Info good , cute story too. Just want to add that the trickle chargers are very low amp. They for the most part are not dead battery chargers. Less than 1 amp they are not made to recharge a dead battery. They are meant to maintain a good battery. Now there are better chargers that can do both. Think of filling a swimming pool with a soda straw, vs a fire hose. I also wanted to add a NEVER: Do not cross battery connections when jump starting. If your not sure a $200 tow is cheaper. Even touching the positive to negative can cook many vital electronics. If I made ya nervous good. Short of it, customer had BMW car jumped off. Though it ran it had issues. The estimate to repair was almost $8000. Blue Book on car was about $5000. Computers are expensive batteries are cheap. I can go on but a fully charged battery helps everything live longer. Dont laugh at the 40 miles either. A fully charged battery 12.7v maybe not, but a weaker one, yes. At idle the alternator charges just enough to keep it from dying. The head light is on, the running lights are on, the computer needs power, along with anything else on the bike radio, extra lights, power chargers, ect. Most alternators are at full power between 2000-2500 RPM. Then power will go to recharge the battery. Ever see an old bike pull up to a stop sign and at idle the headlight goes dim? That is the best example I can give. My Shovel could kill the battery with the light on at idle. It didnt charge at all till 1700 RPM that was factory stuff. Also the light could be turned off when driving. I did update... Sorry Yogi for hijacking the comments.
More on batteries. I just got my new Deka battery and I put it on my charger and BAM 12.7 volts. I say this because we put a new battery in my friends bike and when we put it on the charger it was 12.2 volts. It was more than likely strong enough to start the bike but why have the charging system work harder. We put it in and hooked up the trickle charger and the next morning it was up to snuff. I have seen batterys go low from sitting around. These were AGM. Some of the motorcycle batteries that you get come dry. They are flooded type, you have to add the electrolyte (acid). The best way for them to live long is add the juice, let them sit for a while to stabilize then low amp charge them to full charge. Bike batteries are not so bad can be done in a day or overnight. Lawnmower batteries can also be this type Car battiers for the most part come full and charged but I always check the charge. On a car anything over 12.5 I am fine with.
One more update. My Vrod battery was 7 years old. I have been battery tending it for years. I knew I was at the end of its life. I installed a new one and the first thing I noticed was how fast it cranked over. The old battery was kept at full charge but its reserve was low. I guess think of it like this. You can have a full mug of coffee, all 30 oz. or you can have a shot glass full of coffee. I was down to a shot glass of reserve. This leads to the question of does a new battery make more HP. Short answer is well there isn't one. But a cliffs notes answer is this. Yes, partially because its new. Its because the alternator takes power to charge a battery. So if you battery is strong and fully charged you use less power to charge the battery and more goes to the wheel. A battery with a good amount of reserve will use less power to recharge. Is it noticeable, maybe not as much as it used to be. Like my Shovel stock was rated at about 40ish HP now these bikes are over 100 HP and that drain on HP is not as noticeable.
Here I go again, I had to replace the 8 year old battery in my Vrod. I went online and bought what the battery manufacturer said was correct. East Penn makes the AGM batteries for HD. Short of it it was wrong. So I returned it and bought the correct one from another place on line. It was pretty cheap less than $90 bucks. The rest of the reason I am adding another comment is make sure your new battery is fully charged before you use it. They do not have the memory problems like they used to. Its so your charging system does not have to work to charge a low battery. 2 amp is preferred but 10 is ok. Keep an eye on it. I got my battery at High Tech Battery Solutions, sign up for email and get 5% off. Free shipping on most orders. I get nothing from them only passing on a good deal.
Do y’all have problem with the terminals loosing over time. I noticed my volt meter jumping around one day and found my positive Cable loosened. I tightened it and about a month later it was loose again! no Accys just the cable to the battery. Did i lose a washer? I didn’t think they had washers.
Well, if you went to McDonald's just for hot java, , good idea anything else. not a good idea. So far as jumping to a running car, I have done that, never had an issue, the car/truck's regulator will not let the battery get any higher than on a bike. If the car/truck is not running you have voltage of bike battery against car/truck battery and not much current will flow, or you have the bike battery as a back voltage holding back current, start the jumping vehicle and that couple of volts extra will allow current to flow towards the bikes dead battery.
Info good , cute story too. Just want to add that the trickle chargers are very low amp. They for the most part are not dead battery chargers. Less than 1 amp they are not made to recharge a dead battery. They are meant to maintain a good battery. Now there are better chargers that can do both. Think of filling a swimming pool with a soda straw, vs a fire hose.
I also wanted to add a NEVER: Do not cross battery connections when jump starting. If your not sure a $200 tow is cheaper. Even touching the positive to negative can cook many vital electronics. If I made ya nervous good. Short of it, customer had BMW car jumped off. Though it ran it had issues. The estimate to repair was almost $8000. Blue Book on car was about $5000. Computers are expensive batteries are cheap.
I can go on but a fully charged battery helps everything live longer.
Dont laugh at the 40 miles either. A fully charged battery 12.7v maybe not, but a weaker one, yes. At idle the alternator charges just enough to keep it from dying. The head light is on, the running lights are on, the computer needs power, along with anything else on the bike radio, extra lights, power chargers, ect. Most alternators are at full power between 2000-2500 RPM. Then power will go to recharge the battery. Ever see an old bike pull up to a stop sign and at idle the headlight goes dim? That is the best example I can give. My Shovel could kill the battery with the light on at idle. It didnt charge at all till 1700 RPM that was factory stuff. Also the light could be turned off when driving. I did update...
Sorry Yogi for hijacking the comments.
More on batteries. I just got my new Deka battery and I put it on my charger and BAM 12.7 volts. I say this because we put a new battery in my friends bike and when we put it on the charger it was 12.2 volts. It was more than likely strong enough to start the bike but why have the charging system work harder. We put it in and hooked up the trickle charger and the next morning it was up to snuff. I have seen batterys go low from sitting around. These were AGM. Some of the motorcycle batteries that you get come dry. They are flooded type, you have to add the electrolyte (acid). The best way for them to live long is add the juice, let them sit for a while to stabilize then low amp charge them to full charge. Bike batteries are not so bad can be done in a day or overnight. Lawnmower batteries can also be this type Car battiers for the most part come full and charged but I always check the charge. On a car anything over 12.5 I am fine with.
One more update. My Vrod battery was 7 years old. I have been battery tending it for years. I knew I was at the end of its life. I installed a new one and the first thing I noticed was how fast it cranked over. The old battery was kept at full charge but its reserve was low. I guess think of it like this. You can have a full mug of coffee, all 30 oz. or you can have a shot glass full of coffee. I was down to a shot glass of reserve.
This leads to the question of does a new battery make more HP. Short answer is well there isn't one. But a cliffs notes answer is this. Yes, partially because its new. Its because the alternator takes power to charge a battery. So if you battery is strong and fully charged you use less power to charge the battery and more goes to the wheel. A battery with a good amount of reserve will use less power to recharge. Is it noticeable, maybe not as much as it used to be. Like my Shovel stock was rated at about 40ish HP now these bikes are over 100 HP and that drain on HP is not as noticeable.
Here I go again, I had to replace the 8 year old battery in my Vrod. I went online and bought what the battery manufacturer said was correct. East Penn makes the AGM batteries for HD. Short of it it was wrong. So I returned it and bought the correct one from another place on line. It was pretty cheap less than $90 bucks. The rest of the reason I am adding another comment is make sure your new battery is fully charged before you use it. They do not have the memory problems like they used to. Its so your charging system does not have to work to charge a low battery. 2 amp is preferred but 10 is ok. Keep an eye on it. I got my battery at High Tech Battery Solutions, sign up for email and get 5% off. Free shipping on most orders. I get nothing from them only passing on a good deal.
Do y’all have problem with the terminals loosing over time. I noticed my volt meter jumping around one day and found my positive Cable loosened. I tightened it and about a month later it was loose again! no Accys just the cable to the battery. Did i lose a washer?
I didn’t think they had washers.
I have seen brass spacers so cables are flat up against terminal.
Well, if you went to McDonald's just for hot java, , good idea anything else. not a good idea.
So far as jumping to a running car, I have done that, never had an issue, the car/truck's
regulator will not let the battery get any higher than on a bike. If the car/truck is not running
you have voltage of bike battery against car/truck battery and not much current will flow,
or you have the bike battery as a back voltage holding back current, start the jumping
vehicle and that couple of volts extra will allow current to flow towards the bikes dead battery.