Battery Died

Ah..the battery died as my landlord popped over without warning and...STUPIDLY...I left the ignition on...meaning the light were on for about 20 minutes :(

Just came back from Halfords with Oximiser 900.... connected...charging...
but the battery does not seem to be flat... it's showing half the charge bar and 12.8V @ 88amps... is that bad already?
Starter was coughing his lungs out so must have been lacking power (?)

Did I mention it was a perfect day for a ride today?! DAMN!

Sorry I don't have the oximiser 900 I have the 360T so I can't compare what you are seeing with mine, so can't help with what you are seeing on the display. Other than to say the "88amps" you are seeing will be the charge rate per hour. It will drop down to about 15 at a later stage. When the battery is fully charged and has been allowed to rest it should balance out at about 12.6/12.8v, If it is any lower it should be replaced. However it could show and reach over 14v whilst being charged but remember that what it is showing at the moment will not be what it shows when the Oximiser has finished charging, it is the rested state that you need to be interested in, not what it is showing whilst charging.

Have a look at the bar above the voltage and amps. It will tell what stage your charging at. The more bars the closer you are to fully charged. It will also tell you if the charger is in a recovery, bulk charge or maintenance mode.

I just went to the garage and checked...the battery was showing 13V so I unplugged the Oximiser and the bike started up.
Left it on tick over, took it for a short spin, seems OK.

Went to park it back...and dropped it :S ...well ish... fell on me luckily, slammed the mirror on the car and I actually managed to lift it back up...

I'm NOT touching it today anymore... I'll do some puzzles instead...and drink a herbal tea to calm down....

Batterys are funny old creatures, the photo is of a battery desulphater I have built recently, this is the mark three version with a few mods from the first one, basically what happens is you attatch the battery charger and then clip this onto the charger leads, the unit then takes power out of the battery amplifies the amps and then pushes it back into the battery in pulses, this shock tactic knocks the sulphate off the plates and allows the battery to recharge again, if the plates are damaged ie. overheated and buckled, nothing will rejuvenate the battery, this is about the size of a pack of cigarettes and costs less than a fiver to build, nothing if you take the bits out of old electronic apparatus, have built a unit on a proper board but fried a diode last week as the solar panel I was using to charge the battery was way too powerfull, but it,s an easy fix, the one in the photo is on a breadboard and is easier to swap parts around when experimenting, we used an earlier model on Daves battery and it definitely seemed to help, I am currently building a more powerfull unit, the best way to describe it is the one above has a 100uf capacitor and the new one will have a 3600 uf capacitor, a lot of battery chargers are very good and will cycle the battery to help keep it in good condition but unless it specifically says that there is a desulphation mode the battery will still eventually sulphate up, last year we fitted a solar panel onto a friends garage roof to keep his battery up and this has also worked, also put a charge controller on it to prevent boiling the battery, all the parts are avaliable from Maplins, and not expensive, the solar panel you need is the Amorphic type, don,t forget that you can also top up the fluid in the battery as these eventually dry out, just prise the plastic strip off the battery, remove the rubber caps and using a syringe top up the cells so the electrolyte just covers the tops of the plates, if anyone wants to build one of these just drop me line, regards to all Doc Cox E=MC2

well doc,what you have just written,goes right over my head.looks like a piece of that car in back to the future.

Same...my dad worked his whole life in electronics and he gets that no problem but me...well let's just say that if my battery dies completely then I won't have second thoughts over buying a brand new one for 35ish quid.

Update on my current one - last time I checked it was juicing up to 13.8V and nearing the end of the recharge cycle. Tomorrow morning it should be full and I will disconnect and let it rest.

Good to read your battery is on the up mate & the tender will make sure it stays that way. But never buy a £35 battery unless its because it is on speciel offer

Hmm it's either 30-40ish range or 240 for Li Ion so I don't really get it :S

Can you give me a link to what would be a decent battery?

I'd appreciate it a lot.

What you should be looking at with any battery is not as simple as whether it fits and is 12volt. What you should be looking at is of course the first 2 that have been mentioned but just as importantly you are looking for the "cold cranking amps". Very often the cheapest batteries will not have as many cold cranking amps, which in turn means they will run out of juice a lot quicker & the only time you will notice that is when you need them and the are not there.

Lucky escape re dropping the Intruder! Could have been a lot worse. I had battery problems with mine late last year - just hadnt used it enough because of shit weather. Bought an Oximiser & charged it up... it appeared as though it was 'recovering' the battery, but bike still woulnt start.

So I wrongly assumed battery was OK, but bike had some other elecltrical issue - eg starter motor, and ended up paying a mobile bike mechanic to diagnose/repair the fault. He ran various tests and said it was just a dead battrey after all. He had brought a battrey with him, so for ease I paid the price & got it sorted there & then. :aghh:

I'm guessing the battery was already buggered when I connected it to the Oximiser. So keep an eye on yours... hopefully you've caught it on time and the Oximiser will keep you on the road

Cheers.

I probably didn't look right.. just had a glance on google for "volusia battery" and results were either the 30-40 range or the pimped out Li Ion ones.


Mal, yeah..too close to disaster for my liking...and worst of all, in my own garage!

Batteries have only a few deep cycles, so if they are alowed to discharge to many times they are good for nothing other than keeping paper on a desk

Just done a very quick search on batteries & by only spending about £15 more than the average battery price for our bikes you can get batteries that are 4AH more with 20% More Cold Cranking Amps & 200 Cold Cranking Amps @ Minus 18 Degrees!

Links darn it!

Sorry I forgot & I have changed pc's now, I will post a few in the morrow. However, don't be buying a new battery until you actually need one, I can think of much better ways to waste some money.

Of course mate... no rush...I was just thinking in terms of bookmarking :]

Small update:

Battery in the morning was showing a healthy 12.8V with no further charging going on.

I left it plugged in for the day and when I checked half an hour ago it was showing 12.7V so I believe it's "resting" to its voltage.

I unplugged the Oximiser now to see tomorrow how it will be holding the voltage after extra 24 hours.

Will report back with findings.

I just leave mine plugged in all the time Marcin, Except when I'm riding it of course I don't think the battery would charge if it was Knackered ?

i find MF battery's are a good make or seem to have been i'v had em on quite a few bikes without any problems got one on my current bike that's gone flat twice coz of my alarm (or to a point were it won't turn engine over to start bike) all i did was charge it up and it still seems to work well i'v been leaveing it for two to three weeks between starting bike up then i let it on tick over for 30 mins then take it for quick spin then park it up and leave it again that should change in about 3 to 4 weeks though as my shoulder is neerly good enough to get back on my bike and fingers crossed the weather might be a bit better i hope

Sim - my battery was not knackered, just went flat because I left the lights on. And I unplugged the Oximiser as I want to check the voltage at which it will settle, otherwise Oximiser would charge it up without me noticing how low it went (?)

Once I know how far down it drops, I will start the routine of keeping it constantly plugged in when parked.

Morgan - cheers for MF info. Question...you said you let your bike tick over for half an hour. I was under the impression that prolonged idling actually might damage the bike (I think it's even mentioned in manual) so it's quite interesting to hear that you're leaving it for so long without issues.

just let it warm up have a couple of cigy's maybe 20 to 30 mins cant see why it would hert bike (could well be wrong) even when i use my bike every day i generally start bike get my jacket on and have a cigeret 5 to ten mins before i ride off meens i dont have to ride for so long before i can open her up properly should probaly get a temp gage to replace oil fill cap dont reelly know i just thought and have allways been told better to have bike warmed up allso try not to do very short runs to local shop then home wich is cool i go to local shop then have a quick half hour ride around before i go home may be it applys more to older engines maybe its just old biker dudes putting it in my mind so i say going for a packet of fags and come home anything upto an hour later dont relly know but i will have a look in my manual to see anyone else have a view on this or some imfo please let me know

Update on the battery:

Unplugged for 48 hours, plugged back in to check the results - initially it screamed its way past 12.8 all the way up within minute and switched off settling back at 12.8V

So I guess I'm running at full capacity @ 12.8V now which should mean trouble free starts going forward.

Case closed.

That battery is in good condition, happy days.