Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech battery

My America is going to being seeing it's 5 the season, come first thaw. I have 10 thousand clicks on the odo...
But, the battery just died.
Should I try a charger, or simply replace it, at this point?

I would replace it right before you start riding again unless you keep it on a battery tender. You may be able to charge it, but you would risk being stranded somewhere.

Five years is good long life for a battery. It is time to replace it.

Soren

I would not go out and buy a charger with the thought it may turn it around...maybe it will, depends on the kind of life it had I suppose.

I would try a general charger (if you already have one) for a short time to see if it would take a charge at all if it does, maybe a conditioning charger would work and recover it. To that end I don't know with a certainty that I would bet on.

From what I have read when they dead short because of sufasifcation (spelling?) the precipitate is a break down of the plates or some component of the processes and it settles to the bottom and shorts across the plates. Once that happens...I don't know that it can be un-done at that level.

The fancier charges that cycles prevent this from happening. Though some of the companies say they reverse it...I too would be suspicious of at what level it is a lost cause.

If your bike will take a charge after 20 minutes on the charge and hold it for a day, you may have a chance at saving the battery and a charger may buy you some more time.



eddy

Do it right. Get the battery, take it home and put it on a smart-type charger and leave it hooked up for 24 hours min.-then install it with a pigtail so it can stay hooked up most/all of the time. 99% of shops do NOT process a battery correctly priot to install and today's batteries are different than even 10 years ago. It'll be a much better experience for you if you do it this way. 5 years is a good long life-any battery can fail without warning after this amount of time. A new one is cheap insurance.
I have plenty of experience with this issue as i spent many years in a shop dealing with the "minor" items.
Battery Tenders and the like are very good products.

Most modern gel batteries will recharge from 5V or less with a suitable reconditioning charger. acid type should be replaced if they fall below 6V as the plates are prone to damage even if the bike is not being used... I would advise to check the voltage, if it is lower than 10V replace it and purchase a conditioning charger for the battery if you are going to leave it standing for long periods of time...The battery you remove you could try to charge and if successful keep as a spare for that one time you need to test something you're working on...

Just took mine in this a.m., after puling it out and trying to put it on a charger yesterday. Didn't seem to want to hold the charge after about 3 hours. The M/C/ shop said they'll trickle charge it to see if it will hold. If not, it's $83 for a new one - doesn't sound too bad, does it?

It's the original battery on a 2004 America, w/ 23K. My bad...last ride was in the beginning of December, and kept putting off the bi-weekly maintenance ride. It's last words were, "Rrr-rrr-rrr-tktktktkt..."

Bob

5 years old, that's pushing it. Replace it.

5 years is a good run some last longer some don't. If you get a new one buy it from a place where they store them dry and fill and charge it for you when you purchase it. A battery starts to degrade as soon as you add acid so if one has been stored for who knows how long that is time you won't get out of the battery. Can't do this if you buy a sealed battery of course.

I just thought of a question for you guys. We have discussed dates on tires is there a date or date code on a sealed battery to determine when it was filled?

Interesting issue on sealed batteries. Some are filled and sealed at the dealership. Exide for example offers a sealed battery but the acid comes separate and you can fill and seal with the sealing plugs and locked down strip. However, AGM batteries and some others come pre-filled. I'm not sure if those are dated.

Glad you brought this subject up. Weather permitting, my bike will be serviced tomorrow. I was wondering if the battery should be replaced after 3yrs eight months. Perhaps, I'll have them test it to see if it needs replacing. Comforting to know that you got five yrs out of yours.

My battery is that old and doing great. If you keep it charged up and it's working fine, you could easily get another year or two out of it.

My battery is the stock battery that came with my 04 and still going strong. I won't replace mine until it fails to start the bike and won't hold a charge.

The Battery on my America is starting to go bad, but after 7 years I am not complaining. Ordered a replacement Battery from Brent, and will install it later this week.

I have a Battery Tender that puts out 750mA. I use it regularly on both bikes. A nice feature of the Battery Tender is the LED light will go from Red to Yellow and then Green as the battery charges. Normally this transition only takes 30 seconds, but as the battery ages it takes longer, which gives me an indication of how well the battery maintains its charge.

My Battery Tender can detect a bad battery and won't even light the LED if the battery is bad. So I can use it as a diagnostic tool also. Generally I connect my Battery Tender before riding for a couple of minutes just to check the condition of the battery.

On both bikes I have the Auxiliary Power Socket installed, and charge the battery through it. Doing it this way only takes a second to connect and or disconnect the Battery Tender from the bike.

Tom

A note about some (or all?) Battery Tender brand chargers -

The one I have will not light up & begin a charge cycle on a completely dead battery. A call to the factory revealed that they need to sense at least some voltage in the battery before they will light up. I don't recall now what the low threshold is. 4 volts maybe? One can induce these chargers to fire up by applying some voltage from another source, like another battery charger applied for a second or two, or the like. I bet a 9 volt battery would jump start 'em too. Not sure.

More battery trivia - while out charging my wife's car battery with my trusty / rusty, a guy gave it to me for helping him move furniture NAPA car battery charger, (his name was Rusty too - huh, that's weird) I happened to have my digital volt meter at hand. The charger in question puts out 15.5 volts -- ouch -- probably a might too much for a little bike battery.

I use a charger with a high\low switch. MC batteries should be charged on the low setting. 2 amps.

Has anyone tried the Battery Optimizer available as a Triumph Accessory? http://www.madss.com/eshopprod_cat_4966-...y_Optimizer.htm
Curious to see how effective it is. Is the Battery Tendor better? (I know the Tendor is cheaper)

Where is the Aux Power Socket on your America?

There is a place to install the aux. socket on the upper engine mount but they don't come with one. I just use the plug for my battery tender as an aux. outlet.

Thanks. The dealer showed me a place to install the aux socket on the right side; however, according to the wiring diagram it should just have 2 wires coming out of it. The one he showed me has six wires leading to it. Is this the right one? The dealer didn't seem to confident. He said he "thinks" he installed one once.

It's been a bit since I was under my gas tank but I think mine had 2 wires. The other one sounds like the one for the alarm.

There is a factory plug and wiring under the tank to plug right into the optional socket kit. I thought about putting one on, but like Ian above, I use my Battery Tender plug as an aux. plug. I have the charger, battery clamps, a Slime air compressor, and lighter socket that will plug into my BT plug.

I have a lighter socket with a coiled cord that will make it to my saddle bag. Everything I have has the lighter plug on it except the charger. Cell phone charger and small spot light I'll add to Bobs list.