Help with Battery!

[stormnige]

My battery has completely discharged.............it's a 'Aerospace energy performance' YTX12-BS and only about 8 mths old. I've not used the bike for 2 weeks and got battery out of bike on charge. Only thing is my optimate charger doesn't show anything apart from green 'on' LED and won't charge it? Any advice appreciated

[tony.mon]

Try the Optimate on another battery, to see if it works.
If it's one with a "desulphivate" or whatever it's called setting does it do that?

[stormnige]

Thanks for reply.... I have tried charger on car battery and it shows all LEDs/fully charged, so I'm sure it is working OK. It is a DR BIKE optimate and claims to be able to recover a deeply discharged battery? Just had it plugged in now for approx 8 HRs and it's not showing anything apart from green 'on' LED. Think battery may be dead ;(

[tony.mon]

Maybe dead, then.
But give it overnight, or even some days- it might still come back.

[benny hedges]

i would take a guess that your battery has frozen up and may have cracked and lost electrolyte in at least one cell.
lose one cell and its fkt as it will no longer make a circuit.
it's been exceptionally cold in some areas lately so could well be the cause, especially if the bike is kept outside.

only know as its happened to me. and to make matters worse, i then bought a new prefilled battery, carried it carefully all the way home and dropped it at the door.
it worked fine til the next day when i noticed it was flat as a pancake, with a tiny hairline crack right in the corner.

a new battery doesnt cost the earth and they are expendable items imo.... and tbh a fully discharged battery will never be the same... you can get acid packs to replenish them but just get a new one - you dont want to end up stranded miles from home or stuck with no lights.

get a new one fitted, preferably an upgrade - theres a few threads on here with part numbers for bigger capacity batteries (though you may have to leave the plastic compartment cover off)

also check the reg/rec is working ok.... if the rectifier circuit is gone it will earth any juice even when the bike is turned off.

*some part numbers - taken from 'occasional fault / misfire ' thread

a 14a/h YTX16-BS will still fit with the battery cover removed.
if youre going to go for the 14ah you might as well get the 18a/h (ytx20ch-bs) as it's the same size as the 14.
*be sure to quote the CH if you order one as the ytx20bs is 187mm tall & wont fit.

these will give you a lot more cold starting power, especially if you use heated grips etc...

[stormnige]

Big help - thanks............will look at getting new battery

[benny hedges]

these guys are just down the road from you m8 http://www.bikedevils.com/
highy recommended - i use them a lot for stuff & they have good stock at cheapo prices

some more comparisons for the yuasa ytx16-bs

Varta 514 902 022
CTX16-BS
GTX16-BS

[agentpineapple]

a few of us have bought one of these via ebay £50
very good with 4 terminals so you can wire up other things to it aswell......
MOTOBATT MBTX12U UPGRADE BATTERY YTX14-BS / CTX14-BS
mad4bikes

[Phimosis]

The desulphate mode needs 48hrs to complete, and try this several times if after 1 go it doesnt work, my optimate 4 took 5 goes at a r/r knackered battery and it recovered it and now its a spare, which is nice, but like the other honourable members have said if theres a crack its facked.

[Jetblack]

Busters have a cheap one at just short of £29. I bought one

[AMCQ46]

I was also told on good authority that dropping the battery from about 1 or 2 ft onto a concrete surface is needed to dislodge the sulfates from the plates. also that it needs to me disconnected from the bike for the deep charge recovery chargers to work. [obviously it also needs to be removed from teh bike for you to drop / shock, but I hope you worked that out ].

I take no responsibility for the battery breaking and splashing all your prize posession with acid, but the drop method has worked for me, and I got the info out of a motocycle magazine [cant remember which one or how long agao] and it was provided by the technical people at Optimate

[Phimosis]

As AMCQ said the battery does need to be out of the bike as any drain on it ruins the wombles action, just run the optimate half a dozen times x 48 hours without turning off...

[simo]

If you can get your hands on an old style battery charger which can push 9 or 10 amps and give it a good stinging until it bubbles and boils, that will do it.Works for me

[Phimosis]

If you can get your hands on an old style battery charger which can push 9 or 10 amps and give it a good stinging until it bubbles and boils, that will do it.Works for me

Wow is that classified as Assault on Battery....

[lloydie]