went to start up the bike for a ride today all kitted up put the keys in the bike and it tried to tun over but did not fire , so i thought i know i will jump it from the car that worked a treat left it to warm up for 5 mins got on the bike and away i went down the road untill i stalled it waiting for a bus and that was it dead as a door nail , So i now have a choice push it home or get the van , so i took the walk of shame in rush hour traffic and pushed it home "the shame "so the sun it out and the bike is dead with its quite expensive "Mottobat battery the type you can not keep on a trickel charge , so i think i will go back to the good old gell battery that you can keep on charge and it will save me the embarasment of pushing the bike home again :biggrin:
sorry to hear John - any idea why it failed yet? - how old/how often charged etc - they are 'sealed for life' aren't they?
it was fine when new but its two years old and past its best ,you cant keep them on a trickel charge as it drys them out , it was not cheap around £70 but thats the last time i get talked into buying more expencive battery by the bike shop , it did come with a two year waranty but i have a feeling its up
I have 'boiled' a sealed lead acid battery before by too much top up charging over winter. Gel types seem to be ok left on trickle for longer/regular periods but generally only last a couple of years before dying anyway. I have spent a fortune on batteries over the years and I have yet to see a expensive brand name battery last better than a cheap unknown one.
I have just managed to fuck my shorai battery £150 . I managed to some how switch the tender off over winter and allowed it to go down in volts to un-recoverable , and I have tried to recover it , now its toast and a new one has just arrived . It wont happen again though as I have now fitted one of these to switch it off whilst its not in use .Battery Isolator Switch / Power Shut Off Switch 12v 100a - New - BARGAIN!!! | eBay .The draw came from my tracker which isnt needed when its in my garage anyway.
Push it home or put it in a van? Surely not. I'd have rung a friend and got anyone with a car to pop out with some jump leads. I know I'll regret this, but my battery in the 999 (standard item) still seems to work despite no trickle charger and long periods of no use (pretty much all winter). It is the second battery in 7 years, but the first bit the dust from total neglect (I was out of the country for extended periods). We'll see if it can still cope this season, but early indications seemed to be that it was fine a few weeks ago.
John, A good quality AGM lead acid battery is the most reliable for the money choice and there are plenty of good ones available. They should last for over 5 years with a little optimate style maintenance over the winter and if the bike is parked up for a few weeks at a time for the rest of the year. Through the winter only use the optimate when voltage drops to 12.6v or below (at the battery posts) when the bike has been parked up for a few hours in a cold. This means for a good battery the optimate should only be necessary every 2-3 weeks or so and then only for a few hours at a time. Do not believe the claims on ebay that say AGM batteries are GEL, they are simply normal batterires with a glass fiber sponge to retain the acid in the right place all the time, often when you buy them they supply an acid pack to fill it. On a new battery always charge it over night before first use and avoid using the optimate or similar all the time as they can and do over do it when the bike is left for long periods. One final comment is many people use chargers which stick out far too many amps for the battery they are charging and wonder why they never get more than a couple of years out of their battery. A simple rule for most conventional batteries is the maximum charging current for a trickle charger should not exceed 10% of Ah rating of the battery. I often see folks on here advocating chargers that are more suited to car batteries than small bike ones - check the charger output before buying it it should be less than 1.5A on bulk charge.
What are the symptoms of a bike failing to start just because the battery is dead? Apart from the obvious! Back story: Bike has been laid up for a year and a bit, if I had my brain switched on I'd have taken the battery off the bike and brought it inside, still hindsight is a wonderful thing. Took the battery off the bike, topped up the cells and put it on charge over night with a proper motorbike charger, in the morning, nothing, no lights no fuel pump priming or anything, connected the charger directly to the battery on the bike as it has a boost option. The pump primed, the relay under the seat clicked but then the ignition relay, the yellow one by the battery just buzzed. No light on dash at all. Checked contacts, tightened everything up, pulled relays and put them back, tried again... Lights appear on the dash now, pump primes but now starter relay under the seat clicks away. Now I seem to remember having trouble starting it before I put it to bed a year ago, turned out I had to swap the 2 relays under the seat around in order to get the bike to start so I know I need at least 1 new one. Do symptoms sound like relay failure or just not enough amps?
because of time of day I can at least get you thinking until 'Denzil' is up and about later - I don't know if you have access to a Multimeter but with the price of a reliable set ever dropping and now probably at less than a fiver, I think everyone should have one. Although you can't practically check the battery cranking amperage (which is the acid test (pun accidental) for the true state of the battery) the voltage straight after charging and for various periods afterwards can at least be a guideline as it needs to be (obviously) above 12 volts and I think typically ought to remain around 12.6 to be somewhere near normal. A crude check (although be careful) is to observe battery top as you attempt to crank engine as if it's a conventional wet acid type, it might show signs of venting from one of the cells often a pole cell. This is a sure sign that the battery is struggling and almost certainly dud. Another test you can try is to load it up with all the electrical ancilliaries including the headlights and then try cranking*. A good battery ought to be able to cope with this for a short period with just slight dimming of headlight but if virtually extinguished immediately on cranking then again, either there are connector issues or the battery is damaged. You could try feeling various junctions at this point for overheating (i.e. battery terminals and other ends of both these leads) as (as you said) you can't rule anything out at the beginning of checking. Another check that you may have tried is to bypass the starter solenoid but be aware of possible sparks as you do this. If miraculously cranking is near normal then you have your answer. * don't do this for very long!
i did have a mate who kept a lead acid battery going for years by draining the acid out every winter and keeping it in a jar ,and putting back in the summer
sorted the battery problem just got a new "Motobatt " battery but to sort the charging problem i got a Motobatt charger to go with it and just to be shure i going to keep a a spare gell battery that i can use in my 900ss as back up , so no more missed rides coz the fugging bike wont start .
Just a thought to save a long walk home - If there was enough juice to run the fuel pump after stalling, there is probably enough to run the ignition and certainly enouh to energise the alternator, so why not bump start it in the old tradition? As for batteries, there are several on this forum running Odyssey batteries lasting 7 even 8 years. I use a PC680 on my SS which cost £86 about 18 months back from Tanya. These will take a heavy charge and in fact they recommend it. For winter maintenance, I use a CTEK 3600 charger which has a specific bike setting for low AH batteries although this is not strictly necessary for the Odyssey hope this helps
I did think about but the last time i had a go at bumping a large Vtwin it did not go well and the bike is fitted with a slipper clutch .
Tis' I. Although this year when I returned, I took my now 4 year old battery; that I had drained of acid when I left , to the Battery Wallah to have it refilled with acid and put on charge. When I returned the following day I was told the battery was no good and he showed me the battery still on the charger, and he put a voltmeter across the terminals to show no volts. I accepted the facts at face value and coughed up 1300 Rupees for a new battery. When I told my mate the story, he told me that last year he had taken the very same battery on my behalf to the same battery Wallah who had told him the same story, that the battery was finished. My mate who was doing me a favor by preparing my bike for action upon my arrival wasn't trusting enough ,and took a sample of what was meant to be the acid and determined in fact it was just water. He insisted it was filled correctly and charged again. Surprise, surprise, the battery was as good as new after that! I think I was stitched up like a kipper, not for the first time, but I have a long memory for stuff like that, and I have a year to plan my revenge!
