How to charge new battery without a charger ??

[Anonymous]

Hi All,

I have a brand new battery and I realise that it has to be charged. I put in the acid and everything but I do not have access to a charger.

Is there any way to charge it well by connecting it to my car battery or something? Else I'll have to go around auto shops begging for the use of their chargers..

Thanks,

Anuj

[Anonymous]

yes you can charge off your car use jumpers or heavy elec wire
ozman

[Anonymous]

hi Ozman,

Thanks for your reply about my post about charging the battery. I'm sorry if this sounds like a stupid quiestion but i have no idea, it being my first bike and one that doesnt run yet!!

Anyhow, my question was if i want to charge my bike battery, Do I just connect my car battery to my bike battery using jumper cables, and then leave the car running for a while??

Thanks,

Anuj

[Anonymous]

yes it would be better to run car
ozman

[Anonymous]

Alrite, I'll try that right now. Thanks.

Anuj

[Anonymous]

happy to help if your a new rider check out post in general discussion (lesson for new riders)
ozman

[KEITH KRAUSE]

Another idea is to take the bike on a long ride the first time.A good 50 mile ride charges up a new battery too. But it's still better to 'trickle charge' for longer battery life.I don't consider myself an expert on battery charging,but I think initial charging using a car battery may be too 'rapid'?A slow 1 amp charge is best.Does anyone know how much amperage will enter the new battery if hooked up to a typical car battery? If you do it this way,I would watch for the new battery getting too hot,etc.

[SqDancerLynn1]

Using your car to charge the battery is not a good idea your 60-80 amp alt can kill your new battery. I would leave the car OFF and just hook the jumper cables up and leave hooked up overnight. should give you enough to start

[focus frenzy]

if you use the car it would be best to just hook up the cables with the car engine off, the capacity of the car battery is substantialy more than the bike battery, and when you put the acid in the bike battery and activate it, it will already have 50 to 70% charge in it due to the chemical reaction from the fresh acid reacting with the lead plates.
with the car off, its battery will stabilize at around 12.8 volts (fully charged) the freshly filled motorcycle battery (after it has sat for atleast a hour and a half to stabilize it) will have about 12.5 volts, the small differance will ensure a slower charge rate that a new bike battery needs. if you start the car, its voltage will rise to around 14.5 volts due to the running alternator, forcing a higher rate of amps into the battery.

you can put the bike battery on the bike without charging and it will start the bike (if it is in good tune and starts easy) you then should ride the bike around for a good hour to insure it charges the battery up good.

[SqDancerLynn1]

PROPER setup and install of a new battery will greatly extend its life.
DO NOT CHARGE IT WITH THE CAR RUNNING unless you want to buy another new battery next year

[Anonymous]

Here is a simple alternative. You can buy a battery tender which is a small 1/2 amp charger from a motorcycle dealer or do what I did and look around the house for one of those ac to dc power supplies that comes with nearly every electronic device. I found one lying around that was 500mA (1/2 amp again) no longer being used. Used a volt meter to identify which was negative and which was positive. Put some connections on each end and put a ring crimp connection on the other side so it would mount to the battery terminals. Once on the bike I can trickle charge the battery overnight and not have to remove the battery from the bike which really is a pain in the butt.

[Anonymous]

Thank You All for your suggestions/tips/advice/words of wisdom/caveats.
I finally ended up going to a repair shop and asking real nice if they would charge my battery for me, and they did!! So my battery is charged now and thats one less hurdle towards putting my bike on the road!!


Thanks Again.

Anuj