Drained Battery and maybe recovered?

[Goodman4]

Well, Monday night this idiot left his key on and ran the battery all the way down. I did this on my other bike a couple years ago so I trained myself to pull the key slightly out of the ignition before going in the house. I really like leaving it in the bike so I can get to it quickly. Anyway, I got distracted I guess and left it on and didn't notice for two nights.

I bought the bike (an 07) in May and the guy said he had just put a brand new battery in it. So I read the posts on the other battery drain incidents and chose to borrow a battery tender plus (1.5 amp) from a friend instead of using my trickle charger. It took about 12 hours of charging till it started flashing the 80% level and then another 8 hours before it went solid green. I don't have a good voltmeter but my crappy battery tester roughly tells me it is putting out about 13.5 v if I'm reading it right.

So with it being a new battery before I drained it, and the recovery seeming to go well, do the experts think I still have a few years on this battery or am I likely to get a surprise on a cold weather trip one morning in a year or two? Or even worse, do you think it may not be okay even for the short term? I know there are no guarantees, but I value your opinions.

Paul

 

[Fred W]

Would you mind PM'ing me you address in Hopkinsville, 'cause I'd really like to get at that key too. :lol:

OTOH, if you are gonna leave the key on and flatten the battery, well... nevermind. It's not worth the trip for me then.

Seriously. Get in the habit of turning the bike off with the key. Do NOT become one of those guys that uses the kill switch or kickstand to turn off the engine or, sooner or later, this will happen to you again.

(This is where all the kill switch/ kickstand guys pipe up saying how they've "always done it that way" and it's the best thing since nasty sex!)

 

[monkin]

Drained my battery 3 times this year. Still using it..

I'm doing it on purpose though, to test my theory on how long a battery

would last after draining it 5 times in a year..only 2 more to go. :lol:

 

[03HiYoSilver]

I read this excerpt from here:

https://www.fjrforum.com/forum//index.php?showtopic=144354

Battery Discharged/Problems:

The difference is the deep discharge when you leave it on load for an extended time. It goes beyond "flat" to "pear-shaped".

 

[edit] Perhaps slightly more helpfully, when you've been trying to start the bike and it gets to the point where it won't turn the starter motor, it is fully discharged. Other than that it has suffered no significant damage. However, you can still draw a lower current from it, it will still light a bulb albeit dimly. In this state you are starting to pull chemicals off the plates.

 

This has several effects

If you do charge it, the active area of chemicals is reduced, it is of lower capacity, and reduced maximum current draw available so it won't turn a starter motor.

Another is that the stuff pulled off the plates sits in the electrolyte between the plates allowing current to flow between them, so continuously discharging the battery. In this case the battery won't hold a charge.

Another effect is where, as it is deep discharged, it can build up a relatively non-conducting layer on the plates. Now it is difficult to charge the battery with a normal battery charger. There are some chargers that will recognise this state and apply a higher than normal voltage in order to try to punch through this non-conducting layer.

 

 

AGM Batteries: There are two things which are detrimental to AGM type batteries -

Deep discharging (below 50% capacity). Over charging in an attempt to recover.

 

[Goodman4]

Would you mind PM'ing me you address in Hopkinsville, 'cause I'd really like to get at that key too. :lol:

OTOH, if you are gonna leave the key on and flatten the battery, well... nevermind. It's not worth the trip for me then.

Seriously. Get in the habit of turning the bike off with the key. Do NOT become one of those guys that uses the kill switch or kickstand to turn off the engine or, sooner or later, this will happen to you again.

Don't get your hopes up, Fred. It's in a LOCKED garage.

I have never turned the bike off with the kickstand, but I have also never turned it off with the key. I'm an off-switch kind of guy. I thought that's what it was for. But I see your point. My VTX has the key down below where I sit. It would be really awkward to turn it off with the key.

 

[Goodman4]

Drained my battery 3 times this year. Still using it..

I'm doing it on purpose though, to test my theory on how long a battery

would last after draining it 5 times in a year..only 2 more to go. :lol:

I'm glad you are out there pioneering the way for the rest of us.

Are you using a battery tender or just trickle charging it? I had already read through the info above that HiYoSilver posted (thanks, though) which drove me to use the battery tender as it is supposed to recondition the battery by "punching through" the non-conducting layer. I knew not to use a high amperage charger which is why I have the trickle charger from my other bikes.

I'm going to assume I did little damage if the voltage stays up where it is now for a few days. The rain's letting up after tonight so I get to ride to work again tomorrow. Assuming I turned the bike off...

 

[SacramentoMike]

Would you mind PM'ing me you address in Hopkinsville, 'cause I'd really like to get at that key too.

Don't get your hopes up, Fred. It's in a LOCKED garage.

Yep. Forget it, Fred. He never, EVER forgets to lock the garage.

:lol:

 

[monkin]

I use a trickle charger..(battery tender brand) seems to work ok.

The most amount of time its been off the charger was 4 days and it still

started fine. Who knows though..maybe the 9 day trip we have coming up

will prove how many discharges is too many.

Oh...BTW..it was completely dead all three times. Twice left the

hand warmers on overnight.. and once the key on overnight. Yea..I need a

relay and start useing the key to shut it off..its on the list... :lol:

 

[Goodman4]

Would you mind PM'ing me you address in Hopkinsville, 'cause I'd really like to get at that key too.

Don't get your hopes up, Fred. It's in a LOCKED garage.

Yep. Forget it, Fred. He never, EVER forgets to lock the garage.

:lol:

Well, I was going to respond that it's pretty easy to tell that the garage door is closed. But I got up to get some soda and some more soup first. I poured soda in my soup bowl. :blink:

So, yeah, you probably should just come get the bike.

 

[Harald]

So how's the battery doing, Goodman? I'm curious if it survived the abuse......

 

[Goodman4]

I think it's fine. It never showed any sign of low voltage and I haven't had any trouble. I guess this winter when I have a few weeks of non-riding it would be a good test, but I plan on getting a battery tender like the one I borrowed to recover it for those times. I don't think I'll worry about it anymore.

 

[Fly Bye]

I think it's fine. It never showed any sign of low voltage and I haven't had any trouble. I guess this winter when I have a few weeks of non-riding it would be a good test, but I plan on getting a battery tender like the one I borrowed to recover it for those times. I don't think I'll worry about it anymore.

The battery tender will take most of the worrying out of the equation.

I use four of them on cars and motorcycles and I would never be without them.

 

[SnowAviation]

...I'm an off-switch kind of guy. I thought that's what it was for.