Posted by CS on November 2, 2011, 10:44 pm
August 29, replaced the battery on the Valkyrie after it instantly went from
full charge to practically no charge. Weirdness.
A month ago, brought bike into Honda for service, was told the battery was
nearing failure. Didn't quite believe him.
Today. I believe him.
So a two month old battery just dies. This time it died correctly, aside
from the age issue, taking quite a bit longer to start the bike this morning
to making me jump start it at Del Taco this afternoon.
Thank goodness for AAA.
This is another battery issue that has me befuddled. Not only is it two
months old, but I watched the guy fill the cells myself. Not sure why he
wanted to do it...he was retiring that day, so I guess he was feeling like
going the extra couple feet or so.
I've never seen any lead acid battery die after two months, even a car
battery that's been sitting for a couple years on the shelf.
The charging system is working, and it doesn't appear to be overcharging,
though I've yet to test it. I'll be doing that next week, when I have time,
but I don't think that's the case.
I suppose it's possible I got a bum battery. I've seen some of the work the
'combo' dealer (Yamaha/Suzuki/Honda) has done, and I'm not impressed, so I
guess a poorly stored or mistreated battery isn't beyond the realm of
possibility.
Has anybody seen this?
Thanks...
CS
Posted by Rob Kleinschmidt on November 2, 2011, 11:56 pm
> So a two month old battery just dies. This time it died correctly, aside
> from the age issue, taking quite a bit longer to start the bike this morning
> to making me jump start it at Del Taco this afternoon.
> The charging system is working, and it doesn't appear to be overcharging,
> though I've yet to test it. I'll be doing that next week, when I have time,
> but I don't think that's the case.
> I suppose it's possible I got a bum battery. I've seen some of the work the
> 'combo' dealer (Yamaha/Suzuki/Honda) has done, and I'm not impressed, so I
> guess a poorly stored or mistreated battery isn't beyond the realm of
> possibility.
A two month old battery ought to have a warranty on it.
I run an onboard voltage indicator ( a 6 LED light setup), so I
can tell what voltage I'm running at as I'm riding. Not sure
quite what you're looking at when you say the charging system
is working, but my bet would be that it might be undercharging
due to high resistance somewhere. Only a guess.
Suggest an onboard voltage guage if you don't already have one.
Posted by The Older Gentleman on November 3, 2011, 3:30 am
> Not sure
> quite what you're looking at when you say the charging system
> is working, but my bet would be that it might be undercharging
> due to high resistance somewhere. Only a guess.
Hmmmmyeah.... but that would just flatten the battery, and it would be
OK after a charge. Not dead as mutton, which seems to be the case here.
A voltmeter is a good idea, though.
--
BMW K1100LT Ducati 750SS Honda CB400F
Triumph Street Triple Suzuki Freewind, TS250ERx2, GN250.
So many bikes, so little garage space....
chateau dot murray at idnet dot com
Posted by Rob Kleinschmidt on November 3, 2011, 7:23 pm
On Nov 3, 12:30 am, totallydeadmail...@yahoo.co.uk (The Older
Gentleman) wrote:
> > Not sure
> > quite what you're looking at when you say the charging system
> > is working, but my bet would be that it might be undercharging
> > due to high resistance somewhere. Only a guess.
> Hmmmmyeah.... but that would just flatten the battery, and it would be
> OK after a charge. Not dead as mutton, which seems to be the case here.
I guess what I'm thinking of is a consistently undercharged battery
eventually getting sulfated. This can happen as a result of leaving
a battery mostly discharged for long periods of time and often
puts it in an unrecoverable state.
Maybe this speculation comes from lots of experience with BMW airhead
bikes that couldn't overcharge a battery no matter how hard they
tried.
> A voltmeter is a good idea, though.
Tells you a great deal about the charging system and battery very
quickly
once you get in the habit of looking at it and know what normal looks
like.
Posted by Snag on November 3, 2011, 7:42 pm
Rob Kleinschmidt wrote:
> On Nov 3, 12:30 am, totallydeadmail...@yahoo.co.uk (The Older
> Gentleman) wrote:
>>> Not sure
>>> quite what you're looking at when you say the charging system
>>> is working, but my bet would be that it might be undercharging
>>> due to high resistance somewhere. Only a guess.
>>
>> Hmmmmyeah.... but that would just flatten the battery, and it would
>> be OK after a charge. Not dead as mutton, which seems to be the case
>> here.
> I guess what I'm thinking of is a consistently undercharged battery
> eventually getting sulfated. This can happen as a result of leaving
> a battery mostly discharged for long periods of time and often
> puts it in an unrecoverable state.
> Maybe this speculation comes from lots of experience with BMW airhead
> bikes that couldn't overcharge a battery no matter how hard they
> tried.
>> A voltmeter is a good idea, though.
> Tells you a great deal about the charging system and battery very
> quickly
> once you get in the habit of looking at it and know what normal looks
> like.
Yup , you nailed that one . On my '90 Ultra normal is between 13.5 and 14
, depending on what I have runnin' . Passing lamps , gloves , and the radio
cranked up will drop it to 13.5 on the dash voltmeter .
Useta be a lot lower than that , due to a I'm-not-sure-where high
resistance connection in the wiring loom . Took a page from a friend's book
and supply the aux circuit directly from the battery now via a dedicated
breaker and a relay . When checked at the battery with a separate meter , it
runs right at 14.3 @2000 RPM's or above no matter what the load is , which
is exactly what it's supposed to be .
--
Snag
Learning keeps
you young !
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> from the age issue, taking quite a bit longer to start the bike this morning
> to making me jump start it at Del Taco this afternoon.
> The charging system is working, and it doesn't appear to be overcharging,
> though I've yet to test it. I'll be doing that next week, when I have time,
> but I don't think that's the case.
> I suppose it's possible I got a bum battery. I've seen some of the work the
> 'combo' dealer (Yamaha/Suzuki/Honda) has done, and I'm not impressed, so I
> guess a poorly stored or mistreated battery isn't beyond the realm of
> possibility.