battery charging how-to

roqueweiler · May 14, 2010

new 14 amp hour battery and screwy charging system (which will get a complete test when I have the time)
Likely I will replace all with a triple phase Sparx set up; until then I will charge nightly

but

my battery tender will not charge through the pigtails on the battery in my norton (it will on my harley)

why is that? I have tried unhooking both the main fuse and the zener to no avail. I suppose I could disconnect the battery completely but isn't there an easier way?

swooshdave · May 14, 2010

roqueweiler said:
new 14 amp hour battery and screwy charging system (which will get a complete test when I have the time)
Likely I will replace all with a triple phase Sparx set up; until then I will charge nightly

but

my battery tender will not charge through the pigtails on the battery in my norton (it will on my harley)

why is that? I have tried unhooking both the main fuse and the zener to no avail. I suppose I could disconnect the battery completely but isn't there an easier way?

Hooking it up correctly?

gtsun · May 14, 2010

I installed the Battery Tender's quick connect plug on my BSA Shooting Star and it also would not charge. I checked to make sure it was hooked up correctly and it was. Off the bike it works perfectly, back on & no charge. I don't understand why but I pull it off the bike now.

grandpaul · May 14, 2010

Charging the battery nightly may not be the best thing for it.

If the pigtail is properly connected with good, clean connections, it should charge normally without disconnecting anything.

L.A.B. · May 14, 2010

roqueweiler said:
I have tried unhooking both the main fuse and the zener to no avail. I suppose I could disconnect the battery completely but isn't there an easier way?

Removing the main fuse should completely isolate the battery? The battery can then be considered to have been "removed" from the bike's electrical system, so there shouldn't be anything which could interfere with battery charging if the pigtail connections on the battery are sound and correctly orientated?

kommando · May 14, 2010

HD -ve earth, brits +ve earth amy be the issue.

roqueweiler · May 14, 2010

yes, I had thought that it could be the positive ground too. I suppose it could also be the tender itself; I bet if I use a trickle charger instead of the 'intelligent' tender I'll have no prob.

BTW I won't charge nightly, I was just going to hook up to the tender. I'll charge it weekly or so. Hopefully I will have time this week to fix the charging system!

Stephen Hill · May 14, 2010

In the past I have had problems charging a battery in the bike. Turned out that the zener diode was going to ground before the battery was fully charged, so the charger never tapered off. I could leave the charger on for a week and it still registered a partially charged battery. Now whenever I charge a battery in the bike I remove the fuse, so that the battery is isolated, the zener is no longer an issue, and typically the battery is charged in a day or less.

Stephen Hill

battery charging how-to

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