Battery Not Charging (or charging badly)

Stereo · Post by **Stereo** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:28 am

Hi guys, flat battery.... Had a flat battery a few days ago, thought it was just low... So I bought a charger...

Today... Dead as a doornail.......

Any ideas of what to check....

mfzx6r · Post by **mfzx6r** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:30 am

buy new battery

Stereo · Post by **Stereo** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:35 am

battery is about a year old, so unlikely to be at fault.... possible though I guess....

red_dave · Post by **red_dave** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:38 am

There could be an earth leakage...

or the battery could just be farked...

Stereo · Post by **Stereo** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:56 am

Isnt there a test for it?

javaman · Post by **javaman** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:14 am

According to the manual:

1. Charge the battery fully until 13.1v

2. Wait 30 minutes

3. Measure the voltage again:

12.8-13v - ok
12.0 - 12.8 - ok but charge again
under 12v - battery farked

Note that running low-voltage battery actually worsen its condition. I simply use a notebook charger and $15 diy dicksmith regulator. Always a fresh 13v every sunday

red_dave · Post by **red_dave** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 10:54 am

Stereo wrote:Isnt there a test for it?

Yes... It's a clamp that most Auto Elec's would have...

Stereo · Post by **Stereo** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 11:00 am

I was thinking more along the lines of checking the charging system...

Ive done this before with a mulitmeter, to see what voltage is going into the battery...... but dont remember....

rocketrod · Post by **rocketrod** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 1:11 pm

Yep there is a test for the charging system.Put a volt meter across your battery,start it up and check reading,should be about 12.5-13 volts,then rev the thing to about 4 or 5 grand and it should be putting out about 13-14.5 volts.If its not raising the voltage when you rev it or puting out too much voltage like 17 volts or something,then your charge system is suss.More than likely it will be the regulator/rectifier that is cactus.
Always start with the easiest things 1st,so make sure your battery isnt rooted.Sometimes batteries can show a good voltage,like 12.5 volts,but have very little amperage(cranking power).This is usually caused by a collapsed cell in the battery.This is easily detected by one of the cells looking black or darker than the others.Thats if you have a translucent battery,if its a black battery,then you need to have the amperage checked by a auto elec as your multi meter will only check up to 10 amp and that isnt enuff and you will blow it.Been there done that!

Hope this helps.

Barrabob · Post by **Barrabob** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 6:41 pm

Hey stereo just wack your tounge across the terminals and see what happens.

A multimeter will tell you if the system is charging but wont tell you if the batery has a dead cell.

they vary in quality and in the taxi game a bigass 12v battery would last 8 to 12 weeks if it was a elcheapo.

See if you can find a bateryworld to test it out for you (red dave will recomend these) and see where you go from there.

lead acid is getting to be old technolegy.

Gosling1 · Post by **Gosling1** » Mon Nov 13, 2006 9:16 pm

You could also use a battery hydrometer to check the specific gravity of each cell. This method will reveal if you have a dud cell.

If the battery is clear or even slightly opaque , then its easy to spot a sulphated cell - they are the white ones. If you have one of these, the battery will need some 'Inox Battery Conditioner', you can get this stuff at most battery places, its cadmium sulphate *I think*, and it reverses the chemical reaction that causes sulphation. Just bung 5-10ml into the sulphated cell, and top up with distilled water as needed, then give the battery a good old charge.

I have recovered / revived a few old batteries with this shit, it is great.

There is also a product out there that apparently deals with sulphated cells as well, it 'blasts' the battery with voltage spikes

sounds painful, I am not sure how effective it is , RedDave may be able to advise on this method.

Easiest way to tell if your charging system is 'charging' in the first place is start the bike, turn on the headlight, and rev 'er up - if the headlight noticeable brightens, your charging system is working OK. This method is only a rough guide, using a multimeter across the terminals is more accurate.

After these tests, it becomes a matter of using the workshop manual to test all the relevant resistance measurements in the alternator, rectifier etc etc. to see where the problem is.

If its a cheap Taiwanese battery ( Elephant, Yacht, etc) - its stuffed, get a Japanese-made Yuasa.

red_dave · Post by **red_dave** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 8:00 am

Gosling1 wrote:There is also a product out there that apparently deals with sulphated cells as well, it 'blasts' the battery with voltage spikes sounds painful, I am not sure how effective it is , RedDave may be able to advise on this method.

It's called "Mega Pulse"...

I've heard differing stories about it's effectiveness...

Never used one myself so i can't shed any more more light on them

All i'll say is prevention is better than a cure. Buy a maintenence charger and plug you bike in when you get home after every ride.

rocketrod · Post by **rocketrod** » Tue Nov 14, 2006 11:06 pm

Dont pissfart around with all that shit,if the batteries cactus,get a new one,simple as that really.

mrmina · Post by **mrmina** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 4:19 pm

rocketrod wrote:Dont pissfart around with all that shit,if the batteries cactus,get a new one,simple as that really.

for around $60 i agree with rocket

Neka79 · Post by **Neka79** » Wed Nov 15, 2006 10:39 pm

mrmina wrote:
rocketrod wrote:Dont pissfart around with all that shit,if the batteries cactus,get a new one,simple as that really.
for around $60 i agree with rocket

thing is mate...some bikes run batteries that are $250.... ask red Dave..best he could get me was abt $220....