Battery Connection and Trickle Charger

[Skyryder]

had to get a new bat the other day and was told to connect the positive first then the neg.

First I have heard of this. Any one know why?


Second query I've been informed that is is a good idea to have a trickle charge going into the bat if the bike is not being used a lot. Saw a Blizzrd charger in Mitre 10 that runs 4amps into the bat. Is this too much.

The Blizzard charger has an automatic cut off when the Bat is fully charged and turns itself on when it gets down.

The Blizzrd charger is only $12.95 so the price is right. Anyone know much about these chargers or others etc. and the reason for the Pos first connection.

Skyryder

[Trudes]

I'm also looking at getting a trickle charger for the new battery my bike is having to get, so will be interested to hear people's comments.

[Squiggles]

Saw a Blizzrd charger in Mitre 10 that runs 4amps into the bat. Is this too much.

have a look at your battery, alot say 2 amps max, most bike batt chargers are 0.5amp ones... the thing about a good one is that they'll charge it up, but every so often put some load on it (as if you'd just started the bike and gone for a short ride), then charge it back up, oxford ones seem highly regarded

[Pussy]

had to get a new bat the other day and was told to connect the positive first then the neg.

First I have heard of this. Any one know why?



Skyryder

Connect the positive first and secure it, then the negative, in that order, so when/if you touch the frame etc with the tool used to secure the fitting, it won't have an adverse effect on anything electrical in the bike. A short or spark when connecting the positive last can spike ECUs even.

[johan]

have a look at your battery, alot say 2 amps max, most bike batt chargers are 0.5amp ones... the thing about a good one is that they'll charge it up, but every so often put some load on it (as if you'd just started the bike and gone for a short ride), then charge it back up, oxford ones seem highly regarded

I have the Oxford Maximizer 360 something... It charges at around 0.6amp and maintains the battery pretty well. I have a small capacity race battery with not a lot of juice in it, so it's important that it's charged properly, or the bike wont start.
I've run it for about 3 months on and off. I usually leave it on a week before a race and it'll keep the battery healthy automatically.
It comes with a harness you can leave on the bike and have a quick connector at the side of the fairing for easy access.

Positive first, then negative. That's how I've always been told to do it. When you remove it, you do it backwards, negative then positive.

[Max Preload]

Connect the positive first and secure it, then the negative, in that order, so when/if you touch the frame etc with the tool used to secure the fitting, it won't have an adverse effect on anything electrical in the bike. A short or spark when connecting the positive last can spike ECUs even.

What he said and it stops you welding your spanner to the frame and making your battery explode. Messy, messy, MESSY!

[doc]

You have an Italian bike. Battery polarity is the least of your problems. Modern electrics are more sensitive to polarity. Yep (+) 1st, all to do with electron flow. Ohms law stuff ,which no one bothers with anymore.

[merv]

Get a proper battery tender type trickle charger liked we talked about on this thread http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...ad.php?t=31595

I have all our bikes on them plus one of my vehicles - all the things I don't use everyday.

Now I'll tell you why. I bought my VFR in 1994 and I've always only been a weekend type biker. By 1999 (only 5 years later) the reg/rec pooped out on me and the battery had fried at the same time. I figured because of my intermittent use of the bike it was probably the battery that failed first taking the reg/rec with it. So new reg/rec and new battery, but I bought the trickle charger. Now 9 years later no sign of any worries with it and I've used the bike less lately than I used to (just too damned busy).

I've fitted on board plugs to all our bikes so when we park them in the garage we just plug them in and it seems to work a treat.

[Ixion]

You have an Italian bike. Battery polarity is the least of your problems. Modern electrics are more sensitive to polarity. Yep (+) 1st, all to do with electron flow. Ohms law stuff ,which no one bothers with anymore.

Meh, Eytalian electrics are quite capable of having two postive terminals and no negative. Or vice versa. Or no polarity at all. Eytalians are a CREATIVE race. Think Michalangelo. Da Vinci. Not least in matters electromagical.

A reverse polarity battery is interesting. I had that happen once.

[BOGAR]

Two things I was told is your battery can only take something like a quarter of its amps or something like that i.e. if you have a 2 amp Bat max charge is 0.5 amps. And the second thing is you will get what you pay for with a battery charger. I wouldn't say that a $13 charger would be much good but I could be wrong. I have one that came with a wire that you can connect to the bike to make it easy to charge and spent $90-$100 on it. No trouble yet and the battery is still mint.

[davereid]

Its not a good idea to charge a battery while its connected to your bike, I'd suggest you disconnect the earth lead.

The reason is, that most motorcycles use a "Shunt" type of voltage regulator. These regulators are the modern equivalent of the zener diode used on older bikes, and indeed usually use a zener diode as part of their design.

A shunt regulator is a heat-sink which diverts excess energy from the charging system from the battery to to heat.

For reasons known only to the designers, they are often wired so they are connected across the battery, even when the key is is off.

If you attempt to charge a battery that has a shunt regulator across it, your charger will be working against the regulator.

Your charger DOES NOT produce DC. Its an AC device, with a rectifier. A recifier gives you a varying current, but with a peak voltage much higher than its rated output. This varying current flow is all travelling in the same direction, so it suitable for charging a battery.

That little 4-amp 13.8 volt rated charger you got from repco will actually have a peak output voltage of almost 19-20 volts.

50 times a second, your bikes regulator will attack that peak voltage, trying to turn it to heat.

If the charger is small enough, the regulator will win.

Thats how your "battery tenda" etc work - they are designed to operate at a voltage that is high enough to charge the battery but not high enough to give the regulator any work. As long as they don't g over voltage you are fine.

If the charger is too big, or it does go overvoltage due to a fault, the regulator will loose.

Then the full charger voltage of up to 20 volts will be applied to your battery, and anything else in circuit at the time.

Bottom line ?

Take 20 seconds to take the earth lead off before charging your battery.

[Freakshow]

Ihave go a charger and I have a cig lighter under the main seat for if I use the GPS or Radar but that requires un bolting the seat...

What kind of plugs are people using to leave the charger in. Something descreet and safe etc...

[avgas]

Trickle chargers/battery maintainers are great if you can afford one, and can be a lifesaver for some bikes (aka fuel injected Triumphs).
However you just need something to give you the occasional charge the el-cheapo chargers are still good, and make handy power supply units for other stuff (12v air bed pumps etc).
I have had mine for about 4 years - it has had countless uses and never damaged a battery.

[avgas]

What kind of plugs are people using to leave the charger in. Something descreet and safe etc...

Just simple little plug in jobs - similar to some phone jacks on most trickled chargers.

[avgas]

Its not a good idea to charge a battery while its connected to your bike, I'd suggest you disconnect the earth lead.

As a general rule ALWAYS take out your battery when not using a trickle charger. For more reasons then the obvious.
Apart from the usual "it isolates the terminals etc"
- It also allows you to check the battery for leaks and cracks
- It tells you the fluid levels
- If your $200 battery explodes do you really want it sitting in the core of you $20,000 motorbike?
- It allows you to check the space under and around the battery - handy if you have hit twistys far too often with a full battery and it is now corroding all the electrics under the seat.

However removing the battery does reset stuff - even if your bikes not fuel injected stuff like clocks, trip meters etc may reset when you remove the battery.