Battery question

[FazrDan]

Bought a new battery toward the middle of last season. Live in Central Illinois and so parked the bike October through now starting it every now and then. I rode last Saturday for a couple of hours. I turned the bike off to open the garage door when I got back from my ride and it wouldn't start back up. Multimeter reads 11.54. I have it on a charger now. Did it lose charge from sitting in the garage over cold winter or because it was new is it more likely a problem with part of the charging system like the stator? Weird that it didn't charge enough when I was riding. Does reading of 11.54 mean it's too far gone or should it be ok once recharged? Appreciate the help. Dan.

 

[Motogiro]

A lot of factors can come into play with batteries and that even includes brand new one out of the box. Most new batteries require a long period of charge before they are put into service and that can effect the service life of the battery. Other factors can be the amount of charge the battery has received when you took it for a spin. If you were just putting around town, stop n go type riding there may not have been sufficient rpms and time to charge the battery where it needs to be.
I would do what you're doing and give the battery an overnight charge hopefully with a decent battery tender type charger. Your battery should top off near 12.8 to 13.1 VDC. Start the bike and you should see 13.5 to 14 VDC when you rev the engine above 2,000 RPM.

If the battery seems bad you can take it to a battery supplier and have it load tested to be sure.

Keep in mind that a bike needs RPM and is not as efficient at producing charging current as a car would be.

Leaving a battery unattended in harsh cold can hurt it.

Also never jump start your bike from a car that has it's engine running.

Hope this helps and let us know how it works out.

 

[darius]

Starting the bike and not riding it will use more charge than you'll get back from letting it idle. As Motogiro said, it needs higher RPMs. Or a tender.

The serviceable life of the battery is going to be reduced but being less than 1 year old it should be good for a long while yet after a good charge.

 

[FinalImpact]

A few details on my 08 and when it charges rpm wise....

Update:
2014-01-25 fired the bike up after sitting for three months, no tender.

As found: 12.90V (the same as last year!! (well 12.92 after 4 months))
Charge cuts in just over 2350 RPM @14.26V
1300 RPM 210°F fan on 12.10V w/dual headlights
2500 RPM - 14.25V fan on
2500 RPM - 14.30V fan off
1300 RPM - 12.82V fan off

After 45 min Rip, parked it and measured voltage after sitting for 30 min = 13.20V. I suspect it may go another year. Cold start temp was in the high 30°F and it didn't crank at its normal pace but fired right up!

 

[FazrDan]

Thanks for the feedback guys. I left it on the charger over night and when I took it off it measured 13 even. Couple hours later it was 12.86 and now after another 24 hours or so it's 12.83. Haven't put it back in the bike yet as it's cold here again. Thinking based on your comments that it should be good so encouraged.

The fact that higher RPMs are needed to charge seems to support using the lower gear when all else is equal, would you agree?

 

[FinalImpact]

On mine it doesn't take much to make it happy (2500 RPMs), its the sustained idle time that hurts especially with added loads like dual head lights, heated gear.

As for the battery - I was gonna say it looks like your bike has a drain or a small load on the battery. But then you said it was never installed!

Very likely its fine, but I would not have expected it to drop that much. In its defense, it needs used more and it may bounce back.

Anything above 2500 should be good!

 

[Hellgate]

I don't buy it. If a battery didn't charge at idle bikes would drop like flies in stop-n-go traffic.

Using a lower gear won't matter either as the R&R will dictate the rate the battery charges.

You just need to either run the bike more often or keep it on trickle charger.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

 

[FinalImpact]

I don't buy it. If a battery didn't charge at idle bikes would drop like flies in stop-n-go traffic.

Using a lower gear won't matter either as the R&R will dictate the rate the battery charges.

You just need to either run the bike more often or keep it on trickle charger.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 using Tapatalk

And they do! Its a balancing act of battery reserve vs charge rate vs loss of charge.

This is fairly accurate representation of what these bikes do. Unfortunately its low budget charging system but most folks don't get into trouble.

Highway miles = safe
Idling in traffic, safety training = potential to drain the battery....

Update:
2014-01-25 fired the bike up after sitting for three months, no tender.

As found: 12.90V (the same as last year!! (well 12.92 after 4 months))
Charge cuts in just over 2350 RPM @14.26V
1300 RPM 210°F fan on 12.10V w/dual headlights
2500 RPM - 14.25V fan on
2500 RPM - 14.30V fan off
1300 RPM - 12.82V fan off

After 45 min Rip, parked it and measured voltage after sitting for 30 min = 13.20V. I suspect it may go another year. Cold start temp was in the high 30°F and it didn't crank at its normal pace but fired right up!

 

[payneib]

And they do!

They certainly do. I bought my '06 in October, I think the battery was original, so 7 years old, and had been allowed to go flat in the showroom. So it was on its way out anyway.

When it finally went I'd just picked the bike from getting a new rear rubber, ridden out for about an hour, and then gone to meet the wife in town. I got absolutely stuck in rammed rush hour traffic, and every time I dropped revs, the lights and dash went dim. I pulled over to let a police car through on flashing lights, and as I went to pull out an Audi driving expletive behind me cut me up to jump the que. I hauled brake, but didn't get the clutch quick enough to stop the stall and that was it, I went home in the back of a truck.

 

[darius]

Only takes a few seconds to pull the headlight plugs if you have to. Recommended if you take an MSF course.

 

[Motogiro]

The weak spot on the FZ6 charging system is that the stator is lacking at idle. In the years that I owned mine I never had a starting problem related to the battery but I was aware of this and rode accordingly as I do on my SV.

As others have said ride the bike. Keep the battery charged especially in harsh weather. The electrolytic fluid can freeze in discharged batteries. This can lead to a physically damaged battery that can not recover because of internal or external compromising.