'd have been inclined to think that there was a fault witht the monitor... but when two show same readings they are crying out about a problem..... So cold weather doe's have a detrimental effect on batteries.

[BSA500]

I use the Yuasa NP7 12 volt (7 amp hour) gel cell battery,mount anyway you like and quite immune to vibration no maintenance.The life of my batteries has also been extended by using a bike battery charger as well(the car one I was using was rated at 4 amp ooppps).

[a10 gf]

Hello BSA500, and welcome. Hope you will find yourself at home here. When you find the time, consider posting a picture of your bike? (and to all members, would be very nice if a country location is included in the profile.Thanks).

Yes, I too have overcooked small batteries, with some enthusiastic use of too large A\hours chargers. The ideal is, as you state, a small (500mA) charger, to be used overnight or so, can even be forgotten, or used at any battery condition, without doing any harm.

The absolute worst for any battery is beeing subject to very cold or freezing conditions in discharged condition.

erling
adm

[Beezageezauk]

A couple of years ago I bought a "Gel" battery for one of my bikes and it wasn't really efficient after the winter had passed even though I had been charging it every now and again.  A few months later I saw the guy who supplied it (a genuine supplier of batteries) and I mentioned it to him.

He told me that a conventional battery charger and a "Gel" battery are not compatable with each other and a small bike charger should be used on this type of battery.

Can anybody confirm this?  Or was my supplier just making excuses!!

Beezageezauk.

[a10 gf]

I am no expert, but my standard is this:

A rule of thumb is to divide the capacity of your battery by 10 (this is called the C/10 rate) to arrive at an appropriate charge rate

.

(f.ex. a 4A battery would be very safe with around 400mA, an 8 amp battery would do fine with 400mA as well, but the charging time would in practice more than double).

If one tries a 4A car bat charger damage can be done to any small battery (yes, I managed an explosion once ), therefore use a so called "motorcycle charger", which is usually rated at around 0,5A (500mA). This can not damage anything, but the charging time will be longer than with a suitable electronic charger, which adjusts the charging current relative to the condition of the battery, and ramps down the current as the battery gets "fuller", ending in a low maintenance current when done, ie one can leave it on all year.

Applies to any type of battery as far as I know. Corrections are welcome.

And must write it, even if all know about it, lead\acid batteries produces explosive hydrogen gas when charging, I friend experienced that this was not just a theory, charging a batt inhouse, he used an electric tool close by, booom, fortunately there was no fire, and the acid only destroyed his clothes and sprayed all over the room, he did not get any in the eyes.

e.

[BSA500]

Yep will sort a pic of the bike over crimble.I have a good supply of gel batteries due to work replacing the UPS backup systems and the batteries have had hardly any use and are kept well charged.