Dead Battery

Discussion in 'Mechanics Garage' started by Carnage, Nov 12, 2008.

  1. Carnage

    Carnage New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2007
    Messages:
    114
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Terrell, TX
    I have on '07 VFR and the battery dies way too easy. If I do not start the bike for more 3 or 4 days the bike will not start and the battery has to be charged. This seems a little on the odd side. As long as I keep the bike running all of the time it works fine.

    I am thinking I need a new battery. I am going to buy a battery tender but I just wouldn't think I would need it for the bike sitting such a short time.
     
  2. Spike

    Spike New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 26, 2006
    Messages:
    1,579
    Likes Received:
    2
    Trophy Points:
    0
    do you have an alarm on the bike, or have you added any other electrical accessories? You might have a short there, or the bad battery, or a bad charging system. If you hook it up to a battery tender type device, does the battery last longer after you remove it? If it does, that would lean the situation towards a bad charging system. If that makes no difference, you either have a short or bad battery. Or at least that is what I would start with. If of course you don't have the ability/equipment to properly test the battery.
     
  3. Carnage

    Carnage New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2007
    Messages:
    114
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Terrell, TX
    I have not put any accessories on the bike. I did fail to mention that I had a wire cluster fall that is under the front cowl and the wires wore through and started shorting out the bike. I found that and taped up the wires and it quit blowing the main fuse. I believe that it did fry the motor on my fan because I had to have it replaced. That is what makes me think I have a bad battery.
     
  4. Molsan

    Molsan New Member

    Joined:
    Apr 23, 2006
    Messages:
    532
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Red Deer Alberta
    Map
    Well i know here canadian tire has stores where you just take your battary in and hook it up to the machine to test it for free and it rates your battary.

    Sounds like something is drawing the current though such as a short.
     
  5. emptyskull

    emptyskull New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 31, 2008
    Messages:
    98
    Likes Received:
    1
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    near the bat cave
    Map
    your bike is a 2007 and the wire harness fell and a hole got wore in wires?? did the dealer look at it? is it still in waraunty?? I think something must be wrong here.. or did you take it apart and pinch the wires? good luck I think I would have a talk with the dealer or honda about that burning up your fan..geezz..battery should last 4 years .
     
  6. supervfr

    supervfr Banned

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2008
    Messages:
    299
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    advance or autozone should be able to test the battery for you.

    easiest test. just disconnect the negative battery terminal from the battery for 4 days. when you hook it up if the bike starts its a problem with the bike. if it doesent start its the battery.

    parts store should be able to test it and tell if its bad within about a minute.
     
  7. Traveller

    Traveller New Member

    Country:
    Greece
    Joined:
    Nov 9, 2008
    Messages:
    76
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    6
    Location:
    Finland
    Map
    Just the other day I also had the same problem with a dead battery.
    Up until then my standard procedure was to go to the nearest bike shop, fork out good money for a new gel type battery and discard the old one.

    However, after a little research and talking with people in the know, I was surprised to find out that discharged batteries are not necessarily useless.

    So I went and bought a Battery Optimiser/Desulphater/Charger by Accumate.
    OPTIMATE / ACCUMATE Products

    What this does is basically it doesn't simply recharge batteries. It desuplhates/reconditions them to be used for at least a couple more years!

    Add to that the benefit of the device coupling as a battery tender and you start to see the benefits!

    It costs very little (about half price of a good gel battery) and it really does work. I don't mean to advertise here, but I call em as I see em. :)

    The one I have is called the Accumate Optimate 3 SP (now replaced by Optimate 4), which has two different charging "regimes" for batteries depending on their condition. While charging, the device takes the battery through various discharging cycles and senses the load on the battery. If the battery doesn't behave within a very specific norm then it indicates faulty battery, while if it passes all the tests, you got yourself a new battery!

    Yesterday I hooked up an old battery I had lying around for about 6 months and today I tried it on my VFR. And lo and behold, the bike started up straight away! Result!

    It is really worth giving it a go! :strong:
     
  8. supervfr

    supervfr Banned

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2008
    Messages:
    299
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    all it does is cycle the battery.

    you might like to know that with other batteries. such as laptop batterys if you cycle the battery (compleetly drain and recharge) several times when you first get it you can increase the battery life.

    cycle it as many times as you can the first week. my wifes first laptop gained about a half hour more doing it.
     
  9. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

    Country:
    United States
    Joined:
    Jul 27, 2006
    Messages:
    9,839
    Likes Received:
    743
    Trophy Points:
    128
    Location:
    Buffalo, NY
    Map
    you need to check the output of your charging system by putting a voltmeter across the battery terminals with engine running about 5000 rpm; you should see about 14 volts.
     
  10. woody77

    woody77 New Member

    Country:
    United States
    Joined:
    Dec 21, 2006
    Messages:
    761
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    18
    Location:
    Palo Alto, CA
    Map
    Nope.

    They way these work is that they look at the charging rates, and see that the battery is going up in voltage too quickly for the size of the battery (you select a charge rate based on battery size), which indicates that the sulfur in the sulfuric acid has bonded with the lead in the battery to create too much lead sulfate (this is called sulfation). You crank the charging voltage up to say 15-16 V for a 12V battery, and you'll see it start to "boil" the acid, as it pushes the sulfur back out of the lead. More sophisticated units use a high frequency waveform to help "knock" the sulfur out of the plates.

    What kills a lead acid battery is when you discharge it deeply enough that the plates start to warp or get holes eaten in them. Starting batteries tend to have minimal lead in them (light and cheap).

    My deep cell backup batteries for the house (solar panels + batteries for when the winter storms knock out the power) are massive in comparison to any starting battery I've seen (they make the starting batteries for tractor trailers go hide with their tails between their legs.. :) ). 117 pounds per 6V battery, but then they are 460 amp hours each (about 20x the capacity of an Optima RedTop).
     
  11. gmonsen

    gmonsen New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2008
    Messages:
    37
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Riegelsville, Pennsylvania
    Map
    Hey... I got stupid and left the bike on for like 2 days. Battery's dead. Can I use my regular floor roll around automobile charger set to 12 volts and 10 amps and charge it for an hour or two?

    Gordon
     
  12. squirrelman

    squirrelman Member

    Country:
    United States
    Joined:
    Jul 27, 2006
    Messages:
    9,839
    Likes Received:
    743
    Trophy Points:
    128
    Location:
    Buffalo, NY
    Map
    WHOA there!!

    Ya wanna explosion???

    never charge a small 'cycle battery at more than 1.5 amps/hr, never!
     
  13. supervfr

    supervfr Banned

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2008
    Messages:
    299
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Iv done it probably 30 times in the last couple months woring on my bike. even used the 100 amp start feature.

    Its still a 12v battery with simular amps. Its a smaller wattage battery. Charger will work fine.

    And realistically it wont explode. Before explosion it would have to heat up first, any battery. Acid based batteries have vent holes. when it heats up, acid vents out, the pressure is released.

    even useing the 100 amp start feature neither my cycle battery nor my even smaller lawm mower battery even warmed up.
     
  14. gmonsen

    gmonsen New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2008
    Messages:
    37
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Riegelsville, Pennsylvania
    Map
    Bit late... Didn't blow it up, but charged it for about 45 minutes. Still wouldn't start. Turned the charger to crank and it started. However, it only stayed lit for a few minutes and then shut off. I gather that I at least need a new battery. However, I don't know why it didn't stay lit once it started.

    Any thoughts? Did I fry something else?

    Gordon
     
  15. gmonsen

    gmonsen New Member

    Joined:
    Oct 28, 2008
    Messages:
    37
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Riegelsville, Pennsylvania
    Map
    Supervfr... Thanks. The battery did heat up. However, again, any idea why it didn't stay lit, once started? It just sort of slow died. Tried reving it, but it just went out.

    Gordon
     
  16. supervfr

    supervfr Banned

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2008
    Messages:
    299
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Try the 2 amp charge. it takes more than a couple hours but its more efficient.

    and being a only 2 amps it wont heat up the battery.

    tho chances are that if it just died, even the 2 amp slow charge isent gonna work.
     
  17. supervfr

    supervfr Banned

    Joined:
    Aug 1, 2008
    Messages:
    299
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Not sure if its been said, but check your RR. On a 1986 its the black rectangle with fins commign off of it under the seat.

    should get about 14 voltes. An auto parts store can help. they let me use their volt meeter, mine broke.

    Could be its not putting out the electricity, or battery is broke. its work a 5 minute test.

    my apologies if its already been mentioned.
     
  18. Carnage

    Carnage New Member

    Joined:
    Nov 21, 2007
    Messages:
    114
    Likes Received:
    0
    Trophy Points:
    0
    Location:
    Terrell, TX
    Thanks for the ideas. I just thought about it but do you think that the Lo-Jack could be running the battery down?
     
Related Topics

Share This Page