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General Category >> Rubber Side Down! >> Gel battery - how much abuse can it take? [SOLVED]
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Message started by Bluesman on 05/03/14 at 09:25:45

Title: Gel battery - how much abuse can it take? [SOLVED]
Post by Bluesman on 05/03/14 at 09:25:45

I bought a new gel battery for the beast in December, and the bike´s been running fine on it for relatively long winter trips (100-150km). The other day, while rebuilding the battery box after some mech work, I accidentally shorted (just touched!) the positive to ground while connecting it. Since then, I´ve had two power outages (flat battery!) after just a small trip into the countryside and a trip within the city. Did I kill the battery by shorting it for a few hundred milliseconds?

Looks like it has trouble charging now. Been on the charger for 5 hours now (still not green), and the same type of battery in the Triumph chopper will charge from flat to full in 2 hours or less....

Did I kill it? :(

Title: Re: Gel battery - how much abuse can it take?
Post by Bluesman on 05/03/14 at 09:50:47

...did I just answer my own question? ::)

Title: Re: Gel battery - how much abuse can it take?
Post by Serowbot on 05/03/14 at 10:41:11

I think you did...

I wouldn't have thought that would kill it,... but it do look that way... :-[...

Title: Re: Gel battery - how much abuse can it take?
Post by Bluesman on 05/03/14 at 11:17:20

Well...luckily, I found the - very faded, but readable - receipt/warranty. I´m going to test the patience of the shops´ return guy tomorrow :-)

Title: Re: Gel battery - how much abuse can it take?
Post by shorty on 05/03/14 at 17:01:24

good luck with the return...

I have noticed gel batts are delicate, seems the gas bubbles from over charging AND over discharging get between the lead plates and electrolyte gel..

"flooded" or liquid electrolyte batts seem to purge gas bubbles more easily

Title: Re: Gel battery - how much abuse can it take? [SOL
Post by Bluesman on 05/04/14 at 01:34:18

Had the battery tested under load and in all sorts of ways on a fancy tester. Battery is all good. So...faultfinding:

Logically, if the battery runs flat when riding, it hasn´t received any juice from the alternator/generator. Or at least not eough juice to keep up with the demand.

A backwards trace from the battery positive lead lead (!) me to the culprit: a broken connector in the harness that comes from the rectumfryer. Alas, no juice delivered to the battery. Quick fix. Phew.

Hopefully, the alternator hasn´t fried itself while trying to charge into NOTHING. That will be seen in the next few hours. I taped a Voltmeter to the handlebars.. 8-)

Title: Re: Gel battery - how much abuse can it take? [SOL
Post by justin_o_guy2 on 05/04/14 at 04:08:42

Good luck,, hope its all healthy

Title: Re: Gel battery - how much abuse can it take? [SOL
Post by Bluesman on 05/04/14 at 04:56:47

Seems all good. Took a 2h trip (main lights on) with the voltmeter attached, it never went below 12.0V . Now, at shutdown, the battery sits at 13,5V. Funny thing...the highest charging voltage is at idle. Under acceleration, the voltage goes down to 12 something. Same for higher revs. So it seems the ignition system uses a lot of juice when the revs are increasing/high. I would have thought the alternator would charge at 13.8V at all times, that´s what the regulator is there for. Ah well..maybe it´s just too small for the job. ::)

Title: Re: Gel battery - how much abuse can it take? [SOL
Post by shorty on 05/04/14 at 05:58:49

yes I also noticed the charging voltage drops as RPM increases..
possibly amps do not follow the same pattern, I would like to install (temporarily) an inline ampmeter to see what is going on..

glad all is well with your bike ;)

Title: Re: Gel battery - how much abuse can it take? [SOL
Post by Bluesman on 05/04/14 at 07:39:50

Yup, so am I. When checking the amps - make sure you have enough coverage for the cranking surge...could be many amps, not only mA :-)

Title: Re: Gel battery - how much abuse can it take? [SOL
Post by Serowbot on 05/04/14 at 08:54:21

It's my understanding that the volts are pulled down by the rectifier at higher rpms,... if the battery is at a relatively good charge...
To prevent overcharge...
If the battery is needing more charge, the output will be higher...

That's just what I was told, back a while ago when I had a stator problem, by a mechanic friend...
True or not,... mine works the same way...

Title: Re: Gel battery - how much abuse can it take? [SOL
Post by Johnny57 on 05/04/14 at 21:13:49

All makes sense. I had two bikes, two batteries. One battery was more suspect than the other from end of last year but appeared to charge and register correct voltage prior to putting in bike. During starting the voltage ebbed on both bikes but one bike had voltage increasing with RPMs one had voltage decreasing with RPMs. I thought they would both increase with RPM. I figured two different bike manufacturers; two different configurations. What the heck! One day after riding both bikes one battery was no longer holding a charge. It was the suspect battery and the one that increased voltage with RPM so this may be clarification of Serowbots explanation.