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Post by latestartertommy on Mar 26, 2007 12:36:54 GMT
Apologies for the pretty basic question!  For the first time in 20 years of motoring / biking I've had to buy a new battery! It's 12V 14Amp for the GSXF and when I picked it up at the weekend I was mildly surprised to learn that it's not charged! (Hey ho, you learn something new every day).  I've managed to borrow a charger, but on the front it says "Max output 5 Amps". As I didn't pay a great deal of attention to this in science at school, will this charger be OK for a 14 Amp battery?  As I'm now mildly curious can anyone give me a non-techy description of the difference between volts and amps? Ride safe, Tommy. |
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Post by General Gman on Mar 26, 2007 12:47:18 GMT
I int got a clue about electrical witchcraft, but for a bike battery the charge rates are very low.Is the charger specifically for motorcycles ? 5A would be too much for just about any bike battery.
The correct trickle charge for a bike battery is about 1/10 of the rated A/hrs, so a 14A like yours would take a 1.4A charge for 10 hrs.
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Post by alpaholic on Mar 26, 2007 12:47:38 GMT
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AmpereWhat you really need to find is somewhere your battery which has a value with the unit "amp hour". If your battery was a 5 amp hour battery then your 5 amp charger would charge it in 1 hour. (That might not be a great idea 'cos you don't want to charge too fast.) If your battery was 20amp hours you would need to charge for 4 hours at 5amps. I would have thought for a new battery your want to trickly charge it at say 0.300 amps (300mA) for a while rather than chargeing it fast. Someone who can tell you for sure will be along shortly.
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Post by judi on Mar 26, 2007 13:16:57 GMT
"Eye of newt, and toe of frog,
Wool of bat, and tongue of dog,
Adder's fork, and blind-worm's sting,
Lizard's leg, and howlet's wing,--
For a charm of powerful trouble,
Like a hell-broth boil and bubble." Anyone tried dissecting a frogs toe? ;D ;D ;D
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Post by CD on Mar 26, 2007 15:31:50 GMT
latestartertommy is right. For lead acid, recharge at 1/10 of the battery amp/hour rating. I like the Optimate chargers as they can recover accidentally over-discharged batteries and charge gently. Normal car chargers push in too much current, but a trickle charge setting should be ok (if it has one).
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Post by HRHpenfold on Mar 26, 2007 16:16:12 GMT
they are of course right, but most batteries that i have bought i have just fitted to the bike and they have started, then a good run has charged them up and i have 3 battery chargers just for bikes, in reality, the bike will put out more than 5 amps into the battery, if it needs charging, if its flat, i would put it on charge at 5 amps for 10 mins then start it and go on a run ;D
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Post by General Gman on Mar 26, 2007 19:59:13 GMT
But if you buy a dry charged battery, you need to fill the bugger with acid and then chargificate it... Thankfully, I've got 5ltrs of sulphuric acid in the shed....  |
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Post by Fiasco on Mar 26, 2007 21:19:01 GMT
Thankfully, I've got 5ltrs of sulphuric acid in the shed.... Planning on destroying some evidence GM ?? Dave ;D |
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Post by General Gman on Mar 26, 2007 21:20:18 GMT
bugger.... rumbled at last.... ;D
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Post by apricot on Mar 26, 2007 22:18:12 GMT
"Anyone tried dissecting a frogs toe? "I've studied the odd camel toe 
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Post by General Gman on Mar 26, 2007 22:52:26 GMT
"Anyone tried dissecting a frogs toe? "I've studied the odd camel toe Odd camel toes ? - I go for normal ones... |
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Post by judi on Mar 26, 2007 23:02:46 GMT
I heard they spit Not into equal opportunities eh? ;D |
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Post by latestartertommy on Mar 27, 2007 8:36:26 GMT
they are of course right, but most batteries that i have bought i have just fitted to the bike and they have started, then a good run has charged them up ... I'd wondered about that. The bumph with the battery said it was dry charged, but I wasn't sure if that would be enough to start the bike and keep it turning over. Might just take it for a spin tonight and ignore the charger all together! Ride safe, Tommy. |
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Post by CD on Mar 27, 2007 14:57:19 GMT
A mate gave me a bump start to save having to use the starter. Dead easy but don't try it on your own  |
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Post by Andy-Red-Divi on Mar 27, 2007 16:05:11 GMT
When you've finished charging the battery, dont just switch the charger off at the mains, unplug the battery as well..... ... guess which numpty did this the other day. Went to get on the bike and it wouldnt start, then I noticed the cable running from under the seat..  Andy |
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Post by CD on Mar 27, 2007 17:50:23 GMT
I once did that with a diesel car. It hadn't disharged the battery, but the electrical "spike" when I started the engine blew the charger rectifier. Maybe it was a cheapo thing, but I'm more careful now.
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