Could the Trickle Charger Damage the Battery

[Olandy]

Good Day Everyone,

A while ago I was desperate and posted question in regard to what could lead to my bike not starting. Thank you again to all of you for advice.

In the end I bought a brand new original battery from HD and the bike started on a blink. I also went to a shop where they verified all bike's systems including the starter and the charging ones and found them ok. I thought that I made big waves for nothing and I was embarrassed that even I bothered you with my questions.

Well, since I bought the new battery I rode the bike only once and then it sat in garage for about three weeks (rainy weather in Vancouver, BC) coupled to a trickle charger. To my great surprise and disappointment, today I tried to start it and found that the battery is at zero power - barely the dashboard lights are lighting.

Has nay of you experienced such thing? I mean - new original battery kept on trickle charger, charging and starter systems checked and found ok and still the battery got empty. It is possible that actually the charger may cause that? would be possible to have some stray current surge? - if so, how to verify it?

Thank you in advance.

Cheers.
Olandy

[anrkizm95]

http://www.ehow.com/list_7467283_damaging-trickle-charger-motorcycle-batteries.html

[Olandy]

Thank you. It may be the case that I have to pay another $300 for a new battery - lucky me ;-((

[Theycallmecrash]

$300 for a battery!?!? Wtf why?!?

[Olandy]

That's how much is an original HD battery at the dealership in Vancouver Canada....;-((

[Theycallmecrash]

Um, i advise you do some research on batteries. Local battery store by me sells a "harley specific" battery for my XB that produces more CCA and a 2 year warrenty for $100. I purchased a generic one less than a year ago for $80 and has served just fine. Not sure what US dollars translates to "Can-a-da-llors" but $300 is a huge number.

[Olandy]

Sorry for misleading - the battery is about $ 175; I paid about $ 300 including the service they did on my bike.

[Olandy]

Theycallmecrash,

The CAD is almost the same as the UDS - today is USD 0.98 for CAD 1.

Where did you buy your battery? What brand it is?

Thank you and Regards.

[06xbss]

If you feel the need to trickle charge, you should look into at http://batterytender.com/

My bike is kept on one if I won't be riding for more then a couple of weeks. 30,000 miles and I'm still using the original factory battery.

[Theycallmecrash]

Went to a local motorcycle dealer that i call "House of Moto Crap" my chick-thing-lady-slave aka Halfagiraffe here on the forum, works there got me a disount. What it is...um... Under my seat thats what it is. Jk idk.
Heres a tip if you stick around the forum and have bo life like me, scope the threads every 10 minutes, and post some ridiculous questions, myself and other weirdos will happily help, guide, mis-inform you all the way to a different motorcycle, jk. But, there are some smart guys here, if you have a set of tools and the initiative to work on it, we'll happily help. I personally love working on my Buell. We bond this way... And it saves me $125 "Can-a-da-llors" in service to find out my battery was bad. A $50 multi meter (an ok one) and 15 minutes could have told you this. Trust me, this forum if you get involved long term proves to be an expirence.

[Olandy]

Thanks again. I'll follow your advice and will log on to the forum most often.
To be correct with everyone - I am pleasantly surprised with the kind and prompt support all fellows on this forum provide and I thank you all.

Cheers.
Olandy

[stensg]

Have you looked into you charger? Is it actually charging? And are the leads on correct and tight?

[Olandy]

Stensg,

I see only that the "charging" LED is on. However, even if it wouldn't charge, it shouldn't discharge the battery either. The leads are impossible to be wrongly connected.

[stensg]

I still think you should rule out the charger before buying another battery if you have a volt meter hook it to the charger and make sure its working correctly. I had a charger that the led came on left it on a battery and a month later the battery was dead hooked my other charger up for a day and the battery was good. At the very lest get the battery tested before getting a new one.

[stensg]

Also the leads are impossible to be connected wrong at the plug i understand that but did or could they be wrong at the battery?

[Olandy]

I'll do that - i.e. test the charger. I have already checked the leads at the battery and they are correctly connected.

Thank you.

[Negative]

Unless you got a "lemon" battery I would say a trickle charger should keep your battery in tiptop condition man... For your battery to discharge while hooked up to a trickle charge I can only imagine either the key was left on, the battery had a defect in it, or there is a pretty decent current draw somewhere... But it would have to be something noticeable like a headlight... Or the damn starter or fuel pump... Lol... I can only really imagine that you either have a bad charger or a bad battery...

[Theycallmecrash]

Future advice. Dont leave the tender on if its going to sit for a few weeks or longer. Its simple to remove the battery. Do that. Put it on the shelf till needed. Then let the tender bring it up for an hour.

[Negative]

..... Even better advice right there... And that's something I'm going to file away myself for future reference... My bikes run literally every day right now so I don't have this kind of problem to worry about... But in the event that I have to go TDY somewhere distant and can't bring the bike to ride or go on a deployment this would be the thing I need to remind myself to do... [up] thanks crash...

[Olandy]

Negative and Crash,

Thank you indeed.

Tomorrow I'll have HD shop checking the battery and any potential current draw. I'll revert once I get the result from them. I repeat - the battery is original HD and it's brand new - about three weeks old.

I haven't understand fully the reply from Negative in regard to letting the key on. If you meant whether it was switched to on - categorically no; otherwise the key stays in all the time and I don't see how that may draw the current from battery.

Have a great weekend fellows.

[Olandy]

Fellows, I promised that I'll revert after my bike's starting problem is solved.

Guess what - I went to HD dealer in Vancouver and they checked the battery that was sold only three week ago. They found that a cell is not working and gave me a brand new battery.
Now the bike starts on a blink.

I am not sure whether the trickle charger damaged that cell or it was faulty from the beginning, but I won't ever use a trickle charger.

In summary - even a top brand battery could be faulty from outset and the ordinary trickle chargers may damage a brand new battery very quick.

Thank you again for all your support.

Cheers.

[Tbone]

It's a catch 22, with out a trickle most batteries go dead in my experience. If it freezes were you are, and the battery has a weak or no charge it will be dead and most likely stay that way even after it thaws. I live in Dallas TX and I use the automatic chargers on the long term storage which I have 2 bikes on right now. I commute on a Uly and it is on a trickle right now because I have done a lot of short errands today and probably started the bike up 7 times in less than an hour before I parked it in the garage. I will turn it off first thing in the morning. I'm just saying in my experience this is what I do to keep my batteries from dyeing. I learned the hard way to not store a battery directly on the floor or ground, or even a metal shelf without insulating it, with like a rubber mat or crate to set it on or in to keep it away from a ground source. Even with a trickle charger and the battery directly on the ground it might have problems keeping charged. Just saying....... In my experience if a new battery has a problem it will go dead pretty quickly, like yours did. If the battery was kept on the bike, it is very hard for me to believe that a .5 or 1amp trickle charger killed it, not saying impossible just hard to believe.

[GregoXB]

Or just get the "Deltran Battery Tender" like that article recommended that anirkizm95 posted.. It will stop when the battery is charged, and then revert to maintenance mode where it will not over-charge or damage your battery.

Another factor that will damage your battery is if the connections are loose and not flush with the battery. I recommend adding spring washers to all bolted connections being made with the battery. Our bikes tend to vibrate the battery connections loose. This can be a big problem, especially on the positive terminal, it can literally melt, and it will drain or damage your battery quick. I recommend tightening the connections with a screw driver, and then using a wrench to tighten an additional 1/10 of a turn.

Also, spray your battery terminals, bolts, washers, and cables with a battery terminal protection spray.