Battery charger testing

[barrykatona]

put my battery on charge the other with a new battery charger i bought.Been on charge for about 35 hrs and the charger indicates that it is still charging. But i put it on the bike and got nothing.(although just picked up the bike and it has been stood for 7 years all fuses tested ok)

My question is what setting do I use and how to test the battery and/or charger. I have a simple multimeter? (ohms,dc,ac)

The battery came with the katana i bought and the PO said it was new and it does look like it has never been on a bike and was still in the box but I do not know its age.

Is it normal to charge for this long and would a new battery ***k up just with age.

The charger is set to standard battery/bike setting which I presume is trickle charge.

[MichaelHoward]

Something is very wrong somewhere. I have never had to charge a battery even completely dead more than 6 hrs max on a bike.

[English Dave]

Your battery is almost certainly dead - probably shorting out bewteen the plates which is why it's drawing current from your charger. I would spend $35 on a new one and move on.

[Dave8338]

You could test the output of the charger in the "normal" 12V output mode to see if it is showing 13+ volts. Also, the "new" battery that was in the box...did it come with the acid in it ar was it packed dry, or is it a dry cell type? I've toasted more than one cycle battery in attempts to get a new project up and running. If the bike has a short or other electrical issue that would cause electrical problems, it would not surprise me that it may have been a new battery until it was installed.

[spyug]

As Dave says. If the battery is a conventional lead/acid type with individual cells there should be liquid visible through the case and there should be a level line showing the maximum fluid to be used. If the battey was brand new it would have shipped to the reseller with out fluid and should have been filled and charged prior to being sold. It is possible it is dry in which case it need the acid solution poured in.

If there is fluid and it doesn't take a charge it is indeed toast.

Your charger is likely ok and you can test it easily with your multimeter. With the charger plugged in touch + to + and - to - ( sorry if I'm being overly simplistic) and you should read around 13/ 13.5 volts.

It is not clear in your description if you have a trickle charge suitable for a m/c battery. These need to be low amperage of no more than 1 or 2 amps. Some automotive chargers can easily cause an m/c battery to boil out all the fluid and 35hrs would be plenty of time for that.

Using a 1 amp charger I can get a dead battery to full charge in about 4 hours.

I would, as already suggested, pitch it and get a new one. It is also a good Idea at this point to clean up all your electrical connections especially to the solenoid from the battery and the battery negative to the frame. the majority of electrical issues with bikes stem from dirty connections and bad grounds.

Keep checking and let us know what you find.

Cheers,
Spyug.

[barrykatona]

Well battery was goosed I took it down to the local parts store and they confirmed it was no good. Shame as it looked like it had never been on a bike but I dont know how long it has been stood for possibly years.

So have ordered a new one and will collect it tomorrow.

The new charger I bought has a specific setting for bike batteries which I presume is a trickle charge.


Thanks everyone for the help

[Steve]

The new charger I bought has a specific setting for bike batteries which I presume is a trickle charge.

Just because it has a "bike" setting that you think is a trickle charger doesn't mean that you can plug it in and forget it. :shock:

If it is a manual trickle charger, you only want to have it connected for a maximum of 8-10 hours.
If it is an automatic trickle charger, you can leave it connected for a day or so.
If it is an automatic charger/maintainer, you can plug it in and leave it all winter. \\/

Charger/maintainer units are not that expensive. You can get a unit made by Schumacher at Wal-Mart or Sears for about $30.

.