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Battery not charging

If I was bored

If I did not have so much to do and was bored beyond belief, I would do a forum search for all threads like this. Why would an otherwose intelligent person spend days "trouble shooting" an electrical problem that is easy to diagnose by simply getting a new battery and installing it? At least this thread was not about the flashing ABS light caused by a poor battery.
 
If I did not have so much to do and was bored beyond belief, I would do a forum search for all threads like this. Why would an otherwose intelligent person spend days "trouble shooting" an electrical problem that is easy to diagnose by simply getting a new battery and installing it? At least this thread was not about the flashing ABS light caused by a poor battery.

I am a long time mechanic. Buying a battery to diagnose is being a hack. Don't buy parts until you know what is wrong.

He didn't know until the voltage test showed what is exactly wrong.

I did my own battery voltage test.

2012 R1200R.

IMG_20121228_202815-L.jpg
This battery failed twice.

I just took it off the charger.
Key was left on to remove the surface charge.
Pushed starter button. Each drop is a compression stroke.

David Geek R.

Ambient temp 23*f. 20W50 dino.
 
Just for fun.

2000 RT new battery this summer, Oddsy PC680.

Same situation, remove charger turn key on a couple times to remove he surface charge.

IMG_20121229_171644-L.jpg
 
The 680 works well- if you want a maintenance free battery its the one. It will spin an R motor far better than the oem battery in the cold.

There is one thing not yet mentioned in this thread. Sometimes, a charger with a good desulfation cycle can recover a battery that won't otherwise charge or loses charge rapidly, effectively stretching its life. I've used my Pulsetech Xtremes, an example of the type, to recover car batteries that wouldn't even start a charge cycle on any of my other chargers and to stretch the life of very marginal oem battery on an 08 RT. Such chargers don't always perform miracles but I've them do enough stuff other chargers wouldn't do that I'll always have at least one in the garage.

Some people still like FLA batteries for their low cost and durabilty if properly treated, However, I recently removed a wet Yuasa someone had put in a K-GT wedge I bought. Can't bring myself to have liquid acid above the motor so replaced it with a 680..
 
I've used my Pulsetech Xtremes...

And that is one brand of charger amongst many that we tested in our labs at defense that was total garbage...sorry to say. We had the big coin PulseTech Pro.

Another product of theirs that we bought (they didn't ask us first) was a vehicle mounted solar panel to maintain batteries while our military vehicles are parked for longer periods. Why then did I find batteries in the 11V range then...because the damn thing was discharging the batteries at night...guess they never heard of diodes. We also have their 490 PT battery tester...no further comment needed.

The charger that is near perfect is the Xantrex TrueCharge2. We bought a slew of them. I am considering one myself.

As for an AGM battery spinning an engine over more easily, AGMs have a lower internal resistance than a standard battery which is why they have very good CCA numbers. Unfortunately VRLA (AGM & GEL) batteries have other disadvantages.
 
I had a battery that read 12.8 or so volts, but it wouldn't even power a tail light bulb. There was a bad connection inside the battery and as soon as I put the load - tail light bulb - onto the battery the voltage dropped to only a fraction of a volt. A similar problem is a possibility.

Another good possibility is starter drag. In this case the small motorcycle battery simply can't provide enough current to overcome the drag, but a much larger car battery hooked up with cables can supply enough amperes to overcome the drag.

Either of these is a possibility.
 
Be interested in a summary of the tests and results on those chargers. I haven't run any specific tests on any of the ones I have which are mostly std automotive transformer types or low amp maintenance chargers. wht amkes a charger perfect?
Regardless of how they test, they have recovered batteries nothing else I own could, including stuff meant for old style maintenance free batteries with Ca that runs at a higher voltage than most. Fast they're not, of course.
I've also left them plugged in as maintenance chargers on stuff since they came out with no issues or failures.
Most anything can dump a charge into a partially discharged battery- what would interest me most is results related specifically to recovering deep discharged AGMs and cage size FLAs..

Don't fnd the comments on the solar panel device unusual. I looked at a couple of those and found the same thing- discharge in low light. Have you seen any good ones at sane prices? Also agree about the Pulsetech tester- not sure what its really good for.
 
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Guilty as charged

I am a long time mechanic. Buying a battery to diagnose is being a hack. Don't buy parts until you know what is wrong.

He didn't know until the voltage test showed what is exactly wrong.

I did my own battery voltage test.

2012 R1200R.

View attachment 36453
This battery failed twice.

I just took it off the charger.
Key was left on to remove the surface charge.
Pushed starter button. Each drop is a compression stroke.

David Geek R.

Ambient temp 23*f. 20W50 dino.

I plead guilty David; I am a "hack". I am the hack who will buy the battery and be riding while others are posting for days on an internet web site as the bike sits in the garage.

I am one of those who does not need to "understand" the problem in order to fix it.
 
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