Level of battery charge

[ohiorider_imp]

It's one of those things I tend to ignore.

But on Saturday evening, I wanted to log the current mileage on my three bikes. When I got to the CB1100, I had to turn on the ignition and work my way thru the speedo menu to come up with total mileage.

No problem. Until today. Attempted to turn the key and noticed it was already turned. Turned if off and back on and ..... no fuel pump noise .... no instrument lights. I'd left the ignition on for a couple of days. Felt like a Dumb A**!

It took forever for the yellow 'charging' light on the trickle charger to switch to the green 'full charge' light.

Noticed then when I turned the key to 'on', the fuel pump sounded like it revved higher, and when I hit the starter, it also seemed to turn the engine over more quickly.

Long and short of this note ..... would it make sense to plug into a trickle charger after riding mostly in the slow roads in the National Park? Never had a starting problem, but wonder if I'm riding most of the time with a battery that isn't fully charged. I have no idea how many watts the alternator produces, and at what rpm.

Bob

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

This summer I left the ignition switch on for just 10 minutes in the heat of the sun (it was so bright out I didn't notice my headlight was on). It was enough to kill the battery to the point where the starter failed. I reckon my battery was already at end-of-life given it was over five years-old. Furthermore, this happened after an hour doing slow and rough/dirt back roads, so engine RPM was low.

Home was a long way away. I do know that riding at and over 3000 RPM charged the battery well because I made a few gasoline and bio-breaks along the return trip and the starter motor turned over. I suspect maybe 2500 RPM might be "par" since the generator has to power everything else on the bike too when riding. In any case, because I was returning mostly freeway (essentially non-stop), my revs were between 3000 and 4000 RPM nominally.

 

[LongRanger_imp]

Bob, I find a battery tender to be cheap insurance. You can find 0.75A tenders for about $20 online. Simply leave it connected to the bike when it's not being ridden and it will keep your battery charged.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Every motorcycle owner should have a "smart" battery tenderer. Buy a decent quality unit.

 

[the Ferret]

Whenever I am not riding, my bikes are plugged into battery tender Jrs 24/7/365. After a ride, I plug them in before I even take my helmet off.

 

[Wisedrum]

I never do this. Instead I try to ride my bikes on a regular basis year in, year out. A bike takes care of its battery while being ridden like no charger in the world can do. Some numbers of the first batteries of my bikes, which still work: CB - nearly 7 years, W800 - nearly 9 and Bullet - nearly 4. Some more years to come I guess. Maybe it's all part of a seldom battery luck.

Wisedrum

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

I never do this. Instead I try to ride my bikes on a regular basis year in, year out. A bike takes care of its battery while being ridden like no charger in the world can do. Some numbers of the first batteries of my bikes, which still work: CB - nearly 7 years, W800 - nearly 9 and Bullet - nearly 4. Some more years to come I guess. Maybe it's all part of a seldom battery luck.

Wisedrum

Ditto. I trickle charge about once per month during the slow winter riding season. Maybe once or twice during the normal riding season.

Smart trickle chargers are suppose to handle the job of healthy batteries too. However, I feel low grade (cheap) "smart" chargers may "over bake" batteries. So beware.

 

[Rocky_imp]

I pull all my batteries and store then in a cool, dry place for the winter.
When I flip up the calendar for the new month I hook each one up to my Optimate charger for 24 hours or so and then put them back in their resting place until the next month.

 

[the Ferret]

I never do this. Instead I try to ride my bikes on a regular basis year in, year out. A bike takes care of its battery while being ridden like no charger in the world can do. Some numbers of the first batteries of my bikes, which still work: CB - nearly 7 years, W800 - nearly 9 and Bullet - nearly 4. Some more years to come I guess. Maybe it's all part of a seldom battery luck.

Wisedrum

I ride my bikes almost daily year in and year out too Wisedrum, over 300 days and 25,000 miles most years. This year looks like a little less than 300 day year and about 20,000 miles due to health issues I've had, butIi haven't had to worry about my batteries. A battery tender jr only adds juice if the battery needs it, otherwise it just maintains it. There are no highs and lows in the state of the battery.

 

[Charlie Bravo_imp]

Here in SoCal, there is no off season. But there is earthquakes, fires, freeways, traffic, lots of RVs, tourists, potholes, trucks, and cell phone mamas. But, we have legal lane-splitting. LSS, I ride my two beasts enough I don't need a tender.

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

Here in SoCal, there is no off season. But there is earthquakes, fires, freeways, traffic, lots of RVs, tourists, potholes, trucks, and cell phone mamas. But, we have legal lane-splitting. LSS, I ride my two beasts enough I don't need a tender.

" ... They called it paradise, I don't know why.
You call some place paradise, kiss it goodbye. "

 

[Chuckk_imp]

I was thinking... back in the day, when I was restoring old goldwings, I would let completed bikes sit without trickle charging them.. I would then exercise them every week or two.. as time passed between exercises, I found batteries would fail me.. it was just time to replace them.. but by letting them set without trickle, I felt I was giving the batteries a test.. if they would have been on trickle, I might not have been given that "early warning" of battery failure.. now I have just my CB and put the trickle on after every ride, automatically.. my thought is, it might not be a bad idea to leave the trickle off for a week, just to listen to the starter crank for the first time.. it may be a good test to perform every so often..

.

 

[the Ferret]

Chuckk... understand that you are talking completely different battery technologies between those old Wings and new bikes. The old batteries with plates and liquid acid died slow deaths but gave you warning with multiple slow starts. The new glass mat batteries like in the CB 1100 die almost instantly with maybe 1 or 2 slow start warnings before you need to replace them. Personally I agree with keeping the glass mat batteries on a maintenance charger for the simple fact it doesn't let the battery cycle thru low charge and full charge cycles, but maintains a full charge all the time. Others may have different opinions about that, but that is why maintenance chargers were designed..to maintain a full charge.

 

[clearviewx]

I was thinking... back in the day, when I was restoring old goldwings, I would let completed bikes sit without trickle charging them.. I would then exercise them every week or two.. as time passed between exercises, I found batteries would fail me.. it was just time to replace them.. but by letting them set without trickle, I felt I was giving the batteries a test.. if they would have been on trickle, I might not have been given that "early warning" of battery failure.. now I have just my CB and put the trickle on after every ride, automatically.. my thought is, it might not be a bad idea to leave the trickle off for a week, just to listen to the starter crank for the first time.. it may be a good test to perform every so often..

.

Love your setup could you talk to that backrest on the standard seat?:worship:

 

[Chuckk_imp]

when faced with a battery emergency, where the battery cranks very slowly, stop !! .. pull the headlight fuse located under the seat.. that is a big drain on the battery.. then bump start the bike, keeping revs up once it starts.. ride the bike home or to a shop without the headlight drain..riding very defensively .. if at night, this plan wouldn't work .. I am speaking from experience.. twice I had charging failures.. once with my CBR 1100 blackbird, once with a Honda VFR.. connectors got corroded, then acted like a toaster.. there was just enough charge going into the battery, to keep up with the demands of the engine.. this is just a little positive thinking.. it might not work for you, but when stuck some where, a bit of positive thinking is just what the doctor ordered.. this pic of my yellow blackbird was interesting.. after I took this pic, my bike wouldn't start.. the battery was almost completely dead.. I bump started it after pulling the headlight fuse and rode 90 miles back to my house.. later, I found the culprit, the bad connector..

.

.

I was thinking... back in the day, when I was restoring old goldwings, I would let completed bikes sit without trickle charging them.. I would then exercise them every week or two.. as time passed between exercises, I found batteries would fail me.. it was just time to replace them.. but by letting them set without trickle, I felt I was giving the batteries a test.. if they would have been on trickle, I might not have been given that "early warning" of battery failure.. now I have just my CB and put the trickle on after every ride, automatically.. my thought is, it might not be a bad idea to leave the trickle off for a week, just to listen to the starter crank for the first time.. it may be a good test to perform every so often..

.

Love your setup could you talk to that backrest on the standard seat?:worship:

Love your setup could you talk to that backrest on the standard seat?:worship: yes.. I could talk to it, but it never answered.. haha .. was that a spellcheck error? did you have a question? ..

 

[max]

Chuckk, thanks for the vivid explanation of the near dead battery, this is indeed good thinking and well done on that subject with the headlight fuse removal.

In your case it appears from the picture that the battery gradually lost supply from the generator, discharged itself in the process. and drained itself during the trip all unbeknownst to you until startup time.

Can you clear up a curious mind by revealing if the battery was still servicable after the charging system was repaired?
( it seems from the picture that the connector to the regulator had cooked the three phase connectors in an equal way but not the dc connectors, did the regulator still work ok after that? ), someone i know had smoke pouring out of his alternator connector so it's something to be aware off in some designs and worth checking when servicing by disconnecting while checking for corrosion and good contact, once they start heating up it gets worse over time and good to catch it early in the process.

It's funny how a $0.15 connector can stop a $ 20.000 machine?

 

[Chuckk_imp]

to be honest, years have gone by and I don't recall the condition of the battery afterwards.. I do know I had to replace the regulator.. mainly because the connector was built into the earlier regulators.. the later regulators had 6 inches of wire, then the connector, allowing one to just replace the connector and still use the regulator (maybe).. it was pretty common problem back then..

..

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.

 

[max]

Thanks Chukk

 

[GoldOxide_imp]

The modern AGM batteries have decent shelf-life, however, there are likely light loads drawing it down - small stuff like the instrument clock - nothing big. But an electrical impairment/damage could draw it down faster.

Pulling the headlight fuse to allow more charge to a weak battery is functionally a good workaround. Even if you didn't, the CB cuts the power to the headlight upon engine start (I believe), so that is useful.

 

[clearviewx]

when faced with a battery emergency, where the battery cranks very slowly, stop !! .. pull the headlight fuse located under the seat.. that is a big drain on the battery.. then bump start the bike, keeping revs up once it starts.. ride the bike home or to a shop without the headlight drain..riding very defensively .. if at night, this plan wouldn't work .. I am speaking from experience.. twice I had charging failures.. once with my CBR 1100 blackbird, once with a Honda VFR.. connectors got corroded, then acted like a toaster.. there was just enough charge going into the battery, to keep up with the demands of the engine.. this is just a little positive thinking.. it might not work for you, but when stuck some where, a bit of positive thinking is just what the doctor ordered.. this pic of my yellow blackbird was interesting.. after I took this pic, my bike wouldn't start.. the battery was almost completely dead.. I bump started it after pulling the headlight fuse and rode 90 miles back to my house.. later, I found the culprit, the bad connector..

.

.

I was thinking... back in the day, when I was restoring old goldwings, I would let completed bikes sit without trickle charging them.. I would then exercise them every week or two.. as time passed between exercises, I found batteries would fail me.. it was just time to replace them.. but by letting them set without trickle, I felt I was giving the batteries a test.. if they would have been on trickle, I might not have been given that "early warning" of battery failure.. now I have just my CB and put the trickle on after every ride, automatically.. my thought is, it might not be a bad idea to leave the trickle off for a week, just to listen to the starter crank for the first time.. it may be a good test to perform every so often..

.

Love your setup could you talk to that backrest on the standard seat?:worship:

Love your setup could you talk to that backrest on the standard seat?:worship: yes.. I could talk to it, but it never answered.. haha .. was that a spellcheck error? did you have a question? ..

Love your setup could you talk to that backrest on the standard seat?:worship: yes.. I could talk to it, but it never answered.. haha .. was that a spellcheck error? did you have a question? .. :dodgy: