Charge a new battery or not.

[James in Brum]

Hello groovy gang, do I have to charge a new battery? If I do I will have to buy a charger. Advice on both if possible please.

[Stu]

Depends on the battery! some like motobatt can be fitted straight away

[dynax]

Also depends on the seller, some will fill and precharge a battery before despatch, others who just hold stock will just take one off the shelf and ship it out, having a charger in any case is a must

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I have always charged new batteries, even ones that say they come fully charged are nowhere near full capacity.

[Gerontious]

Stick it in the bike.

option 1. engine starts.. go for a ride.

option 2. engine doesn't start. put it on a charger.

if the bike starts fine... then do think about getting a battery minder as and when you can.

If it doesnt start... then you may have to get one or borrow one anyway.

Theres a good reason why motobatt is so highly recommended as a brand which stu alluded to. They always arrive with more than enough charge to start the bike without any need to mess about. maybe cost a little more.. but it means you can put off buying extra gadgetry for quite some time.

[James in Brum]

If I am going to buy a charger what do I buy? I would like to be able to buy in a shop? Halfords or Screwfix or some such? Or machine mart or something? I also want to spend almost no money

[skyrider]

you might not get much of a charger if you dont want to spend much on it

[dynax]

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/p/streetwize-15a-trickle-charger/

[James in Brum]

you might not get much of a charger if you dont want to spend much on it

 

Indeed. I want it to worth it I suppose. Cheaper is easier to manage but I am prepared to pay for something if it is worth it.

[skyrider]

thats right buy cheap buy twice

[James in Brum]

Trickle or not trickle? Is trickle charging only for when bikes are inactive for a while? Mine gets ridden most days.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I have a couple of CTEK chargers, they do a 0.8amp one specially for motorcycles. I have fitted the comfort leads with leds that show the battery condition at a glance.

Not the cheapest but in my book well worth the money.

[fastbob]

If I am going to buy a charger what do I buy? I would like to be able to buy in a shop? Halfords or Screwfix or some such? Or machine mart or something? I also want to spend almost no money

 

Machine Mart do a nice little maintenance charger for twenty odd quid .

[onesea]

My thoughts charge it its not going to do any harm provided the charger stops when charged.

Battery charger: a slower charge is better, just make sure it stops when charged (very easy to over charge a battery, don't ask how I know).

This looks good: https://www.aldi.co.uk/car-battery-charger/p/090030347442700?gclid=CjwKCAiA44LzBRB-EiwA-jJipFDpsMFh5TDSAhs1GreCbf5UcshYnUXIH3HGtNXxB7qfuU1FJ_RI9xoC1c4QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

Bike quick start when battery flat: Small set of jump leads or mini jump pack.

Something like this:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Portable-Starter-Charger-Booster-Emergency/dp/B07TZXXT9S/ref=pd_sbs_263_5/258-4833557-6496506?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B07TZXXT9S&pd_rd_r=7a20c96f-df5f-42af-b2c7-f96cd39abf47&pd_rd_w=ZDbvG&pd_rd_wg=aI1sT&pf_rd_p=96cae456-8d7a-4bc1-91c7-9b20b4dfd7c9&pf_rd_r=4Y8NDD277VSDDVV3GNH8&psc=1&refRID=4Y8NDD277VSDDVV3GNH8

Just remember to ride your bike far enough before stalling it or have a mini jump pack that you can carry.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

The thing to bear in mind is that a bike battery is really six 2v (nominally) batteries connected in series. They are rarely all perfectly balanced so if a battery gets low one cells will die before the rest. At which point the dead cell will (for want of a better phrase) reverse charge. Once that happens that cell is useless so you 6x2v=12v battery then becomes a 5x2v=10v (with higher resistance).

Which is why if you leave a battery to go flat it can kill it.

In my view it is better to use a decent quality maintenance charger to ensure that all the cells are kept towards full capacity. You usual battery in regular use may be charged enough to start the bike but it's rarely anywhere near fully charged. Hence if you allow the charge to get low, even on a new battery, you are more likely for one cell to drop beyond the point of being usable.

That is why I would always charge a new battery before fitting. You know then that you are starting off from the point of all cells being in a good state of charge. You hear a lot of people buy new batteries and they fail within a short period - usually you'll find they simply bought it, fitted it and so long as the bike started assumed all was well.

[Gerontious]

We should have a poll on early failure of Motobatt or other AGM batteries.

But this is no longer a worry for me as my bike has a lithium and before long they will be standard fitment in all new bikes. and not long after that point is reached lead acid batteries will vanish aside from specialist applications. I'm already looking forward to the myths and misinformation that's going to come to the fore when that begins to happen. The end of the world as we know it. Spontaneously exploding bikes. Hair turning green and falling out or the rather more mundane nonsense like.. Cold kills lithium. (It doesn't)

What fun.

[JRH]

Cold kills lithium. (It doesn't)

What fun.

 

I use Lithium batteries in my RC models. The only thing that kills them is miss use. Either running them to a too low voltage or overcharging. As long as vehicle batteries are in a good hard case and the charging system is suitable for Lithium all is good.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

Cold kills lithium. (It doesn't)

What fun.

 

I use Lithium batteries in my RC models. The only thing that kills them is miss use. Either running them to a too low voltage or overcharging. As long as vehicle batteries are in a good hard case and the charging system is suitable for Lithium all is good.

 

Same here. They transformed my flying. The power to weight ratio is phenomenal. Treated with respect they are perfectly safe, the one nasty incident I saw was a guy who had a crash and didn't realize the battery had been damaged. They tend to catch fire very slowly, then go bang. He chucked the broken plane into his car, had lunch, flew another model and then his car went up in flames. It must have been a good couple of hours after the initial crash.

[JRH]

Cold kills lithium. (It doesn't)

What fun.

 

I use Lithium batteries in my RC models. The only thing that kills them is miss use. Either running them to a too low voltage or overcharging. As long as vehicle batteries are in a good hard case and the charging system is suitable for Lithium all is good.

 

Same here. They transformed my flying. The power to weight ratio is phenomenal. Treated with respect they are perfectly safe, the one nasty incident I saw was a guy who had a crash and didn't realize the battery had been damaged. They tend to catch fire very slowly, then go bang. He chucked the broken plane into his car, had lunch, flew another model and then his car went up in flames. It must have been a good couple of hours after the initial crash.

I had one battery that puffed up badly after a crash. Within a day it had grown by about 50%. Never ruptured or ignited though.

These day my RC stuff is mainly boats. But fast ones.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

A friend who has been off bikes for a long time just bought himself a new bike. He hasn't been riding it due to the weather. So he took the battery out to keep it charged which meant removing the fairing to get at the battery.

Unfortunately the battery has gone and caught fire in his shed, the bike wasn't in the shed at the time but the fairing was and that's been destroyed. It was a lithium battery connected to a dedicated lithium charger. No idea what went wrong but it was most certainly the battery itself which was the source of the blaze.

The insurance will cover it all but it's still a bit of a bummer.

[Gerontious]

He took the battery out to keep it charged.

So, I'm guessing his alarm or tracker had its own battery as back-up while the main battery was out?

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

He took the battery out to keep it charged.

So, I'm guessing his alarm or tracker had its own battery as back-up while the main battery was out?

 

No alarm or tracker on the bike so that wasn't an issue.

[Fleck]

If I am going to buy a charger what do I buy? I would like to be able to buy in a shop? Halfords or Screwfix or some such? Or machine mart or something? I also want to spend almost no money

 

The Lidl charger has got your name all over it a proper 3 stage smart charger for £12.99. Has car and bike battery modes, bike mode is 0.8a. I recently checked mine and it's spot on in that it charges to 14.4v then drops back to a small maintenance trickle charge. Also has an LCD screen displaying the voltage.

[Gerontious]

He took the battery out to keep it charged.

So, I'm guessing his alarm or tracker had its own battery as back-up while the main battery was out?

 

No alarm or tracker on the bike so that wasn't an issue.

 

So why did he take it out of the bike, it makes no sense. charging it, makes no sense. Even using an optimate type of maintainer makes no sense. If the battery has nothing draining it. Then it doesn't need charging at any point during a winter lay-up or even a 6 month SORN.

As for it catching fire... My guess is he got a recommendation for a charger from the same plonker who told him he needed one.

An expensive lesson on the perils of advice from the clueless.

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

He took the battery out to keep it charged.

So, I'm guessing his alarm or tracker had its own battery as back-up while the main battery was out?

 

No alarm or tracker on the bike so that wasn't an issue.

 

So why did he take it out of the bike, it makes no sense. charging it, makes no sense. Even using an optimate type of maintainer makes no sense. If the battery has nothing draining it. Then it doesn't need charging at any point during a winter lay-up or even a 6 month SORN.

As for it catching fire... My guess is he got a recommendation for a charger from the same plonker who told him he needed one.

An expensive lesson on the perils of advice from the clueless.

 

He took it out because it was pretty flat, when he bought the bike it hadn't been used for ages. And it was a lithium specific charger. He's used lithiums for years in other applications so he knows what he's doing. He happens to use lithiums in model aircraft like me so more years experience than most people using them in motorcycles.

They are very good, but on the rare occasions they go wrong it's worth bearing mind what can happen. Personally I never charge a lithium battery anywhere near anything flammable. I use a strong metal enclosure well away from anything else. Never had a problem.....yet.