Battery Acid Levels

that is bad news ck, if battery has been charged for some time with fluid below top up level then the battery is almost certainly gone now. Still worth topping up/charging and trying just to confirm though. I am guessing it was one of the end cells? As a cell becomes unhappy it starts to warm up leading to gradual evaporation/venting of that cell. It's good that you caught it early as things could have got a lot worse (hopefully fuse would have blown).

 

What make of trickle charger were you using? My advice would be to top it up with distilled water and stick it back on a charge and see how it fares.

 

was Hitler a pacifist?

 

This happened to mine last winter. I topped up with distilled water, and against expectations its been OK all this year - although it is clearly down on capacity (just lucky that the bike starts easily). I'm fully expecting to have to replace it this year.
Maybe see how it performs first?

 

possible it would recover a certain percentage
but long term i would say its on its way out
had similar problem last year with a yuasa
in the end bit the bullet and bought a motobatt
best way to go

 

Agreed - just trying to avoid biting the bullet!
Motobatt looks favourite when the time comes, although lithium might be an option - jury still out.

 

Why do the levels drop, and why don't they drop in a uniform manner?

The levels vary according to state of charge, lowering with the voltage. Also the water will slowly evaporate, but the acid will not. if the height in the cells vary either the cells are bad or electrolyte has been spilt.


Can the battery be saved?

Probably not, you could try but its not worth it, replace it.

Is it possible to buy lead acid packs separately and top up, recharge and restore?

It is but you only want to add acid if it has been spilt, you could measure the specific gravity of the electrolyte the calculate the dilution of the top up required, how's your chemistry?

Or once it gets to this stage do you just chuck away and buy fresh?

Yep.

Should I consider a gel battery? What are the advatanges/disadvantages?

More expensive, theoretically less maintenance. I have never used them. I'd buy a new lead acid battery, make sure the levels are neatly at the upper level when fully charged and then look after it. Batteries are abused by leaving them discharged for long periods, this creates sulfation in the cells which is irreversible.

New battery required, keep with that one and you will either break down or fry your connectors on your regulator, this is one of the main reasons this happens on motorcycles, not an issue solely with Ducati.

Those are my thoughts on your old battery!

Billy.

 

I've had the same cheapo lead acid battery for the past four years and I reckon it was already a year old when I got the bike.

I have topped it up three times (last time a month ago) and charged it twice in the four years..........It is getting a bit tired, but it always seems to have enough to turn the engine over and fire up even if I have left it for four weeks.

 

My recollection of the chemistry is that only the water can escape during charging, partly as water vapour, but mainly as separate Hydrogen and Oxygen - take the warning seriously and keep flames and sparks away from the breather - I know someone who tried holding a lighter close to the end of one, just to see what happens - I think he was lucky to escape without injury when this caused a small explosion inside the battery.

This does mean that you should be OK simply topping up with distilled water (I usually use rain water but don't take that as a firm recommendation). It's sulphuric acid in the chambers and it can be concentrated to a much greater level than standard battery acid (it becomes an oily liquid eventually, and that's seriously dangerous... a drop of battery strength acid on your skin could burn you, but you'll be OK if you rinse it off immediately; I would not want to try that with the concentrated stuff.

I've never tried refilling a bettery with fresh battery-strength acid, but I think it will then end up at the wrong concentration after the battery has been charged, because some of the old acid will be "recovered" from the plates during the charging process. I seem to have kept my battery alive for 6 years now, including prolonged off-road periods, simply by giving it a regular (perhaps fortnightly) charge with an Accumate - perhaps that's less risky than having it connected/trickling constantly?

 

It simply means using heavier gauge battery to starter and solenoid leads; plus bump up the earth strap gauges....Fairly easily done.

 

I have had a Gel Bty on my bike for the last 5 years, never discharged enough not to start the bike, no maint needed can't fault it.

 

Lots of good info here particularly from BillyKnight.
Correctly it has been said not to top the battery up with acid but only water, this seems odd but is correct. as for rejuvenating older cells I find that the newer type of "auto" charger does not work well if there are major differences in cell voltage. this needs fixing with a controlled overcharge which the automatic chargers will not do as they automatically step down when the sense 14.7v max.
To reclaim a dead or poor battery is not really worth the effort on a motorcycle but can be done if you wish to input your time and effort, what I do is charge the battery as much as I can with a bike charger then using a PSU give the battery a controlled overcharge at between 15 -16v depending on the chemistry (note: do not try this if you do not fully understand what you are doing, it is dangerous) , this allows all of the cells to reach the same level of charge, without this overcharge there is always one or two cells that lag behind and these Never seem to recover.
As I said, this is probably not worth the effort on a motorcycle battery but with larger more expensive (read solar installations) arrays it does have merits.