Battery problems. Very, very frustrated.

[music man]

Originally Posted by Midian

We made that mistake once with the very first battery, but it was junk before we ever attempted that.

Does that mean that with the first battery, you jumped it with the car on? Because they are not saying that jumping it with the car running with ruin the battery, they are saying that you will fry some of the delicate electronics on the bike itself if you do that, so if you had the car running with the first battery, then you may already have fried something.

[dannylightning]

Originally Posted by music man

Does that mean that with the first battery, you jumped it with the car on? Because they are not saying that jumping it with the car running with ruin the battery, they are saying that you will fry some of the delicate electronics on the bike itself if you do that, so if you had the car running with the first battery, then you may already have fried something.

true it very well could have, like the charging system on your bike, if that does not work your battery will die all the time, i left my battery in my bike that was setting in a freezing garage all winter, i got it fully charged and it is working A-ok.

[dannylightning]

i will also mention, if you do get a new battery make sure it is fully charged before the first use. i see this topic come up all the time. got a brand new battery, bike starts a few times and battery dies, charge battey and bike starts a few times and dies,

if the battery is not fully charged before the first use it will pretty much kill the battery for ever. any time you get a new battery you will want to charge it up all the way before you use it and you want to charge it at 12 volts. but you want to charge it at low amps (slow charge) charging a battery at higher amps(fast charge) is very hard on a battery and will cut down the life of the battery.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by blaine

If bike was left out in the cold and the battery froze it will no longer be useable.The plates will warp and cause a short.

Not likely that happened in South Carolina.....unless they are up in the mountains.

The battery just went bad. If it wasn't fully charged during it's storage period, that might have contributed to the failure. There may be a warranty on the battery the would save you some money.

After you get a new battery, your charging system needs to be checked too.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by Midian

it's 6V or 12V selectable (I've kept it on 6V). Is this the same thing or will this damage the battery if used the same way as the tender? Is there anything else I need to know about the tender/charger in general?

This IS going to be a good learning experience.

All modern batteries are ***12V***. Having the charger set to 6V is a big part of your problem.......that resulted in your new battery NEVER being fully charged. :shocked:

The important part about battery storage is to start out fully charged and then to KEEP it fully charged. A "tender" does that automatically but you can do the same thing with a manual charger by connecting it for a few hours every month or so.

At this point, you need a new battery (exchange under warranty....and DO NOT tell them about your 6V charger thing), charge it at 12 V, get the bike going and then get the charging system checked. Chances are, it is OK.

[mrlmd1]

If you have a 12V batterey, why in the world would you charge it up with 6 V? And you want to know why the battery failed?
Your 12v new AGM battery should get fully charged by a 12V, 2 amp charge, not 1 amp, overnight, when new. Charge your present battery up again,with 12V, bring it back to where you bought it, get it load tested by the dealer. That is how you tell if a battery is good or not. If it is bad, they should replace it for you. The battery is not the problem, the dealer and you are. A 20 min charge on a new AGM battery is not sufficient to start out with. I had a battery problem and I started a thread on here 2 years or so ago about this, and I did a lot of research as to how to solve it - do a search on here and look for it.
Straight from the battery manufacturers mouth, regardless of what the dealer tells you, a new freshly filled AGM battery needs a FULL CHARGE before first use. That means putting it on a 12v 2 amp charger 8-12 hours. Anything less, and the battery will prematurely fail. The same goes for a $50 AGM or a $100 one. If you follow the basic instructions, the cheaper one will last just as long as one three times as much. And if you don't use it for a few months, charge it up fully once a month at least, or it will fail and you'll be back where you started from. There is most likely nothing wrong with your bike or its' charging system, it's the fault of improperly preparing the new battery to start with.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

If you have a 12V batterey, why in the world would you charge it up with 6 V?

Chill.
Some people don't know volts from ants.

I'm SURE you don't know everything either !! :neener:

That post was a little rough.

[5th_bike]

Originally Posted by mrlmd1

Your 12v new AGM battery should get fully charged by a 12V, 2 amp charge, not 1 amp, overnight, when new.

That's not my experience, the battery I bought end of February said to charge it with a 1 ampere charger, and to stop charging once the charging current were below 0.3 amperes. I did. It took about 3 hours to charge and get below 0.3 amps (checked every 20 minutes or so with a multimeter)

You could also charge a battery with a lower amp charger like that battery tender, it will just take a little longer.

[Easy Rider]

Originally Posted by 5th_bike

That's not my experience,

Time is probably more important than charger capacity. The total charge is rated in amp-hours.
It is easier (and better) to get to the total with more HOURS than with more amps.

Either small charger will work just fine if left on long enough. If the charger is so simple that there is no meter or light to indicate a full charge......just leave it connected for 24 hours. That should cover just about any situation.

A tender will charge no faster or slower (usually) that a similarly rated "plain" charger. It may go a little longer before you get a "fully charged" indication but that is good.