New Battery died over winter...what to do???

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  • mkaczmarek
    #1

    New Battery died over winter...what to do???

    Well, I got myself a maintenance free battery last summer, and since i didn't ride my bike much, due to working on it for the most part of the riding season, the battery wasn't used much at all...I do have a Battery Tendery and it was hooked up during the riding season, keeping it fully charged at all times.

    However during I decided to start the bike up and let it run, which I did, but then forgot to take out the battery afterwards and didn't hook up the tender again.

    Needless to say, I've had the tender hooked up for the past couple of weeks and I can only turn the engine over a few times before needing to charge the battery again.

    Since this is one of those maintenance free batteries, that have acid poured inside and are sealed with the cap afterwards is there anything I can do to revive it somehow? Change the acid or something? Or is this battery no longer fixable?

    I'd hate to have to get a new battery after basically only putting less than 300km on it since new...

    Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
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    • Dave8338
      Forum LongTimer
      Past Site Supporter
      • Aug 2006
      • 11608
      • Annandale, MN
      #2
      Sounds toast to me...did it get a chance to freeze over the winter months? If so, and it wasn't fully charged at the time, you are now the proud owner of an ugly paper weight.

        Comment

        • mkaczmarek
          #3
          Originally posted by Dave8338
          Sounds toast to me...did it get a chance to freeze over the winter months? If so, and it wasn't fully charged at the time, you are now the proud owner of an ugly paper weight.
          As to the battery possibly "freezing" over the winter, I have no idea, I wasn't aware this was possible, as I have never had that happen in any of my car batteries, than on the other hand they are somewhat larger....

          Any ideas of what I could possibly try doing to revive it? Would replacing the acid help?

            Comment

            • Dave8338
              Forum LongTimer
              Past Site Supporter
              • Aug 2006
              • 11608
              • Annandale, MN
              #4
              You could try prying/cutting the sealed caps of and replacing the acid, though I'm not sure it is worth the effort. You mentioned that even under a full charge, it would only crank the bike for a few seconds, have you had it load tested yet? If in fact, it has dropped a cell or two, it will be useless to you.

                Comment

                • mkaczmarek
                  #5
                  Originally posted by Dave8338
                  You could try prying/cutting the sealed caps of and replacing the acid, though I'm not sure it is worth the effort. You mentioned that even under a full charge, it would only crank the bike for a few seconds, have you had it load tested yet? If in fact, it has dropped a cell or two, it will be useless to you.
                  No I have not had it "load tested" I assume this is a service that can be done by the bike dealer where I got the battery?

                    Comment

                    • fgh
                      #6
                      It is widely held that adding acid only acceptable when putting a new battery into service. I would never try it. When batteries sit for periods of time your talking about they set stuff built up in them. Sulfites I think! There probably isn't anything you can do to revive it. You could try draining all the liquid out of it and refilling with water and recharging, but I doubt it will help much.

                      Since motorcycles don't have a great charging system they stress the batteries pretty badly. The lights always put a demand for current out and the charging system only barely meets the demand and only when running. If you do a lot of stop and go driving or only ride it sparingly and don't put her on the Tender when its parked you'll probably go thruogh batteries at least once per year.

                        Comment

                        • mkaczmarek
                          #7
                          Originally posted by fgh
                          It is widely held that adding acid only acceptable when putting a new battery into service. I would never try it. When batteries sit for periods of time your talking about they set stuff built up in them. Sulfites I think! There probably isn't anything you can do to revive it. You could try draining all the liquid out of it and refilling with water and recharging, but I doubt it will help much.

                          Since motorcycles don't have a great charging system they stress the batteries pretty badly. The lights always put a demand for current out and the charging system only barely meets the demand and only when running. If you do a lot of stop and go driving or only ride it sparingly and don't put her on the Tender when its parked you'll probably go thruogh batteries at least once per year.
                          Thanks for the info, I guess I'll have to make sure to not make such a stupid mistake again, especially since I DID have the battery tender and bought it for that specific reason, oh well...as they say,

                          "...there are no mistakes, only lessons..."

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