Battery woes..

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sonofpat1969
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Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:14 pm

Battery woes..

Post by sonofpat1969 »

OK... So still off work... Sick note till Tuesday and manager says not allowed to return before then, so who am I to argue.....

Booked bike in for MOT, which appears to be the modern day equivalent of placing a curse on anything mechanical.

Battery seemed to be on way out, and was only holding a charge for a few days.... So with a few days to wait, ordered a Motobatt MBTX12U. From ebay... £44 ish arrived after couple of days. Battery claimed to be plug and play with no prior charging so fitted it with a bit of a fight with the terminals but no big hassle... Tight fit in the hole (Ooh Matron) and thought to myself that will be a bstsrd to get out again, thank God I wont be doing that for a while (Mmmmm). So any way went to start, no go and then very quickly .. click click click.... So plugged in battery charger (car charger, yes I know but the alternative was Aldi trickle charger and impatience got the better of me.... ) Left it for a while tried again nothing Nada null nil, not even an ignition light... Flatter than a Dutch bowling green.
OK much sweating, swearing and head rubbing.... Thinking of short circuits, knackard starters and all manner of woes.
Decided to charge the old battery for half an hour and then swap them back.
New battery lodged in the holder tighter than a ducks ass... Aaaagh.
Made handle out of wire, and Pulled the bleeder out.
Old battery back in and she starts.... Mmmmm.
So is new battery a dud, I had it on trickle charge last night and it appears to have held that, but loathed to enter into a battery wrestling contest 1 hour before MOT. So hoping old battery will hold out this Am. And more investigations after.
tony.mon
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Location: Norf Kent

Re: Battery woes..

Post by tony.mon »

I have a brand new identical battery ready to fit today, based on what you report I'll plug it into my Optimate for a couple of hours during the day today before fitting....
They do say on the box no charging necessary, ready to fit and use, but of course you don't know how long they've been on the stock shelf before despatch.

No lead acid battery will hold a charge indefinitely, even disconnected, 10% a week isn't unusual.
It's not falling off, it's an upgrade opportunity.
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sonofpat1969
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Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:14 pm

Re: Battery woes..

Post by sonofpat1969 »

Mmmm.. 45 mins to MOT curiosity got the better this Am, swapped back to new after it had been on trickle charge for yesterday evening.... Flat as a flat thing. so old ones now back on charge as it did not hold enough over night..... Aaaaaggh.
Looks like a return to busters...
Let me know how you get on with yours Tony.

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sonofpat1969
Posts: 80
Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:14 pm

Re: Battery woes..

Post by sonofpat1969 »

Eventually had to fashion a set of jump leads out of some electrical wire and some croc clips and start it off the punto.... 10 minutes late for MOT .
On the plus side passed MOT with just an advisery on the front tyre. So now wondering about the battery, I only have car battery charger or aldi trickle charger, so wondering whether with s proper charge from a bike charger the new battery would be OK.? Ive never had one not work from new but seems odd to me.... Might try last attempt, fit it to the bike, jump start it and see if it will charge from the bike... If not, back it goes.. :cry:

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Flatline
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Location: Leeds

Re: Battery woes..

Post by Flatline »

Just bought a varta ytx16 for £55 delivered

Came next day

Fitted (christ its a bigun!!)

No problems, started first time :thumbup:

It did say to wait 30 mins after filling, check the voltage and if not correct, charge it
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sonofpat1969
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Joined: Wed Mar 02, 2011 8:14 pm

Re: Battery woes..

Post by sonofpat1969 »

Sent it back, asked for a swap. Ill let you know how I get on.. I'll just have to make sure I use the 'storm daily till replacement arrives... :grin:

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