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Re: Drained Battery

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 4:58 pm
by poldark
Mate of mine uses one on his MV Agusta, huge weight saving (if you're keen on that sorta thing) and apparently hold charge way longer than mere mortal batteries. I think he gets them at trade (£170ish IIRC) but normally £250 a pop.

Re: Drained Battery

Posted: Mon Jul 16, 2012 6:36 pm
by Deeping
Dave Weller wrote:You use about 2Amps on side lights, so 4 hours=8amp/hours used, by the time you press the starter button and it wants 20amps, hungry little bugger, the battery says no, it will fully charge and be fine. In fact certain batteries like being fully discharged and recharged every now and then, otherwise they get lazy.
I always though that you should never fully discharge a lead/acid, something about it oxidizes the plates, maybe I got it wrong, I get a lot of things wrong - I know this to be true the wife keeps telling me so

Re: Drained Battery

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 3:58 am
by Dave Weller
With lead acid batteries you must never allow the plates to dry. There are now some 'smart batteries' being fitted on electrical equipment which require different care, and I found this
Simple Guidelines for Using Smart Batteries
Calibrate a smart battery by applying a full discharge and charge every three months or after every 40 partial cycles.
A 100 percent fuel gauge does not assure a good battery, nor does an inaccurate fuel gauge tell for certain that the battery is bad.
Not all chargers are compatible with a smart battery, nor can all batteries be serviced on a given charger. Replace the battery with the same brand, or use an equivalent that is fully compatible. Always test the battery and the charger before use.
Exercise caution when using a smart battery that does not indicate state-of-charge correctly. This battery may be faulty or not fully compatible with the equipment.

Re: Drained Battery

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:01 am
by rtfm
poldark wrote:Mate of mine uses one on his MV Agusta, huge weight saving (if you're keen on that sorta thing) and apparently hold charge way longer than mere mortal batteries. I think he gets them at trade (£170ish IIRC) but normally £250 a pop.
Ouch, that's expensive. My idea was to have higher capacity rather than save weight as a couple of kg won't make any difference when the combined weight of me, the bike and pillion must be around 370kg :D

Drained Battery

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 5:57 am
by MjW
Heh. I did the exact same thing the first week I got the TMax.

Turned the key to lock the handbars, accidentally turned the key a centimetre too far, parking lights came on. A couple of hours later dead battery.


TA-pa-TA-pa-taPAtalk

Re: Drained Battery

Posted: Tue Jul 17, 2012 6:17 am
by poldark
poldark wrote:Mate of mine uses one on his MV Agusta, huge weight saving (if you're keen on that sorta thing) and apparently hold charge way longer than mere mortal batteries. I think he gets them at trade (£170ish IIRC) but normally £250 a pop.
Just checked up rather than post from memory (dangerous), and clearly my mate's one must be some super-duper racing lightweight version at mega cost.

There's also "normal" lithium ion batteries at somewhat lower pricing available (bit of a premium still though).

http://www.intobikes.co.uk/products/003 ... ight=83441