Wake up them AGMs

[Admiral Akbar]

IMO Trickle chargers suck.. My 131 has been sitting for a couple months as it had blown headgaskets.. Connected a charger in prep to fire it off.. Motor spun over a couple times and starter stalled.. Hooked up a better semi smart charger, does about 4 to 5 amps when battery is low.  Sucker cranks for about 10 seconds before is started to slow down.. The AGM battery needs some good old starter drain and a good charge to revive.

Max

[wholehog]

come on max....keep the battery on a maintainer and you wont need to fight it......

[Admiral Akbar]

come on max....keep the battery on a maintainer and you wont need to fight it......

Fight what.. This bike don't have a security system on it.. Nothing drain the battery.. AGMs hold their charge better than flooded cells..

Max

[IronMike113]

Good thing it isn't twenty degree's you would never get it started............

[wholehog]

self discharge inherent to batteries....and you probably weren't at full charge when you put it up....plus your ambient temp is probably higher than standard temp so it accelerates self discharge....

[Admiral Akbar]

self discharge inherent to batteries....and you probably weren't at full charge when you put it up....plus your ambient temp is probably higher than standard temp so it accelerates self discharge....

But AGMs have a slow discharge rate and are more susceptible to damage from over overcharging..

Good thing it isn't twenty degree's you would never get it started............

At 20 degrees,, I ain't starting.. 

Max

[Bike31]

Battery voltage B4 1st start?

Edit: Get a good charger like a CTEK multistage. My experience with AGMs is they take max acceptable regulated voltage (mid-14's) at low amperage (<5A, 10% A/H rating is best) to initially form the plates and later maintain them at 12.8-13V to get 100% charge. A mid 13V maintainer won't do that, same for a bike typically ridden in city traffic.

[wholehog]

heat is tougher than cold.....and you probably started with a battery not fully charged and with a de-rated capacity because of age

the maintainer is cheap insurance.....

[koko3052]

JMO... "maintainers" all suck! I would NEVER use one.
If you are running your bike consistently & the battery is not keeping up then your battery is hooched or your charging system is hooched!
If your bike is "stored", like up here in the GWN, then disconnect the drain!

[Ohio HD]

How old's the battery? They don't seem to last all that long anymore.   

[koko3052]

you're right Brian...first one 7yrs, 2nd one 5yrs, 3rd...3 yrs! Seems to be a trend!

[mrmike]

How old's the battery? They don't seem to last all that long anymore.

Very true, the original stock battery on my 03 RK lasted 9+ years, no battery maintainer, today I started the bike and didn't think it was going to make it this battery is what, 2+ years old?

I bought another stock HD battery because of the service the first gave me, something's changed.

Worst yet this battery cost me $180.

Now what?


Mike

[truck]

How old's the battery? They don't seem to last all that long anymore.

Very true, the original stock battery on my 03 RK lasted 9+ years, no battery maintainer, today I started the bike and didn't think it was going to make it this battery is what, 2+ years old?

I bought another stock HD battery because of the service the first gave me, something's changed.

Worst yet this battery cost me $180.

Now what?


Mike

Yes, the manufacturing process, the way they form (charge) the plates.

[Admiral Akbar]

How old's the battery? They don't seem to last all that long anymore.

Very true, the original stock battery on my 03 RK lasted 9+ years, no battery maintainer, today I started the bike and didn't think it was going to make it this battery is what, 2+ years old?

I bought another stock HD battery because of the service the first gave me, something's changed.

Worst yet this battery cost me $180.

Now what?


Mike

Yes, the manufacturing process, the way they form (charge) the plates.

About 2011 I bought a new battery for the egc and it lasted only about a year.. Second one is going on 3 years.. I expect they had a process problem that they fixed...

The battery above was bought about the same time as the last one maybe 2 1/2 years.. It's had a hard life. Stock HD agm.. I thought had problems in my bobber so it got replaced but it turns out I had a bad ground connection and a weak starter.. It is currently driving a 2KW Ultima starter starting a 131 after I pushed some current through it.. Had been doing it for 6 months then sat for the last 2.. It's a Dyna battery, not a big one.. Hit it hard a couple times and it comes back..

BTW Like Mike. I have a 7 year old HD agm in my 02 RKC, 95 ci, 220 ccp and it's still running.. Needs CRs when hot and it don't get too cold here.. It did have problems on a cold start when the temps dropped into the low 40s but the battery didn't need a recharge..

Max

[Admiral Akbar]

Battery voltage B4 1st start?

Edit: Get a good charger like a CTEK multistage. My experience with AGMs is they take max acceptable regulated voltage (mid-14's) at low amperage (<5A, 10% A/H rating is best) to initially form the plates and later maintain them at 12.8-13V to get 100% charge. A mid 13V maintainer won't do that, same for a bike typically ridden in city traffic.

Didn't measure it..    After first crank it read 12.16V  It's been spinning the motor over now.  Ff I pull the charger and let it sit for a few minutes it's reads 12.35 to 12.4.

Max

Add

I suspect there something wrong with the charger maintainer as when to charging another battery to 14.85 volts it still says charge not complete.. I suspect that it killed the Braile in that was in the 131..

Max

[joe_lyons]

I just had a 66010-97c bagger battery that the harley "super" charger zaps it with 20 amps varied for 2.5 hrs from complete dead, no volts and brought it back to 470 CCA.  They need 7.5 amps for maintain. Harley has the three prong lead for them now that comes on the 14+ touring bikes.
They did have a couple years there where the batterys had issues there from the get go

[JohnCA58]

What is the third lead going ?

[jmorton10]

I have always had good luck using a battery tender.

My 04 RK does not get ridden a lot and always has a tender hooked to it.

It still starts fine on the original battery and that's cranking a high compression 95" with a 1.7KW AllBalls starter.

~John

[HV]

As Joe was saying.....they need a lot to maintain or bring back...the tenders on some will never keep them up esp if they are in a bike with security.....we just had an update to our Mother Ship charger to increase the charging times and loads to help bring back more low batteries

[ΚĜΗΟŜΤ]

A bit more info..........

look hear...    http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/charging_the_lead_acid_battery

[gordonr]

Hey Bruce, If you have access to a "Midtronics" electronic battery tester you can find out pretty quickly if its worth messing with. The same company makes all the testers for Interstate Batteries. Their accuracy is pretty good on the AGMs.

[clawdog60]

I'm going to start hitting my batteries with 10~20 amps for 15~30 minutes twice a month to see if I can get more life out of them. Tenders help but the batteries are of poor quality to start with and getting worse about little indication they're failing.

[wholehog]

I'm going to start hitting my batteries with 10~20 amps for 15~30 minutes twice a month to see if I can get more life out of them. Tenders help but the batteries are of poor quality to start with and getting worse about little indication they're failing.

careful about drying them out on overcharge...

[Admiral Akbar]

Hey Bruce, If you have access to a "Midtronics" electronic battery tester you can find out pretty quickly if its worth messing with. The same company makes all the testers for Interstate Batteries. Their accuracy is pretty good on the AGMs.

Don't but the MDX-300  looks like the one to get..

Bruce

[gordonr]

Hey Bruce, If you have access to a "Midtronics" electronic battery tester you can find out pretty quickly if its worth messing with. The same company makes all the testers for Interstate Batteries. Their accuracy is pretty good on the AGMs.

Don't but the MDX-300  looks like the one to get..

Bruce

It is. I have one and the Interstate guys that come to my shop will use that model as well, when there flagship tester is having issues. Some of the Snap-on testers are Midtronics from what I here to.