Author Topic: Anyone here looking to start a religious war (Batteries!!!)  (Read 1019 times)

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Offline eigenvector

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Anyone here looking to start a religious war (Batteries!!!)
« on: December 28, 2016, 08:27:23 PM »
But seriously folks, not looking for arguments, just relaying some information and hoping that there is hope for me yet.

My Sabre was having serious electrical shorting problems, and given that it's particularly sensitive to low voltage conditions - it's a CDI system with all electric instruments, I made the mistake of installing a voltmeter.  A mistake, because it has an LED that displays the voltage - coupled with the instruments on the bike that tell the time and day and you have a case of a slowly draining battery if left untended for too long.

I left it off the tender for too long...

Battery was utterly dead - no voltage, not even enough to power the voltmeter.

This was a brand new Duracell Lithium battery - Batteries+ sells Duracell motorcycle batteries.  My trickle charger reported it as defective - no capacity to charge.  Never having experienced a defective battery in over 15 years of riding I didn't bother to keep the receipt so I can't return it even though I bought it in September.  :(

The evidence that I've seen so far tells me that once a Lithium Ion battery drops below a certain threshold it's gone for good.  But I've also heard that I need a specific "Boost" charger to deal with the circuits in the battery that are protecting it from damage.

What's the deal here?
Rob
--------------------------------
2018 HD Softail Heritage
1979 CB750K Limited Edition
1977 CB550K
1984 CB700SC Nighthawk
1983 VF750S Sabre

Offline USMC5811

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Re: Anyone here looking to start a religious war (Batteries!!!)
« Reply #1 on: December 29, 2016, 05:00:13 AM »
If you paid by card, they maybe able to retrieve proof of sale by re-running the number.

That said, I've heard great things about lithium batteries - from the people selling them. From others - magazine articles, personal anecdotes - I've heard "they're great, until they're not". Seems that there is no warning signs before they die, and only last about 3 years.

I'll be sticking to traditional batteries.


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Offline 05c50

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Re: Anyone here looking to start a religious war (Batteries!!!)
« Reply #2 on: December 29, 2016, 06:35:15 AM »
Try contacting the battery manufacturer for proper charging procedures. Some inexpensive trickle chargers will sense a completely discharged battery as a "bad" battery and will not charge it. That being said, I was able to bring one back from the dead by charging it with an old style low amp (500 ma) charger for 30 minutes, then switched over to the battery tender.

....Paul 
Wear a helmet,the life you save may be your own.Ask me how I know.               CB650C,CB550F,GL1000,CB750A

Offline eigenvector

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Re: Anyone here looking to start a religious war (Batteries!!!)
« Reply #3 on: December 29, 2016, 07:34:39 AM »
Try contacting the battery manufacturer for proper charging procedures. Some inexpensive trickle chargers will sense a completely discharged battery as a "bad" battery and will not charge it. That being said, I was able to bring one back from the dead by charging it with an old style low amp (500 ma) charger for 30 minutes, then switched over to the battery tender.

....Paul

Seems like the logical place to start.
Personally I think my battery tender is in need of a replacement anyway.  Something like this https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Tender-022-0148-DL-WH-12-Volt-Management/dp/B000CIPHUI
Rob
--------------------------------
2018 HD Softail Heritage
1979 CB750K Limited Edition
1977 CB550K
1984 CB700SC Nighthawk
1983 VF750S Sabre

Offline Don R

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Re: Anyone here looking to start a religious war (Batteries!!!)
« Reply #4 on: December 29, 2016, 09:30:28 AM »
 A totally dead agm requires a jump start to begin charging it. My new type chargers won't begin a cycle unless they can measure voltage.
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Offline eigenvector

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Re: Anyone here looking to start a religious war (Batteries!!!)
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2016, 11:18:51 AM »
I got a replacement just now actually - went out for a ride and stopped by the pick one up on the way back.

We'll see how it does...  I'm assuming it will take about a billion hours to charge back up.

BTW:  Cal - it is an AGM, I was mistaken about it being a Li-ion.  Duracell AGM.
Rob
--------------------------------
2018 HD Softail Heritage
1979 CB750K Limited Edition
1977 CB550K
1984 CB700SC Nighthawk
1983 VF750S Sabre