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Battery problems

4469 Views 42 Replies 14 Participants Last post by  ducatiman
Getting pretty tired of getting batteries that only last a year or so.

Was wondering if anyone knows the difference between a 14Ah battery, and a 14AHL battery.
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Well I've been charging this battery for the last 13 hours just to do a test crank. Still getting a red light. :mad:
Guess I'll let it charge overnight. If I don't burn up in an electrical fire tonight, I'll update tomorrow.
The normal maximum is 6 hours. A common problem is fluid loss, dry cells, no amount of charging will fix it. Two things to do, if you have a meter and know how to measure amps DC. Insert your meter in series and measure the charge current after 2 minutes. Measure the VDC after waiting 10 minutes off the charger. If it is less then 12.4 VDC, the battery is beyond hope.
One thing, I have removed the sealing strip and added distilled water. That on a 6 year old battery, I had other issues with charging and decided to replace the battery after 2 months of using it with the added distilled water. It still showed 12.7 VDC after sitting for over 24 hours, it would run the starter for a minimum of 6 times, each time 10 seconds long.
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hi, I was shown the same trick by a mobility scooter engineer, these batteries are sealed for life lead/acid and generally last for about 500 cycles before deteriorating. he said the issue is the fast charge that boils and vents the liquid off so you get one or two dry plates.
they can be brought back into service for another 500 cycles by popping off the sealed plate. then using a eye dropper or small syringe draw fluid from each cell until you find the dry ones, add distilled water to the dry ones until all the plates are covered. pop the caps back in. and leave to stand a few hrs. then replace the sealing plate with a few drops of super glue give it a quick shake and put on charge for 10hrs.
done this to the wife's scooter batteries 3x currently still working after 8 years although will now only take about 80% charge. I have new ones ready to fit. but the old ones just keep going.
there is no reason this procedure should not work on a sealed for life bike battery at least for a while anyway.
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The normal maximum is 6 hours. A common problem is fluid loss, dry cells, no amount of charging will fix it. Two things to do, if you have a meter and know how to measure amps DC. Insert your meter in series and measure the charge current after 2 minutes. Measure the VDC after waiting 10 minutes off the charger. If it is less then 12.4 VDC, the battery is beyond hope.
One thing, I have removed the sealing strip and added distilled water. That on a 6 year old battery, I had other issues with charging and decided to replace the battery after 2 months of using it with the added distilled water. It still showed 12.7 VDC after sitting for over 24 hours, it would run the starter for a minimum of 6 times, each time 10 seconds long.
Yeah, I took a different approach from what I was originally thinking before signing off last night. Went ahead and just unplugged the charger and took a volt reading. It came in at over 13.9v, but still showing a red light (not fully charged). Then I kept taking readings about every 5 seconds (just a few times). The readings kept dropping, 13.7v, 13.4v, 12.9v. I just checked it about an hour ago, and it seems to be holding at 12.7v. I will give it some more charge time prior to my test crank, just to see if it is capable of a respectable crank speed.

Bottom line:
Regardless of how the test crank goes, I will be looking for a different battery today. I haven't trusted the Die Hard from the git go. One thing to do a test crank, but I don't want to take it to the streets. I prefer to not have to bump start to ole EX. ;)
For the small cost of MC batteries I just get a new one when and sign of weakness appears. around here a decent new one can be had fo a little as $40. compared to one of my cars batteries (it has two)@$250 that not bad. The front one is small almost MC size yet it cost $195 and must be ordered from Mercedes.
I understan Dollars are relative to income ,but messing around re filling old junk is false econemy

FOG
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Let it rest at least overnight before testing voltage. ALL batteries will self-discharge to their "real capacity" in a day or so but it takes awhile. Roughly speaking Lead-acid batteries have a maximum "real voltage" determined by their chemistry. They don't "rest" at 13v unless your multimeter is wrong. 12.5 to 12.65 is a pretty good given the limits of usefulness of a voltage test.

A battery with surface charge has a slightly elevated voltage and gives a false voltage-based SoC reading. To normalize the condition, switch on electrical loads to remove about 1 percent of the battery’s capacity or allow the battery to rest for a few hours. Turning on the headlights for a few minutes will do this. Surface charge is not a battery defect but a reversible condition. (Learn About Batteries)
I'm interested you guys are adding water to sealed batteries (not to be confused with "AGM") and those are very good explanations.Particularly vulnerability to overcharge and evaporation. The trick is discovering the problem as soon as possible and you guys must be paying attention to your batteries so good on you. It's possible to get 5 years out of the plain old Yuasa or a good clone if someone pays personal attention to it....
I bet 90% of the bad batteries that show up in spring are the result of poor maintenance and attention in the past summer followed by neglect in the winter.
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I understan Dollars are relative to income ,but messing around re filling old junk is false econemy
thing is there not junk just require servicing, suppose you could say the same with spark plugs why clean and gap them when there only a couple of bucks each but we seem to make them last a long time.
and by the way those mobility scooter batteries are 100 buck apiece and there is two of them.
I'm interested you guys are adding water to sealed batteries (not to be confused with "AGM") and those are very good explanations.Particularly vulnerability to overcharge and evaporation. The trick is discovering the problem as soon as possible and you guys must be paying attention to your batteries so good on you. It's possible to get 5 years out of the plain old Yuasa or a good clone if someone pays personal attention to it....
I bet 90% of the bad batteries that show up in spring are the result of poor maintenance and attention in the past summer followed by neglect in the winter.
In my post that was a going on 6 year old Yuasa AGM battery, filled by the dealer when purchasing the 2015 V650 Kawasaki. I have dealt with numerous styles of batteries over a 50 year period.
Here is a excellent source from the manufacturer themselves Motorcyle battery charging and discharging information guide

How Many Amps?

Applying a charging current to a battery, without overheating it, is called the “natural absorption rate.”

Because of their smaller size, when compared to automotive types of batteries, powersports batteries are more sensitive to how much current they can safely absorb. When charging a motorcycle or other small battery, the battery charger should not exceed 3 amps. Most automotive types of battery chargers are not suitable due to higher current output. While maintaining a battery at its full state-of charge will ensure optimum life, overcharging may significantly reduce it.

Always verify battery state of-charge before charging, and 30 minutes after charging. When a battery charger has been disconnected from the battery for one to two hours, a fully charged Conventional battery should read 12.6 volts (12.8 volts with Sulphate Stop) or higher. AGM batteries may have slightly higher voltage readings after a full charge.

Do Not Overcharge. Because of the characteristics of an AGM battery, too much of a boost charge, or overcharge will decrease the volume of electrolyte. The longer the overcharge time, the greater the drop in electrolyte and starting power. Because the battery is sealed, water can’t be added to make up the difference in the loss of electrolyte. In addition, overcharging can warp cell plates making future charging difficult or impossible. To prevent over charging, track charging times carefully, or ideally, use one of Yuasa’s automatic chargers. Always stop charging if the battery case becomes too hot to touch. Let it cool down 6 to 12 hours and resume charging. Charging times will vary depending on type of charger and the size of the battery.
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The above was copied from that link. The reason why I posted it, motorcycle specific chargers do WHAT----Yes they have a limited to 3 amp charge current.
So we have numerous discussions about battery types and amp hour ratings and CC amps.
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A short history, I made my own ni-cad charger 57 years ago, during my career I worked on rebuilding fork lift batteries. I converted my scope from nicad to nickle metal hydride NiMH, doubling the run time using sub C cells with tabs. I worked in power tool / tool repair for 3 years and a electric motorshop for 9 years.

A couple things I want to touch on:
Amp Hour / physical size- a identical in dimensions AGM battery , one with a high cranking amps, comparing to a standard , the higher cranking amps will have more plates and thinner.

Increasing the amp hour rating over the OEM can have some negative side effects. Say you went 20% greater with the OEM amp hour rating. Your charging system now needs to charge 20% longer should you deplete this. You left something on and found your battery dead--How many jump started the bike? The proper thing is to charge that battery with a motorcycle charger , take the amp hour rating and use 1 amp as a base, so a 10 amp hour battery completely dead needs 10 hours to charge.
Leaving a charger /tender connected 24/7 will reduce the battery life, when reaching full charge the gasing off increases, those sealed AGM batteries will lose water vapour.

I did several posts on regulators, keeping the charge voltage around 14.2 VDC will extend the life of the AGM battery over what typical shunt regulators output up to and above 15.0 VDC

Repeated Starting Stopping
If you are a pizza delivery guy , buying a larger amp hour battery may give you longer battery life, but realise that it will take longer to reach full charge and the battery is there for two purposes, to start the bike and supplement as a power source when your charging system can't keep up, say at low RPMs.

Lots more but I have covered it in other posts.
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anywho new battery has been filled with acid, let sit overnight yesterday, going to let it charge overnight again tonight, then sit for a couple hours tomorrow before throwing on the 500

welp i bought a new battery in november and 6 months later it no longer holds a good charge, tested bad at the store and they'll be replacing it under warranty. but dang these batteries have been a real pain in the ass i gotta say, very impressed that you guys can get 5-6 years. plan is to follow aprilia's battery procedure to a T, test my electrical system thoroughly, keep it trickle charged as much as possible, and do some more research on taking care of these tiny fickle batteries
i bought a new battery in november and 6 months later it no longer holds a good charge,
what brand/part number battery?
what brand/part number battery?
firepower CTX14AHL-BS. looks like it has okay to bad reviews online, no surprises there. lesson learned though, next one after warranty runs out will be from a better brand or lithium ion for sure
suggest Yuasa AGM at bare minimum. I'm into year #4 on my Honda CBR original.
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The last battery on mine (of course it came with the bike and no history on it was a Yuasa 14ah) it was date stamped at 6/2015 and I added acid to it and used it for an extra year over that till last Dec. I heard that sucker bubbling when I shut the bike down. I now have a sealed cheapo from Flea bay 12ah and using the Ducatiman Mosfit, so far so good with it. (Yeah yeah just did a cheap plug for ye :p )
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HOKAY DOKAY, almost got stranded a couple weeks ago when the bike struggled to start while warmed up. it's always had some minor electrical gremlins but i'm hoping it's been put to bed, battery got replaced under warranty (still some **** brand but whatever. shoutout to aprilia for his battery setup ritual, very helpful!), a mosfet regulator from ducatiman installed, cleaning and tightening contacts, and installing a pigtail tender to keep it permanently trickled, i'm hoping my bases are covered. readings are strong at the moment, will keep testing it and update if i find anything else. happy saturday everyone!
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HOKAY DOKAY, almost got stranded a couple weeks ago when the bike struggled to start while warmed up. it's always had some minor electrical gremlins but i'm hoping it's been put to bed, battery got replaced under warranty (still some **** brand but whatever. shoutout to aprilia for his battery setup ritual, very helpful!), a mosfet regulator from ducatiman installed, cleaning and tightening contacts, and installing a pigtail tender to keep it permanently trickled, i'm hoping my bases are covered. readings are strong at the moment, will keep testing it and update if i find anything else. happy saturday everyone!

annnd, roughly 1 year later, it's dead. push started it with the help of some kind stranger to get home. granted i did not treat this thing as well as i could have, so probably on me. thinking i'm going to order a yuasa agm because i've only read good things, and whenever the next time is i'll go lithium ion. hope everyone had a great weekend!
Several years ago at work, I picked up a pair of Kawasaki Teryx 750 ATVs from another section. They were 2008 models and it was 2019. Both were destined for salvage so I was able to just take them.

Got them both started and ordered new Yuasa standard lead acid batteries for them. When I replaced the 2 batteries that were dead I wound up disposing of one as it had a dead cell.

The other was some el cheapo battery from who knows where. It charged up fine and tested fine so I stored it in case of emergency. After about a year one of the new batteries went dead. Even after my usual charge routine. Charged & tested and found another dead cell (shorted).

As the other ATV dropped a valve, I pulled the battery from it and continued on. That battery also died within 6 months. Know what battery didn’t die? That el cheapo one I saved. Guess what is still in that ATV and going strong? Yeah that same battery.

What has this all taught me? Yuasa ain’t what they used to be and el cheapo batteries ain’t as bad as everyone thinks. I did my same ritual on all those batteries and the cheapest crappiest one is stil going strong. It was in fact dead when found too.

The moral is, modern batteries are a crap shoot. At least the lead acid ones. AGMs are also a crap shoot. I went through all manner of them in my Aprilia. Know what is still going strong? That Autozone battery I got in Monterey in 2018.

Honestly, the only high dollar ones that have given me consistent good service are the Shorai LiPo batteries. I don’t keep anything on a tender anymore not even the Shorai batteries. I just let them sit until I decide I’m going to ride and charge them up the day before.

I do occasionally plug the Shorai batteries in to their charger/cell balance manager to keep them in good health. The one in my 996 was in it when I got it in 2017 and has not missed a beat in its time with me. There is now one in my GSXR600 and my 900SS project. My project GSXR will get one too when I reach that point.
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what @Apriliarider said; if you use a wet cell battery, buy it dry, add the acid and charge it according to the instructions. Also for those who store their bikes over a cold winter, remove the battery, get it out of the cold and maintain it's charge.
I get six years out of them. The only short lived battery I've had is the OEM battery on a new Concours, died suddenly after one year, at a Kawasaki dealership, ironically.
Interstate is my battery of choice.
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