Thursday 14 April 2011

Did You Know?

(Duh I didn't until today) If you use your bike less than every 3 months, the battery plates will begin to Sulphate and it's capacity to hold charge will deteriorate. To combat this you should use a trickle charger - mine here is a cheapo from Maypole. Plugged into the mains it gives a 12Volt 500mA output, with a 800mA maximum current.
You can leave it clipped on to your battery in situ, on the bike (presuming it sleeps in a garage) and it will cut out when it's had it's fill. (With my now deceased battery, the little red warning light on the charger only came on briefly before going out when plugged in. This was a warning I didn't appreciate that it wasn't holding its charge).Previously I'd only ever used this beefy Ferm charger once a year if my battery was dozy usually come winter. It says 12V 6A so I always presumed (wrongly) it was fine for the likes of my CCM battery which is 12V 8A. But designed for car batteries with a much higher cranking Amps, it's way to Frankenstein for a small bike battery, and if you leave it on it will start to fry the battery - so I've been killing my batteries in their sleep rather than resuscitating them. BPDoes electricity completely baffle you? Do you look at wiring diagrams and trip your brain cells? All the answers to life's mysteries are covered in this magical book by Arthur C. Clarke

9 comments:

747 said...

Electricity is tripppy but much more simple to figure out than people. especially the AC/DC thing.

t said...

magneto

Booker_Noe said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Booker_Noe said...

Battery Juice is only half the equation to quick easy starts, you'll need to add a Fuel Stabiliser like STA-BIL to keep your fuel fresh and free from Condensation.

This is because model fuel only has a short life span, before it rapidly oxidizes and forms "Gum" and other nastiness in your fuel tank and more importantly Carburettor.


You can pick it up at all good Auto Stores and Bike Shops - www.sta-bil.com.au

KrookStreetRacing said...

747, you must be way smarter than me. I've had it explained to me a 100 times, but still can't make sense of the whole current/potential/power equation...

I'll have to see what Arthur C has to say on the subject.

Sidenote: I don't think there was one single cable on my Husqvarna that had the colour it was supposed to have according to the wiring diagram. Gotta love those Italians:-)

KrookStreetRacing said...

AC/DC...

Now I get it:-)

User.One said...

Did you know you can make your own deionised water to top up any lead acid batteries by boiling some in a kettle, letting it cool, then freezing it, then defrosting it?
I use a Sealey Superstart charger to give my batteries a kick because I am a thoughtless animal.

andrewdavidtaylor said...

Electrickery.....The Devils Work !! Can't understand it, I've tried....even bought the Haynes Auto Electrics Book to try & educate myself...it didn't work !!
If it doesn't have a grease nipple attached to it somewhere or the tendency to drip the occasional bit of black goo...it just frightens me !!

Paul said...

Is the Lea Perrins used to top-up the batter? Just watch for that ionization!