Battery Problem?

 I have a 2002 Kawasaki 500cc Vulcan. When I turn the ignition switch on it
is totally dead. The horn, lights, etc do not work. The battery has been on
a trickle charger and shows that it is charged. My small multimeter shows
roughly 12 volts. When I jump start the bike using jumper cables, it starts
right up and everything works. As soon as I remove the jumper cables from my
bike the engine immediately dies. Is this a battery problem or could it be
something else? The battery is a no-named maintenance free battery that is
about 2 years old. Thank you.

 
It's probably sulfated...

Years ago, batteries were huge things, with solid metal plates, but
they took up too much space to be compact enough for vehicular use. So
the compact spongy lead battery was developed. It's a lot smaller
because the electrolyte can soak into the spongy lead that is held in
a solid lead grid forming the plate.

If a battery is allowed to sit in a discharged condition, lead sulfate
will form on the spongy lead plates, preventing the battery from
taking a full charge.

However, reading the voltage across the terminals may indicate that
the battery is fully charged and measuring the specific gravity of the
electrolyte may also indicate that the battery is fully charged.

But, when you turn on the ignition key and the battery has to provide
current to the headlights, etc., all you hear is a click as the
surface charge is dissipated.

I couldn't figure out what was happening until somebody explained
"surface charge" to me.

The lead sulfate coating the plates prevents the electrolyte from
coming in contact with sufficient
material to produce sufficient electricity to operate your systems.

Modern maintenance free batteries have a fiberglass matting material
surrounding the plates which is intended to keep the acid/water
electrolyte in intimate contact with the spongy lead plates.

This reduces water loss as the battery is repeatedly charged and
discharged at high temperatures.

The environment under you seat, behind the engine, is an awful place
for a motorcycle battery to live. Motorcycle batteries have very short
service lives when explosed to 120~130 degrees F, as they do under the
seat...

 


And years ago, a simple question would often elicit a simple answer.

Thank you again, Krusty, for answering SO many questions that were not
asked.

 Who Me? wrote:

Thanks from me too, for information I found instructive, also my
personal information content to verbosity ratio meter gives it a very
high score compared to so many posts I see on newsgroups from
self-appointed editors.  As so often, it has gone into my permanent
reference file.

 

It took me *years* and several dead batteries in my GS1100 to learn
what was going on with the sulfation, and why a sulfated battery would
exhibit signs of being fully charged and then fall flat on its ass
when I turned the ignition switch on.

Hopefully, the detailed information that I offer will help the OP
understand what's going on with his battery.

So far as *you* getting anything out of my posts, WTFGAS? I don't
answer questions just to debate with obnoxious strangers.