can you over charge a battery?

[oldgoat]

since my bike is down waiting on a fuse box from one of our great persons here.

i thought hey i will take diannes bike out. its been on a battery tender for about a month or so.

all systems looked good to go. i took off the tender. turned the key on hit the starter click that was it. head light dim. nothing nada no go. neighbor gave me a push bump start nothing nada no go. this battery came with the bike when she bought it PO said its brand new just bought it a week before she purchased the bike? hmm me thinks some one lied. its a yusa thats what i think it is. im about to pull it. take it to napa for a test...

this sucks. nice out and feeling good and no vroom vroomm..

[massey130]

Let's assume 2 things -

1. the battery was in good shape

2. the battery tender was working properly and was charing correctly.

in this case

A. the battery went bad and the tender quit working

B. the tender quit working while the lights looked like it was ok and the battery is ok, but now discharged

C. the battery went bad and the tender is ok.

D. there was an unknown power draw that caused A B or C

 

on the other hand, the battery, the tender or both were not up to snuff to being with.

 

using some non tender chargers, you can over charge a battery.

[frankd]

Any chance the Tender didn't have power from the wall outlet?? In my old house I used to plug my float charger into an outlet protected by a GFI. I'm a radio amateur, and when I used to transmit on the antenna that ran over my garage, the GFI would trip. I'd forget about needing to reset the GFI and my battery wouldn't be charging for weeks.

 

Is it on a GFI? Check the outlet and make sure it's working.

 

Frank

[oldgoat]

ahh i did something kind of dumb. while out in her garage the electricity was on.

while leaving the house i would shut off 2 switches never thought one was to ahh you guessed it the garage. so off and on charging of the battery did something to the tender?

battery took a full charge at napa

they kept it for a couple hours slow charge. charged me 2 bucks. shop cost. it,s back in her bike i did get in a nice 70 mile ride in. since its now full charged. im just going to let it be till next week. and i will fire it up again.

[massey130]

you can pull the battery and put it with the tender in the house util room.

 

jus' sayin.

[silent67]

I had a tender cook a car battery once, I don't use them any longer. I just use a Schumacher SC-600A charger every 2 weeks or once a month and that is just fine. I never liked the idea of leaving any battery charging unattended anyway. I never did it with RC aircraft batteries and I won't do it again with car or bike batteries.

[BradT]

I never liked the idea of leaving any battery charging unattended anyway.

 

Agree. Over the winter I take them out and charge it fully during the day, then every month I recharge it.

 

A few weeks in the garage I do nothing and a good battery will not drain that much.

 

Brad

[dynodon]

I keep Battery Tenders (most of them the JR variety) on my bikes all the time year round when not riding. Same with any equipment I don't use regularly like mowers and an old car.

 

NEVER had a Battery Tender (brand, some off-brand units aren't as good) cook a battery. With ANY charging unit, and a non-sealed battery, you can run them dry, but again that is ANY type of charger, and it takes months. I have a VERY old tar top battery in my old Chevy, the BAttery itself is about 25 years old at LEAST. I bought it dry (no acid ever in it) over 25 years ago, and then sold the car I bought it for. Sat forgotten on the shelf till about 3 years ago when I bought another old Chevy. Manufacturer said it was no good, but Interstate Battery dealer put it on a big/slow charger after filling with acid and it held a charge. It will go down in less than a week, but I keep a Battery Tender Jr. on it, and it just keeps on going. Add water twice a year. That has to be some sort of record for battery life!

[massey130]

I had a tender cook a car battery once, I don't use them any longer. I just use a Schumacher SC-600A charger every 2 weeks or once a month and that is just fine. I never liked the idea of leaving any battery charging unattended anyway. I never did it with RC aircraft batteries and I won't do it again with car or bike batteries.

that had to be a real pain to find that. i have had good luck with mine so far and I use the schummaker brand. I do take a look see at it regularly so i know all is well. I hope to not cook my battery.

[Guest tx2sturgis]

ahh i did something kind of dumb. while out in her garage the electricity was on.

while leaving the house i would shut off 2 switches never thought one was to ahh you guessed it the garage. so off and on charging of the battery did something to the tender?

battery took a full charge at napa

they kept it for a couple hours slow charge. charged me 2 bucks. shop cost. it,s back in her bike i did get in a nice 70 mile ride in. since its now full charged. im just going to let it be till next week. and i will fire it up again.

 

Most small automatic battery tenders wont recharge a deeply discharged battery. They briefly 'test' the voltage of the battery when you hook them up, or turn them on, and if its within range, they go ahead and start the charge cycle. If the battery voltage fell below this range during one of your 'power-off' periods, then when power was restored, it would have tested the voltage, then just given up. So maybe the battery is bad or the bike itself has a problem, that discharged the battery. If you have a digital voltmeter, test it after the battery has been sitting unused for a day or so, and the voltage should still be 12.5 or better. If its below 12, then its probably dying.

 

Most maintainers of this type have self-monitoring circuits and normally wont overcharge a battery, but hey, it could happen. Electronics have been known to fail a time or 3!