Charging Puzzle

swooshdave · May 20, 2012

I got back from a long ride today and checked my battery voltage, it was only 10V. I have been checking on the battery and don't like what I've been finding. I put the multi tester on the battery and revved the engine, the voltage went up. Does this mean the battery isn't holding a charge?

Hobot · May 20, 2012

Could well be as that is the way my last battery went, finally wouldn't hold much charge, found when starting become more than one kick more and more often till just didn't. Thankgoodness Notons are so cute and light so not that hard in most places to get a push off start, even with half dead battery, but remove if deader than that. In bikes i seem to get over 4 but less than 5 yrs.

ML · May 20, 2012

yes, seems the battery is dying but the bike alternator is charging. Try putting it on charge for about 2 to 3 hours until it holds a constant 12.5V. record the actual multimeter reading. Then fit back into the bike and put the headlamp & taillight on for 3 minutes. If the voltage drops below 12V its on its way out.

Mick

swooshdave · May 20, 2012

ML said:
yes, seems the battery is dying but the bike alternator is charging. Try putting it on charge for about 2 to 3 hours until it holds a constant 12.5V. record the actual multimeter reading. Then fit back into the bike and put the headlamp & taillight on for 3 minutes. If the voltage drops below 12V its on its way out.

Mick

Will do. Thanks!

Diablouph · May 20, 2012

How old is the battery? Good chance it's sulfating.

Guido · May 21, 2012

Check the water level. Distilled only

daveparry · May 21, 2012

Replace the battery Matt, sounds like a duff cell,

Dave.

splatt · May 21, 2012

Do you have to ride with your lights on ?

stockie2 · May 21, 2012

Dave,

That be all the current drain from your fancy iPhone camcorder. Not sure Norton had that system in design brief, joke! Well now you can explore some of the new type batteries, either AGL or if you are weight concious, the Lithium Ion type, I am pretty sure there was a post on these recently.
I had some low battery voltages, but it turned out to be down on electroloyte, I reckon it was being overcharged, so I installed a powerbox.

Cheers Richard

pete.v · May 21, 2012

swooshdave said:
I put the multi tester on the battery and revved the engine, the voltage went up.

The voltage went up to what? Should be around 13.5 to 14.5 or so over 3000rpm. Don't just assume bad battery. Have it tested with a good charge on it with one of these http://www.harborfreight.com/100-amp-6- ... 90636.html. You don't want to get a new battery and find out it is something else.

If you were just puttering around town showing off your Ipod mount system with the lights on and lots of stops, you may have just drained it down. They put those charging ports on there for that reason. Norton are simply weak (in a stock condition) in that area.

swooshdave · May 21, 2012

pvisseriii said:
swooshdave said:

I put the multi tester on the battery and revved the engine, the voltage went up.

Click to expand...

The voltage went up to what? Should be around 13.5 to 14.5 or so over 3000rpm. Don't just assume bad battery. Have it tested with a good charge on it with one of these http://www.harborfreight.com/100-amp-6- ... 90636.html. You don't want to get a new battery and find out it is something else.

If you were just puttering around town showing off your Ipod mount system with the lights on and lots of stops, you may have just drained it down. They put those charging ports on there for that reason. Norton are simply weak (in a stock condition) in that area.

Yes, up like that.

iPhone was not connected. No stop and go riding, all backroads.

It's a AGM that's only a year or two old.

bwolfie · May 21, 2012

I have not been impressed with AGM. I have gone thru 2 of them on my Yamaha in 1 year, the first one was warrantied and I gave up after the second one. My old Lead acids would go 3-4 years. I am sticking with what has worked for me on all my RC stuff, Lipo and LiFe. There is a reason everything in out lives uses them (phone, Ipod etc....)

pete.v · May 21, 2012

My first agm went bad the first month The second one year. On.my third now add has been fine for two years Batteries plus was getting suspicious They plastered all kinds of dates with magic markers on it.

DogT · May 21, 2012

There's AGM and there's AGM. Once in a while you gets what you pays for. Cheap AGMs don't last. I had a Panasonic AGM in my Miata that lasted over 11 years. It still held 12V, but just didn't put out the juice. The one I got from Clubman is a Yuasa and is chugging along at 12.7V after a year and maybe I charged it once last winter and not much use. I think you got one of those cheapie ones, no? The other way to tell is fully charge it and let it sit at least 24 hours and then read the voltage, if it's below 12V, it's a goner.

Dave
69S

swooshdave · May 22, 2012

ML said:
yes, seems the battery is dying but the bike alternator is charging. Try putting it on charge for about 2 to 3 hours until it holds a constant 12.5V. record the actual multimeter reading. Then fit back into the bike and put the headlamp & taillight on for 3 minutes. If the voltage drops below 12V its on its way out.

Mick

Fully charged the battery. 13V. Turned on High Beam for about 5 minutes. 9.9V, it slowly climbed back to 10.5V after about a minute. I'll check it again in about 30 minutes and see where it's at.

Hobot · May 22, 2012

If going for the gell type I get the alarm battery type. So they last at least 5 yrs. Ain't no economy on bikes that attract us. Of course you aren't really showing your devotion unless getting a Li feather weight.

Torontonian · May 22, 2012

Happily using the Odyssey Gel. Will go Lithium in the future. Had problems charging until tryed the milk bottle plastic strip to evenly space rotor to stator gap all around . Huge difference in output !

swooshdave · May 22, 2012

swooshdave said:
ML said:

yes, seems the battery is dying but the bike alternator is charging. Try putting it on charge for about 2 to 3 hours until it holds a constant 12.5V. record the actual multimeter reading. Then fit back into the bike and put the headlamp & taillight on for 3 minutes. If the voltage drops below 12V its on its way out.

Mick

Click to expand...

Fully charged the battery. 13V. Turned on High Beam for about 5 minutes. 9.9V, it slowly climbed back to 10.5V after about a minute. I'll check it again in about 30 minutes and see where it's at.

Sat for several hours and is back to 11.4V.

So what does this mean?

pete.v · May 23, 2012

I think it means that it is not a bad battery but it is gettting weak. It seems to operate but the numbers are down. What is the AH rating?

concours · May 23, 2012

DogT said:
There's AGM and there's AGM. Once in a while you gets what you pays for. Cheap AGMs don't last. I had a Panasonic AGM in my Miata that lasted over 11 years. It still held 12V, but just didn't put out the juice. The one I got from Clubman is a Yuasa and is chugging along at 12.7V after a year and maybe I charged it once last winter and not much use. I think you got one of those cheapie ones, no? The other way to tell is fully charge it and let it sit at least 24 hours and then read the voltage, if it's below 12V, it's a goner.

Dave
69S

Word. I've seen the Chinese made AGM's crap in short order. A good quality AGM is a thing of beauty, lasts and stays strong.

Charging Puzzle

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