Battery charging experience?

[buggrin]

Just got a new shiny float charger from MAW during the one day sale (also some 491s) and have used it a couple of days. The Yuasa in the bike (78E) is over 4 years old, but is amazingly still happy. I thought it was giving up the ghost a year ago, but soon as I bought another one (cheapo from Whipme) the Yuasa got well and has been going strong ever since.

Anyway, just after a 50 mile cruise I attached the float charger, and apparently it thinks the battery needs charged......red light on for about 5 min, then blinking green for several hours until finally the float stage kicks in. The voltage trigger point is higher for this charger than the charging system on the bike.

Is this good, bad, or indifferent? I've been putting a new battery in this beast every 2 to 3 years since it was new and got this fancy charger in an attempt to extend life.

Any of you guys running one of these? What's your experience in leaving them plugged in -- Do they tend to boil out the water or have a good effect on life. I'm really curious about the big difference in voltage trigger points. I think the instructions say something over 14 v for the charger, and seem to remember the manual saying charge volts should be around 13.2. I have measured the charge volts per the manual and found it varies quite a bit depending on the condition of the battery.

Wouldn't it be nice if we could come up with a way to extend battery life a year or two.

Also, the Whipme battery came without acid & dry charged. I'm keeping it on the shelf dry until needed. Should I charge it again or leave it until adding acid & installing.

[Jerry]

Bob:

Amperage is the key. The one I use is 1/2 amp, also have a 1-amp non-regulated charger that I use from time to time but don't leave plugged in. This in addition to my 10 amp 'automatic' charger, also not left plugged in for long periods.

If your battery is OK, and the charger amperage is 1 amp or less, then you should be able to leave it on for long periods without any problems.

Don't charge a dry battery. When you get ready to use yours, fill it with battery acid and put the float charger on it for a day or so before you install it in the bike. Heat and vibration are enemies of battery life. If you charge the battery to fast, the plates can buckle, leading to a shorter life. Don't know if it is accurate, but have been told by a couple sources that initial break-in of a new battery is more critical than realized, and a slow, extended charge will get you longer life than a quick charge.

3 - 5 years is not uncommon battery life using the 1/2 amp charger during the winter. Use the same charger on my other toys, such as garden tractor. Need to replace that battery this year, but is 9 or 10 years old.......

Replaced the battery in the XJ this spring, but I had the bike since '99, and the battery was from the PO. Don't really know how old it was, but would guess a minimum of 4 years. I used the 1/2 amp charger on it every year for winter storage. Had similar life with my previous bikes, 4 - 5 years not uncommon. Several brands of batteries used, didn't seem to make a lot of difference. Will say that most of this time was in smaller bikes, 350 - 550 cc, don't know how much difference this might make.

Chargers run less than $20.00, have seen them for less than $15.00. I'm convinced they will give you longer service life from your battery when used to 'top off' the battery in long term (more than 1 month) inactive periods.

[maxim4rob]

Jerry:

Since you have an XJ I thought you might be able to answer this question for me. After starting up my XJ the battery warning light will come on and stay on for about 5 miles. It will eventually go off and stay off for the rest of the ride. As you know the XJ battery has a sensor and I was under the impression that the warning light is acuated by this sensor and indicates low acid. Could this warning light also mean that the charging system is not working properly? I've owned the bike since July 2002 and the PO said it was a "new" battery. The acid level is up to the high mark. Any idea if the sensor is misreading or the battery is weak or the charging system is malfunctioning. Thanks in advance.

Maxim4rob

[Jerry]

According to the manual, the sensor probably needs to be removed and cleaned. Corrosion can build up on it, just as on battery terminals, making it give a false reading.

Luckily, the light has nothing to do with the charging system, as it only indicates fluid level in the battery. Two quick checks for the charging system: Measure voltage at the battery terminals while the engine is running around 2K RPMs; you should be getting over 14 Volts. Tachometer is electrical, keyed off one of the alternator windings. If it is working OK, and you get the 14V+ at the battery, the charging system is probably OK.

Should you ever replace the battery with a non-sensor type, there is a Tech Tip on xs11.com about putting a resistor in the battery sensor line to 'fool' the system into thinking the sensor is still there. See the tip at:

http://www.xs11.com/forum/showthread...=&threadid=668

[buggrin]

Battery life

Yep, been using a half amp charger during long inactive periods for a long time, but hope this fancy "float charger" will be better because of the variable amperage.

What U said about heat and vibration make sense. My mileage has been down for the past few years and that would explain the longer than usual life.

[rockyr74]

Battery Tender

I leave my float charger plugged in all winter long and I love it.
Water use is minimal. Have not had any of my bikes for long enough to know ultimate battery life, but I always buy Yuasa and am very happy.

I used to use a 'trickle' charger and never got the frequency and duration of charge right to do my batteries any good. Would forget about them and come back weeks later. Springtime would come and I'd have to get a new battery again. I used to buy cheap batteries too, but gave that up after too much trouble.

I agree - don't try and charge the dry charged battery. I am not even sure charging a dry battery is possible?? How would the electrons get across the dry gap? I will have to research this.

[crunchbird]

Back to the original question...I have a Battery Tender but don't need to use it on the daily rider xs11. But when I have used it, or on the less ridden bike, your redlight-greenlight experience is normal. Starting with a fully charged battery, just starting the bike will make the battery take a charge for half an hour or so, then the blinking green for a couple more. It's normal. My batteries are lasting a long time. Diehards.

[bbs1980xs1100g]

i ride year round(san Antonio) so I dont have long time to charge should I get a 1\2 amp charger20$, or a bigger one for a quick charge. I want to use this for my car also What amp charger would be enough? thanks brian

[Dragonrider]

If you want to use it for your car too, go ahead and sping for a charger that will do a bunch more . . . 1/2 amp will not even wake up a car battery in a day.

My charger is a 1/10/50 amp charger. Range can be selected, 1 amp for small (motorcycle) batteries, 10 amp for car batteries, and the 50 is for short duration (under 30 seconds) to help jump something off.

It has a timer you can set for up to 12 hours, then goes to float, which I believe is 1/2 amp.

Seems to me I paid about $30 for it.

[Jerry]

I second the idea of getting a more general-purpose charger rather than the 1/2 amp or float charger. The small chargers are designed for long-term battery maintenance, making up for normal loss of charge when the battery is not in use. For the occasional quick charge and working with auto batteries a larger charger is the better way to go.

The trick to using a larger charger on a motorcycle battery is to avoid over-heating the battery with to much current. If you go bigger, you have 3 options. Get a charger with a built-in timer, use an external timer, monitor the battery closely making sure it doesn't get overly warm, or, like Daniel, get a charger with selectable charging rates.

The rule of thumb I learned is to not go over about 10 percent of the battery capacity. If your car batt is rated at 550 amp hours, you can use a 50 amp charger on it without worry. However, if your bike battery is rated at 22 amp hours (as is my XJ), max charge rate should be less than 2.5 amps. Remember, this is per hour....if you use a 10 amp charger, you should only run it for about 15 minutes per hour when charging your bike battery.

My workhorse charger is a 10 amp automatic, which tapers to a float charge of around 1 amp or so as the battery gets more fully charged. I use this on both car and bike batteries for a faster charge, but not for long-term maintenance. Its old, bought it in the '70s, (remember Montgomery Ward?) and there are much nicer chargers with more functions on them on the market these days. Look around and you should be able to get a decent charger for not a lot of money, and a good one will last you a long time.

[Shack]

HELLO,
My Charger is a 2-10-50amp boost...will the 2 amp be too much for my motorcycle and fourwheeler batteries?
Shack

[Dragonrider]

Nope. 2 amp will be just fine.

[Shack]

Thanx Dragorider,
I remember you talking about some device you used on boat batteries?????? What was that??? I have 6 boat batteries and couldn't remember what it was called.

Shack

[Dragonrider]

Called a desulfator. It does not charge really, it uses a frequency pulse to desulfate the battery. Then they take a charge better. Sulfation is one of the main causes of failure of batteries.

Since boats in my size range typically have in excess of $2000 worth of batteries in them, we like to make them last longer.

I have seen the tests in which using these things brought back otherwise unusable batteries, and extended the capacity of good (but not quite new) batteries (measured in amp-hours).

It can take a couple of weeks on a large battery . . . off season is a great time to use these things. You will see better life out of your deep cycle boat batteries especially.

Do a google search on desulfator. There are even instructions on how to build your own for the so inclined.