I left the country for 3 months, and I neglected to disconnect the battery. Predictably the battery is dead. I charged it for about 6 hours with jumper cables connected to my car. It helped a little bit but it's still dead. I then connected it for about 20 hours straight. Again it seems to be getting a little better, but it's still dead. Am I wasting my time with this method? Do I need a new battery?
I would get a new one, might as well throw in a battery tender if you can. That way if you leave it for days and days it wont go bad. Remember it is a YB10l-B2. That way you get the vent on the right side.
Funny how MC batteries discharge so quickly, maybe it is because of there size, not sure.
I bet that if you hooked a voltmeter across the "dead" battery's terminals, you would get a reading of 12+ volts. (Not much in the way of amps apparently....)
If you hooked a voltmeter across the good car battery, you would probably get a very similar reading.
Unfortunately, to charge a battery you have to apply a voltage appreciably higher than the battery's "running" voltage. That's why the output from your bike (or car) alternator is up around 14+ volts; so it can provide a charging voltage to the battery.
In other words, if you don't have access to a battery charger you would almost have to connect your bike battery (disconnected from the bike) to the car with the car running, and perhaps even running at a pretty good RPM. Not a very efficient solution.... :icon_confused:
The best thing to do is buy (or borrow) a charger, or take it to someone who can put it on the charger for you. :dunno_white:
Kerry,
Do you have any idea how long it would take to charge with the car running?
If I buy a battery charger will anything from the Home Depot work? Or do I need a special motorcycle battery charger?
Quote from: scdavis0 on February 06, 2008, 02:27:41 PMDo you have any idea how long it would take to charge with the car running?
Hmmm ... no, not really. 40 miles worth? :dunno_white:
Quote from: scdavis0 on February 06, 2008, 02:27:41 PMIf I buy a battery charger will anything from the Home Depot work? Or do I need a special motorcycle battery charger?
Some folks have had good luck with car chargers on the lower amperage setting. The first thing I ordered when I got my bike was a 1.25Amp [
Battery Tender Plus (http://www.mawonline.com/google/01991.HTM)], so I don't have any personal experience with non-MC chargers. Nowadays, for battery
maintenance, I would probably get a .75Amp [
Battery Tender Junior (http://batterytender.com/images/Battery_Tender_Jr.jpe)] instead.
If you have the luxury of waiting (? :nono: ?) MAW seems to have just about the lowest prices ... [
HERE (http://www.mawonline.com/batteryt.htm#Battery%20chargers)]. MC dealerships should have some options, too.
I would just get a new battery. When I first bought my GS it had problems with the battery dying if it sat for more than a couple of days when the nights were in the 30s. If i connected the battery tender to it it would start up ok, but sluggishly so at times and I was always worried it would strand me (although you could push start). I picked up a battery from the local auto parts store for $35 and filled the acid and charged overnight and the bike fires up right away even after leaving the bike sitting in the cold for a week or two at a time.