Ignition Issue

[Bibio]

Originally Posted by SV650rules

(probably wasting your time anyway as a battery that has gone completely flat is a gonner anyway and will never be any good even if you bring it back from the dead).

depends. i pretty much let my battery drain to silly low levels and sometimes as low as 4v over winter but a good charge with a modern charger (aldi cheepo) and its always sprung back into life. however if the plates are fused then the battery is a goner. i got relayed home last year due to what i thought was a duff battery for all the mistreatment i had given it but it turned out to be a connector on the rec/reg. the battery was still fine but i got a new one anyway, i checked it the other week there and its still showing 11 odd volts after 9+ months.

my bike sits outside without a cover or on a tender all winter and i start it when i cba. ok so it misbehaves for a few min but after that its fine till the next time. during my biking season i get no problems and i only use the bike once a week on the sunday.

i still recommend that people take their battery out the bike for storage but i would also recommend that it is not kept on a tender. a full charge a few days before installing back on the bike should be sufficient as long as the bikes charging system is working properly.

[Blapper]

Originally Posted by SV650rules

Most of the better 'battery tender' type chargers are smart enough to turn the charge on and off and even discharge it a bit, so they don't actually float the charge. Some like Accumate will handle bigger batteries so can be used for car as well. A lot of modern chargers have voltage detection and reverse polarity checking (you can push the clips together and it wont spark or short out, and if you connect it the wrong way it wont supply any voltage), unfortunately this means they wont charge a completely flat or very low battery and you may have to connect another 'good' battery in parallel for a while to get it to supply a charge (probably wasting your time anyway as a battery that has gone completely flat is a gonner anyway and will never be any good even if you bring it back from the dead). The charger I use has switches for 'car or motorbike' battery and 'sealed or normal' and switches from charge to trickle when it detects battery is fully charged, but is not smart enough to cycle the charging - been using it for many years and loathe to spend money on a new one as my batteries seem happy and last for many years.

Yes, when I said 'float', I meant on the later Accumate type chargers. I have one on each bike.