Battery charging with UNmounted battery?

Hi,

A newbie to the group, but not a newbie on bikes.

Almost all manuals I ever had (except my vintage beamers)
told me to unmount the battery before charging it.
The manuals tell me that charging the battery while mounted
could blow out the rectifier diodes.

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In my opinion, that warning in the manuals only is there
because a cheap charger will put out (say) 50 Volts
whenever the battery itself is totally defective. (A good
battery acts as a zener, limiting the max voltage.)
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Am I correct?

BTW: I can set my charger to any max voltage I want
plus any max current I want, so I figure that unmounting
the battery is not needed because I set the max voltage
slightly below the voltage of a fully loaded battery and the
max current to 10% of the batteries capacity, which makes
the whole thing become a trickle charger in the end, because
the current gets lower when I reach the max voltage.
Note: I am not talking about spilling acid and such.

Rob.

 

Get a Battery Tender and don't worry 'bout it. My Battery Tender
charges all my motorcycle batteries in situ with impunity; that
includes motorcycles from the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, and '00s . . . .

-Don (no '90s motorcycles anymore -- gotta fix that)

 

In theory. In practice, I've not known it happen.. That said, I tend to
disconnect the battery before charging, myself. It's not like it's a
hard job.

 

Thanks for the reactions.

Like I tried to tell, I have a professional charger that is
over-voltage protected and current-limited, so I am not
afraid I would fry a diode.

I usually take my battery off the bike when I
charge it, which is easy to do. The only reason I
take it out is that then I can watch progress.
By the way, I drive the bike so often that I
cannot remember when I last charged my battery.
If it needs charging, then it normally is at the end of it's
lifespan.

I only wondered why all manuals state: 'Take it out,
otherwise you may blow out the diodes.'

I could only think of one reason:
(A charger capable of putting out a high Voltage,
plus a battery that is in fact an open circuit, so that
you may put a too high Voltage over the diodes).

I just wondered if I missed out any other reason things might
go wrong.

I've been driving for almost 50 years now and never blew out
a diode. So I am not afraid that that might happen.

I only was curious, 'Did I miss any other reason?"
Most likely not.

Thanx again.
Rob.

 

You refer to the same people that put stickers on a cigarette
lighter, that warn that the flame is hot. You may be right.

But I've read so many manuals cautioning about diodes that
I started to get puzzled. Not worried though.

Rob.

 

I used a hunk of threaded stainless, double nuts
on one side of the - terminal and a wingnut on the
other to make a quick disconnect for battery negative.
Takes only a couple of seconds to disconnect or
reconnect the battery.

Also slopped lots of red paint and tape on the + terminal
and cable to protect against those occasional pesky brain farts.

 

Wingnut is a perfect idea. On the negative terminal, but read below!.

Brain farts do exist, I know, as I once burnt up a spanner
(and my hand) because I forgot that the old English bike (I
think it was a BSA) had the positive terminal connected
to the frame.

Another Rob.