Is it possible to maintain ST battery with car battery?

Hi Dave,

There isn't enough voltage produced by the Battery Tender to reverse the sufated portions of the battery. It will do a bulk charge and a float charge but not a condition charge which is what you need to have done, and I would have to get a second opinion with regards to AGM batteries - I don't know enough about that technology to say confidently a condition charge will fix it.

Did the battery exist in a drained state for a period of time for it to get in this condition? Another thought would be to check the charging system of the bike to make sure its running at specifications. I don't know what those specs are, ie if it just drives up the voltage to 13.8 or so, the high tech systems will charge to 14.2v then drop off to 13.2 as the battery is brought back up after starting. I somehow doubt we have this level of sophistication in our system.

As an observation, I would be curious about the charging system because the Battery Tender is obviously having a positive impact on the battery.

Mike
 
SuperSabre,

My step daughter's car lost her alternator, she drove it 16 miles to my house so I could replace it for her the next day. As soon as she got here, I connected my Battery Tender to it and got to the green light less than 24 hours later. Yes it does work, just slowly as the output of this little jewel is less than one amp.

The big question is, does the battery you are working with have a dead cell or one highly sulphated (low specific gravity) In which case, the Battery Tender probably won't have enough output.

Batteries are kind of funny about being charged. They can show a good charge just after coming off the charger and even crank a car engine. The way to know though is to take the battery off the charger and wait 24 hours before measuring. Anything less than 12.4 volts or so, means a shorted or deficient cell (I would expect to see something in the 10volt range after a 24hour rest).

Mike
 
OK, how about this ....

Drive the car during the day, connect the batteries over night.

As long as there is no fault in either battery you will maintain charge in both batteries.
 
mercedesman said:
SuperSabre,

My step daughter's car lost her alternator, she drove it 16 miles to my house so I could replace it for her the next day. As soon as she got here, I connected my Battery Tender to it and got to the green light less than 24 hours later. Yes it does work, just slowly as the output of this little jewel is less than one amp.

The big question is, does the battery you are working with have a dead cell or one highly sulphated (low specific gravity) In which case, the Battery Tender probably won't have enough output.

Batteries are kind of funny about being charged. They can show a good charge just after coming off the charger and even crank a car engine. The way to know though is to take the battery off the charger and wait 24 hours before measuring. Anything less than 12.4 volts or so, means a shorted or deficient cell (I would expect to see something in the 10volt range after a 24hour rest).

Mike
Click to expand...


I had the battery Tender on for over a week and nothing (and I checked the connections and fuse). That's when I tried the second for several days. Still nothing. After hooking up the car charger, I finially got some power. it still took about 30 minutes on the 10amp before I started the engine using the 50amp setting. I have since reattached the Battery Tender, check it last night and the light was green! :woo

I'll try it again later this week to see if the battery is actually up for the task!

I had just replaced this battery last May, so it is a fairly new battery. With it sitting, it just got all the power drained from it. At least it seems to be doing okay now. :clap2:
 
Bob
Did the battery tender indicate that it was charging? If it was totally flat or if you just tried cranking it, the battery voltage may have been to low for the battery tender to start charging. It wants to see a minimum voltage level above a certain value before it will go in charge mode.
 
Probably more than you would ever want to know about batteries, AGM's in particular.

Someone wrote about the smaller battery in the ST1300 than the ST1100, does anyone know if the battery in the ST1100 is a lead/acid battery instead of an AGM battery? That would account for the differences, the AGM batteries can be smaller and lighter than the old fashion lead/acid or "flooded" batteries.

http://www.lifelinebatteries.com/manual.pdf

The lifeline batteries sound pretty good and they are made in the USA, though I don't believe they have anything for motorcycle applications. Yuasa batteries I'll bet are quite similar.

Dave, you CAN perform an equalization charge on an AGM battery, you just need special equipment to do so safely. The main problem I see is current limiting the charger to .5% of the CCA rating of the battery. The charging voltages as stated by lifeline are impressive!

Mike
 
Don't know if the 1100 is a wet cell oem?

But thats another reason not to try to maintain the 1300 agm with a car flooded cell. Dragging the agm voltage down to the larger car batteries wet cell voltage isn't going to keep it topped off.

Becareful reading the vendors marketing material. Thicker plates etc sound good but for a given volume it can only mean less of them. More durable at the expense of cranking amps. House vs Starting battery.
 
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