what would cause a traditional lead acid battery to go completely dry?

[Guest]

Last year, I went cheap & bought a lead acid battery for my 1100GK.
That battery is now completely dry! I have never seen a battery do that.
I had it on the tender through the winter, & was surprised when it was dead this Spring.
I've already got an AGM battery coming, but this has me curious for a cause.

[tkent02]

Keeping it on a tender all winter can do that.

[JEEPRUSTY]

mebbe your tender has gone bad?

[posplayr]

Yes it is very likely the tender boiled it out by over charging. Put a voltmeter on the Tender to see where it operates. Probably need a better battery though.

[Buffalo Bill]

Keeping it on a tender all winter can do that.

What I suggested, on his clone post.
(Kinda doubting this guys tech skills)…

[eil]

Are you sure it's a battery tender and not a float charger? They are very different things. I have the wall-wart style battery tender and it works great but I only use it as a charger.

[LarryJ]

It's a battery "maintainer", with a "float" mode. Shouldn't that have maintained the battery right at full charge, preserving it?
Oh yeah, sorry for the clone post, too.

[Buffalo Bill]

Your dried up battery, is just one small lesson in vehicle maintenance.
Don't call lead cell batteries cheap and blame them either.
You just may fry out the more expensive battery, the same way.
The pity is, they cost more but don't last any longer.

[Brendan W]

Not forgetting a crack in the casing

[LarryJ]

A cracking would have had acid all over the frame. The battery was in the bike the whole winter. I took it out a couple od system ago. That's when I saw it was dry. My AGM battery just arrived.

[Steve]

Be sure to initialize the battery before installing it.

.

[Dogma]

Be sure to initialize the battery before installing it.

.

Initialize? I've never had to put my initials on my batteries, and I even loaned one out once.

My AGMSs I've just installed and used. I think they even came with enough charge on them to start the bike. What is this initializing?

[JTGS850GL]

Initialization = Activation. You only need to initialize batteries that are shipped dry. With some batteries they come shipped with a separate acid container. Those need to be filled and charged before use. Others are already filled and charged and those don't need any "initialization".

[dorkburger]

The first winter I had the Battery Tender, I did the same thing.....Left it on all winter and cooked the juice out. I refilled with distilled water and got, I think, 2 more seasons from it. I use it sparingly now. A few hours before a ride, or the night before if im going on a trip.
Another thing i noticed. With a full battery, it would take a long time to show 80% (hours). When the battery was low on water it showed 80% then full charge quickly. Dry charged i suppose?

[Dogma]

Initialization = Activation. You only need to initialize batteries that are shipped dry. With some batteries they come shipped with a separate acid container. Those need to be filled and charged before use. Others are already filled and charged and those don't need any "initialization".

Ah, I thought that's what Steve meant, but it didn't make any sense in the context of the AGM battery the OP just received. I think now he meant to be silly, but the joke is lost on those of us who don't use the words "initialize" or "activation" to refer to "fill the battery". Both of those suggest to me connecting something to the Internet so the company that made it can give you permission to use the thing you just bought. Now, where can I find a 12V USB port to plug new batteries into?