Trident battery confession

My Trident wouldn't start last week - it failed to catch on the first try
and then the battery power died down very quickly, despite it having been
on an Optimate. Didn't have time to check things out there and then, but
I put it back on charge, and on Saturday I took the battery out and
discovered 3 of the cells were almost empty and another two were only half
full. I topped it up and put it back on the charger, and later that day the
bike started without any problem. I hadn't had the battery out to check
for at least a year before this.

Is the battery likely to have been damaged as a result of my foolish
neglect?

 

Yes.

 

Yup.

 

If the plates dried out and started cracking, you'd expect some
disintegration to take place over the next few weeks/ months, most
especially encouraged by vibration.
Ime, once a battery starts showing really unequal water loss from its
cells, it's on the way out - it might take a while if you pay more
attention to it from now on, but be prepared to replace it this year.

 

Thus spake The Older Gentleman () unto the assembled multitudes:

Oh poo. Ah well, it started OK today so I'll just have to wait for
telltale signs of impending death.

 

Thus spake Grimly Curmudgeon () unto the assembled multitudes:

OK, thanks for that. Seems a bit odd, because I've only done about 10K
miles since I replaced the battery, but that's over about three years. The
bike doesn't get a great deal of use, so may the periods of idle time
aren't doing the battery any favours, even though I use an Optimate
religiously.

 

Is it possible that your charging system might have contributed to the
loss of electrolyte?

Fred

 

Check out the charging voltage of your optimate.
If it allows the battery voltage to rise above 14.0 on fully charged
float it is faulty and will boil away the acid.
Ideally a lead-acid battery should be floated at 13.8v.

 

The Optimate will account for it, then.

 

Thus spake Rusty_Hinge () unto the assembled multitudes:

Really? I've had the Optimate for 12 years (and the bike for slightly
longer) with exactly the same pattern of use all that time, and this
has never happened before, unless of course the Optimate is turning senile
in its old age.

 

Goes with the territory, that...

Even a top-up-as-you-leak charge of a good battery will cause it lightly
to simmer, imperceptibly, maybe, but over a long period it will give off
a fair amount of hydrogen and oxygen - the constituents of water.

It does this when the accumulator is fully charged and still accepting
some current. (That's how we used to generate hydrogen for the furnace
when I worked at Murex - true, with NiFe units, and rather more than a
trickle charge, but the principle's the same.)

If the accumulator is not quite 100%, it will lose charge quicker, thus
require more charging.

 

Thus spake Rusty_Hinge () unto the assembled multitudes:

Fair enough.

<makes mental note to check battery levels more frequently>

Cheers.

 

Just a quick question,
Is the Optimate good for the sealed batteries or even gel batteries. I have
a 20 year old 12/6 volt charger, clipped on Bonnie via a timer.

My battery is just an old fashioned fill at the top.
Thinking of a gel replacement (will I need a new charger?)
If a sealed option boils/simmers, and the gas vents out,
are there filling up holes to refill with water?
I just been trough this, winter charge thing, lazy old me, even put an hour
a day timer on the charger, so it isn't on all the time. I have decided that
a once a week jaunt round town is better than a 'trickle charge', It's
cocking me leg over in the cold wet nasty, that's my problem.
I thought this was supposed to be fun!

 

No. That's what 'sealed' means, see.

Not i winter.

Oh, and we tend to post at the bottom here, old chap.

 

Yes, but it only works for people who post at the bottom.