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Equipping the Bike - what's the best gear? Anything to do with the bikes equipment, saddlebags, etc. Questions on repairs and maintenance of the bike itself belong in the Brand Specific Tech Forums.
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  #1  
Old 12 Oct 2007
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Sealed battery activation??? Help??

Bought a sealed battery for my trip a while ago. The thing is that I have lost the box it came in which has the "inportand information before activation".
So... How do I activate it? and
What this important information??
Any ideas?
Orrin
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Old 12 Oct 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by orrin View Post
Bought a sealed battery for my trip a while ago. The thing is that I have lost the box it came in which has the "inportand information before activation".
So... How do I activate it? and
What this important information??
Any ideas?
Orrin
Is it already sealed or does it come with a water pack ???

If its already sealed then it probably just needs conditioning with an overnight trickle charge.
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Old 12 Oct 2007
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Sometimes a trickle charger voltage is just a bit low to fully charge a new battery, specifically a sealed Batt that you add the acid too and then seal it up yourself.

Better use a Pro charger or auto charger if you have one. This should be the only time you need a higher amp charge.

I have two chargers. One is the common Battery Tender. It puts out a max of
1.25 amps in full charge mode. This is a "smart charger" that sense charge level and goes from full charge to a mid range charge and finally to maintenance or trickle charge. In Trickle charge mode very little current is being sent to the battery. (about 200 mili amps that switches on and off as needed)

My other motorcycle charger puts out only 900 mili amps at full charge.

To properly charge a new battery you need to charge it at a level of about
2 amps to 2.5 amps max for about 6 hours. Now you're good to go.

I would do the same with a new, pre-sealed battery as well. If it's a Yuasa
MF sealed battery (the best, IMO) then go to their web site to find exact
amp level and time requirement for a new battery.

If you charge with a trickle charger your new battery will never reach its full power potential, won't hold a charge as well.

Good luck!

Patrick
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Old 12 Oct 2007
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High amp charging a new (or any battery) is a sure way to kill it quick !

You right to say that a step charger is best. About 1-2 amps is best. Over 3amp will do damage.

10% of the ampere-hour rating of your battery is the max you ever want to go.

A trickle charger will do exactly the same job, just take longer.

The "tender" is a fine charger.
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Old 13 Oct 2007
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Originally Posted by tedmagnum View Post
High amp charging a new (or any battery) is a sure way to kill it quick !

You right to say that a step charger is best. About 1-2 amps is best. Over 3amp will do damage.

10% of the ampere-hour rating of your battery is the max you ever want to go.

A trickle charger will do exactly the same job, just take longer.
The "tender" is a fine charger.
Ted, I think you kinda missed my point....I probably didn't make it very well.
Yes, a Battery Tender will charge up your new battery, but never up to max
capacity. Problem is, the Tender gets fooled into thinking Batt is at full charge and shuts down to a trickle charge. All step chargers will do this. So the cells never are fully up to max output....will discharge faster, won't deliver max voltage.

A new Batt that you've just added Acid to needs to be "cooked" just a bit to bring the cells up to max charge. Read the Yuasa instructions. They make this exact point.

No, you don't want to cook it over night on an 8 or 10 amp car battery charger, but a 4 to 6 hour stint on 2.5 or 3 amps is what is needed to kind of "kick Start" it. From there forward it should not be charged at that rate unless it's totally dead, and then only for a short time. The "smart" chargers are the ticket but they don't work well for intial charge.

I have three or four, a couple for my sound gear and a couple more for the bikes. My entire sound cart (totally portable digital sound recording set up for
doing "film/video production sound".

All runs on DC ...3 big 20 AH batts run wireless receivers, mixing board, Comtec system, my Gerbing jacket (for night work), scanners, digi video recorder (for playback), speakers, power conditioners, digital sound recorders (two), analog recorder (one), and a bunch of other crap. I have two on board chargers that I plug in when ever possible. Otherwise its an ALL DC operation. No humms, buzzes EMI or RFI. I can go about 12 hours using only my own batteries. If my batteries fail I am ....screwed.....

Patrick
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Old 13 Oct 2007
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Quote:
Originally Posted by mollydog View Post
Ted, I think you kinda missed my point....I probably didn't make it very well.
Yes, a Battery Tender will charge up your new battery, but never up to max
capacity. Problem is, the Tender gets fooled into thinking Batt is at full charge and shuts down to a trickle charge. All step chargers will do this. So the cells never are fully up to max output....will discharge faster, won't deliver max voltage.

A new Batt that you've just added Acid to needs to be "cooked" just a bit to bring the cells up to max charge. Read the Yuasa instructions. They make this exact point.

No, you don't want to cook it over night on an 8 or 10 amp car battery charger, but a 4 to 6 hour stint on 2.5 or 3 amps is what is needed to kind of "kick Start" it. From there forward it should not be charged at that rate unless it's totally dead, and then only for a short time. The "smart" chargers are the ticket but they don't work well for intial charge.


Patrick
Yer, Ill go along with that !
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