Thinking my battery is knackered but looking for 2nd (or 3rd ...) opinions. I stupidly allowed my bike (96 900, SL) overheat whilst investigating a carb overflow issue - I was readying the bike to go an oil change do wanted to get some heat in the oil too. Cut to the chase and the battery got very hot - also the -ve connection at the frame ground point was loose and probably influenced the earth lead distorting. This was replaced and I subsequently did a 100 mile ride with no issues. Yesterday I found the battery had only a couple of bolts,obviously insufficient to even turn the dash lights on. I connected a charger to it and initially it just showed a wzrninglight and refused to charge. Today, about to throw in the towel I tried again and this time the charger DID start to charge it. Now its pumped it up to close on 14v soi tried to start the engine with it. Nope , it turns over like an wheezy asthmatic old man but never a chance in hell of it firing up. Multimeter on the battery showed the 14v dropping to about 9 when I try to start it. Is it dubbed? Electrolyte levels are fine, cant ser plates warped when shine a torch through the case.
I would just replace the battery. Easy fix and if it's not the battery then you haven't wasted your money if the old one was a few years old.
MrS, put it on the charger and get it fully charged, then disconnect the charger and leave it overnight and check the voltage in the morning. The voltage you refer to above off the charger is simply the voltage that the charger had been pushing and is not an indicator of the batteries condition. You need to leave it to settle down for an hour or more after charging before checking its voltage. If the voltage has decayed to less than 12.5v in the morning (or sooner) its fecked. You can check it under load if you have a battery tester to confirm. One thing regulators don't like is trying to operate with a poor or disconnected battery earth connection, on most vehicles running the engine with a disconnected or intermittent battery earth with cook the regulator. When you are happy with the battery you ought to check that the regulator is still working ok
Cheers, its reached about 13.3v after most of the day being on charge but hasn't fully charged - its disconnected now. As I'd said, initially I'd thought it fit for the bin as the charger did nothing then it seemed to raise my hope as it took charge for hours but it does now look less hopefull. Will see what its like tomorrow.
