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Offline cwchan

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Dried out battery
« on: January 14, 2011, 06:15:04 PM »
Hi All,

So apparently a trickle charger is different than a battery tender... i had my battery hooked up to my trickle charger for a while and i checked on it the other day and it is bone dry.  Does anyone know if i can just add distilled water and will it be like new>?  OR is the battery done for?
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Offline scottly

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #1 on: January 14, 2011, 06:44:43 PM »
Fill the battery with distilled water to the minimum level first, then you can do some tests to see if the battery is toast. In any event, it won't be "like new", but it still may be usable.
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Offline Kong

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #2 on: January 14, 2011, 09:02:33 PM »
If you boiled it dry its stone cold dead, nothing you do will revive it.
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Offline lone*X

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #3 on: January 14, 2011, 10:13:22 PM »
Most trickle chargers are 2+ amps.  Tenders are either 1 or 1.5 amps and usually have better switching than trickle chargers.  I specificly looked for a 1 amp tender and have never had it boil a battery dry.   
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Offline crazypj

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #4 on: January 14, 2011, 10:22:59 PM »
Just look for a phone charger, printer power supply or similar.
 Anything 12V~14V around 150~300 milliamps will keep battery charged during storage.
 You only need something to balance losses from 'standing' You still need to check fluid level every week or so though, even on the lowest level
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Offline Hush

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #5 on: January 14, 2011, 10:51:17 PM »
I killed two perfectly good batteries this year by "trickle charging" or more precisely "trickle killing"!
Good battery tenders cost good money but they switch up and down with voltage drops and spikes also they discharge and then recharge your battery. :)
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Offline cwchan

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #6 on: January 18, 2011, 06:54:15 PM »
Thanks all
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Offline cwchan

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #7 on: June 12, 2011, 07:55:30 PM »
I just wanted to post an update. 

I filled the dried out battery with distilled water.  immediately after i got a reading of 9.42 V.  I bought an optimate 3+ charger and charged the battery.  The optimate 3+ has some sort of desulphate cycle.  Put it back in the bike and it appears to be functioning properly.  Maybe I'll post another update at the end of the season
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Offline chickenman_26

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2011, 08:43:13 PM »
Quote from: cwchan on June 12, 2011, 07:55:30 PM
... Maybe I'll post another update at the end of the season
I think you may be posting another update long before that. Shameless plug here, an excerpt from one of my articles on Yuasa's website. The entire article is at www.yuasabatteries.com/motor_battery.php
If the link doesn't work, copy and paste it into a new tab.

Stu

Overcharging is an insidious killer; its effects often aren’t apparent to the innocent purchaser of the ten-dollar trickle charger who leaves it hooked to the battery for extended periods. A trickle charger charges at a constant rate regardless of the battery state of charge. If that rate is more than the battery’s natural absorption rate at full charge, the electrolyte will begin to break down and boil away. Many a rider has stored a bike all winter on a trickle charger only to find the battery virtually empty in the spring. Also, since charging tends to oxidize the positive plates, continued overcharging can corrode the plates or connectors till they weaken and break.
« Last Edit: June 12, 2011, 09:12:02 PM by chickenman_26 »
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Offline Hush

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2011, 12:13:27 AM »
Yeah exactly Chickenman, that is what happened to me, we'll have to see if cwchan has cured his battery or if it fails under use.
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I think the thing I most like about motorcycling is the speed at which my brain must process information at to avoid the numb skulls who are eating pies, playing the ukulele, applying make-up etc in the comfort of their airconditioned armchairs as they make random attempts to kill me!!!!!!!

Offline cwchan

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #10 on: March 17, 2012, 01:11:33 PM »
An update on this.  I used this battery last year and everything was going well, i was getting 12.5V at full charge, did a full load test and didn't drop below 10.5V.... the problem was...

The electrolyte level was changing unevenly in certain cells over time.  I did buy a battery hydrometer except that the tube wouldn't fit into the holes to each cell so i couldn't test the specific gravity.

Although i still think the battery is USEABLE... I finally decided to buy a new battery after riding to work, returning to my bike at the end of the day and finding that all the fluid in 1 of the cells had boiled away again. The bike wouldn't start.
« Last Edit: March 17, 2012, 01:13:11 PM by cwchan »
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Offline Hush

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #11 on: March 17, 2012, 03:04:42 PM »
Mine turned out to be less a problem with the bike and more an error on my part of using a battery trickle charger, killed two good batteries before I realised my error. Cheap trickle chargers keep ramming amps into the battery even when it's full, consequently the battery boiled and spewed acid down onto my frame and chrome pipes. I used a sealed battery after that and used the trickle charger sparingly, worked great.
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I think the thing I most like about motorcycling is the speed at which my brain must process information at to avoid the numb skulls who are eating pies, playing the ukulele, applying make-up etc in the comfort of their airconditioned armchairs as they make random attempts to kill me!!!!!!!

Offline crazypj

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #12 on: March 17, 2012, 08:17:53 PM »
I think the cheap and SAFE way to do it would be a trickle charger and a cheap electro-mechanical timer (then it wouldn't matter if the power went out)
 Switch it off for 22~23 hrs a day and just charge for an hour or two
It would probably be OK to charge once a week for a couple of hours and still save $2~300.00 on a 'smart' charger
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Offline david 750f

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #13 on: March 17, 2012, 11:28:41 PM »
A CTEC smart charger is only $50-60 on sale... You will never have to worry about boiling the battery again  ;)
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Offline crazypj

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #14 on: March 18, 2012, 01:00:46 PM »
Conventional battery should be charged at 1/10 of A/hr rating, 10A/hr will be 1 amp charge, 14A/hr=1.4A.
Unless you get a 'professional' charger, you won't be able to select charge rate.
Sealed batteries have different requirements for initial charge but re-charging is the same as conventional.
The new 'Lithium-ion, et.al. can do bad things if you get it wrong
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Offline chickenman_26

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #15 on: March 21, 2012, 07:36:11 PM »
Quote from: cwchan on March 17, 2012, 01:11:33 PM
An update on this.  I used this battery last year and everything was going well, i was getting 12.5V at full charge, ...
Full charge is 14.2 volts. If it only rose to 12.5, that's because the plates are sulfated. That battery is toast. If you'd managed to use the hydrometer, you'd have found the specific gravity low.
Quote
Although i still think the battery is USEABLE... I finally decided to buy a new battery after riding to work, returning to my bike at the end of the day and finding that all the fluid in 1 of the cells had boiled away again. The bike wouldn't start.
You call that useable??  :o  The cell that boiled dry just from riding is badly sulfated. For your current battery, go to Wal Mart and buy a Schumacher Speed Charge for $19. It works better than a lot of the other Smart Chargers, and the price is right.

Stu
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Offline cwchan

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #16 on: March 22, 2012, 06:35:33 AM »
Actually, upon further inspection the problem with starting wasn't the battery.  And the cell hadn't completely dried out.  It was at a low level.  somewhere in the plates are and its difficult to see

Yes, I would call it useable.  It produces current.  It would just take more maintenance & monitoring and it just doesn't work as consistently as a new one.  I've got a smart charger now.

Does anyone have thoughts on these desulfate additives??
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Offline chickenman_26

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Re: Dried out battery
« Reply #17 on: March 23, 2012, 07:05:05 AM »
Quote from: cwchan on March 22, 2012, 06:35:33 AM
Yes,I would call it useable.  It produces current.  It would just take more maintenance & monitoring and it just doesn't work as consistently as a new one.  I've got a smart charger now.

Does anyone have thoughts on these desulfate additives??
I'm beginning to understand why Two Tired sometimes gets a bit curmudgeonly. If (big IF) that battery could be repaired, it would require a special (read expensive) charger that supplies an extremely low current at 25 volts or more. Magic pills and potions advertised to cure sulfation work about as well as Fat Burner pills that supposedly take off weight while you sleep. Products like that are aimed at folks looking to get something for nothing. What you end up getting is nothing for something. If you understood the chemistry of what you're dealing with, you'd realize that battery is now useful as a door stop and little else. Have fun with it. Class dismissed...

Stu
« Last Edit: March 23, 2012, 07:14:29 AM by chickenman_26 »
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