battery problem

[mickwinf]

hi all now i have a problem with a battery.It is new, and was ok until i left the ignition on for 2 days! I tried to recharge it with my optimizer charger but no joy, is there anything i can do or is it dead?

[daz]

If it was totally discharged i think its a new battery for you. You tried the best thing with the optimizer, Daz

[stidds]

I had this problem with one of my batteries and I took it along to a local car electricians and they put it on their 'industrial' battery booster which kick started it charging again.

[matthewmosse]

I di this to my rebel. check the levels and top up as usual, on my rebel I was able to bump start it and the bike managed what the charger (optimate) could not- the optimate wouldn't even aknowledge the battery  was connected. I'm still running that battery now. As bump starting a cb550 is a bbit difficult with a dud battery or at least mine always was even on the kickstarter I'd try a cheap battery charger that just keeps pushing charge in rather than one of the clever ones as I've had luck with this way in the past with a

[florence]

If it's quite new then total discharge shouldn't cause problems, unless the battery is faulty.  Is it under warranty? 

Normal car battery charger should sort it out, that's what I always use.

[mickwinf]

thanks for advice guys wil try a car charger!

[K2-K6]

I'd agree with the others in going for a non intelligent charger that just keeps going as a way to get it back again, go for the lowest setting if there is one and just trickle it for a long time.

I've had one before that appeared to be totally dead, so tipped the acid out and washed all the crud out with tap water and refilled with new acid and it worked for ages after that.

If there is any real level of sediment (think this is product of sulfated plates) at the bottom of the battery then it usually compromises how the cells work.

[mickwinf]

problem solved! I used my very old car charger and it started to charge, so i swapped to the optimiser to fully charge. The lesson here is the optimizer needs at least a bit of charge to work properly so will keep my old charger as a backup! Thanks for help everyone, cheers,Mick.

[florence]

Gosh, just looked at those optimising battery chargers.  They cost an absolute fortune!  My extremely neglected battery has been on the bike for four years and only cost

[meerkat]

Gosh, just looked at those optimising battery chargers.  They cost an absolute fortune!  My extremely neglected battery has been on the bike for four years and only cost

[florence]

Nowadays on modern bikes with CanBus systems (no fuses), smaller gel batteries and computerised management, an optimising charger is more or less a painful necessity.
[/quote]

Sounds like pure science fiction to me and downright dangerous; no fuses!, sounds like a good way to have ones bike explode.

I'm glad to say the newest bike I've ever ridden was made in 1979.  (I'm getting worried, I find it hard to cope with the modern world and I'm nowhere near fifty yet; it's just going to get worse.)

[matthewmosse]

I quite agree on having a phobia of the modern world and modern technology. I'm 30 so in theory should be of the tech friendly generation but I'm not a fan and the tendancy is for each vehicle I get to be older than the last. I'm now on a quest for something affordable to buy and run thats older than our 1960 landrover....

[florence]

I have a series 2a landrover and I love it.  When it breaks I can mend it with three spanners, a screwdriver and a hammer, ...oh and a stick welder

[florence]

.....and it spends it's life logging, taking pigs to market, stump pulling and general tractor work. (I'll stop now because this is a bike forum )

[matthewmosse]

Are you on the series 2 forum? it's a good place to get info on those versatile vehicles. Ours too does a lot of tractor jobs, we even run an old hayliner baler behind the landy though information on using the more tractor functions is harder to come by.