Charging bike battery

[rob_scott92]

Hi guys,

After pressing the starter on the Honda, alls i'm getting is a click. This meaning the battery needs charging.

Now i'm using my uncles old charger, still works fine though (I think)
When it was on i noticed the battery was bubbling, Should it be doing this? Also, after about 2 hours i could smell a distinct 'eggy' smell and i hadn't farted either I turned the charger off then in the hope that 2 hours would be enough, re-fitted the battery for it to click again on pressing the starter.
Should i put it on again for longer and leave the 'eggy' smell? If i were to jump start it off the car (How do i do this without blowing sh*t up??? ) would it need a long run to charge the battery so that it would start say, the next day on its own?
Thanks
Rob
Also, I checked the voltage before charging, it was at 11v. After 2 hours of charging it was 13v.
____________________
First bike: 1982 Suzuki Gs 125 'The beast MK1' > 1988 Honda Cb 350's' FOR SPORT! (Good ol' oil burner!) > 2001 Suzuki Sv 650 's' Made it out of the 80's! > 1997 Honda Cbr 600f :p

[neil.]

It's sulphuric acid and bubbling is normal when charging. Just make sure the breather hole/vents are clear on the battery so you don't get gas build up (and explodingness) inside the battery. The smell is sulphur, same chemical that's given off by rotting eggs, hence the similarity! Oh, if it's not a Maintenance Free type, then make sure it's topped up with distilled water. You might also want to check the specific gravity of each cell with a hydrometer which will give an indication of whether it's knackered and won't hold a charge any more.
____________________
CBT February 2008 | A2 June 2008 | Yamaha YBR125 (written off) | Honda CBF125 (current)

[Robby]

Well the eggy smell is sulphur, from an extremely sulphated battery. Bubbling only happens when you charge a knackered battery, or possible when you connect a ridiculously powerful powerful supply to a battery.

Your battery is probably knackered. Is the charger a bike charger, or a car charger? Car chargers kick out a fair bit of current, too much for many bike batteries to take without overheating.

[rob_scott92]

Ok then, so the smell is coming from the breather. That makes sense.
The level is good as I topped it up with the distlled water not long ago. I beleive it's a bike charger, it has a high and a low setting. It's been on the high setting but do you reckon I should keep it on the low setting say, overnight?

Thanks
____________________
First bike: 1982 Suzuki Gs 125 'The beast MK1' > 1988 Honda Cb 350's' FOR SPORT! (Good ol' oil burner!) > 2001 Suzuki Sv 650 's' Made it out of the 80's! > 1997 Honda Cbr 600f :p

[Robby]

Try it on the low setting, but keep an eye on it. You don't want a battery to sit there bubbling overnight, it can make them swell up and go pop. The acid gets everywhere.

I tried my bike charger on its lowest setting on one of my knackered batteries, was bubbling to itself in a couple of minutes.

So try it on the low setting, disconnect the charger if it bubbles, and get a new battery. If you want to be cheap, keep the existing battery on the bike until it really dies. Do bear in mind that a knackered battery tends to have knock-on effects on the performance of the rest of the bike.

[fiery tupp]

Well I have charged many batteries using propper chargers at the correct amps so they all must have been knackered then ? because they all bubbled , but charged up fine & kept on going
____________________
If you can't fix it with a hammer , use your head .

[Robby]

[rob_scott92]

Cheers for the info guys,

I've just put the battery back on charge with the low setting, after about 10 mins its started bubbling, but only the small kind of bubbles which i beleive is normal???

I'll keep an eye on it though (Check it every 30 mins or so) And if it sounds like its about to explode i'll stop it. Battery acid going everywhere is not on the agenda today!

When i stopped the charging last night it was showing 13v, It was still warm from the charging at this point mind
This morning when i tried to start it, it wouldn't even click! Took a reading at the battery which read 10v
New battery time i suppose pretty soon

Also, if i were to want to jump start it, how do i do it without damaging fuses etc? Is it just simply connect the right leads on both batteries and then press the starter?
I would be jumping from a car by the way.
Thanks
Rob
____________________
First bike: 1982 Suzuki Gs 125 'The beast MK1' > 1988 Honda Cb 350's' FOR SPORT! (Good ol' oil burner!) > 2001 Suzuki Sv 650 's' Made it out of the 80's! > 1997 Honda Cbr 600f :p

[neil.]

Have you tried bump starting the bike? Done this plenty of times (or the kick) on the YBR when I've drained the battery after stupidly leaving the heated grips on overnight.
____________________
CBT February 2008 | A2 June 2008 | Yamaha YBR125 (written off) | Honda CBF125 (current)

[rob_scott92]

I did think about bumping it but i am waaaay to scared of dropping it! Its a really heavy bike, not much lighter than my uncles cb900 and once its down theres no picking it up! But then again it could be more stable when running with it
I may go for it if this charge fails

I do miss having a kickstart
____________________
First bike: 1982 Suzuki Gs 125 'The beast MK1' > 1988 Honda Cb 350's' FOR SPORT! (Good ol' oil burner!) > 2001 Suzuki Sv 650 's' Made it out of the 80's! > 1997 Honda Cbr 600f :p

[rob_scott92]

Right, i'm thinking the battery's knackered.
Left it on charge for 5 1/2 hours, at this point it was starting to get quite hot so i stopped it and checked the voltage which was 13.9v.
Left it for literally 10 mins and checked it again to find it was now 10v again

The thing is i'm now thinking that it wont have enough juice even to bump it! so..... New battery, should i get one from a dealer or will i get well and truely ripped off?
I checked wemoto and they have 3 types, 1 is £57 (non maintained) Another was £37 Nitro, and there was a pattern battery for £24.
Is there likely to be much difference between the pattern one and the nitro one? I dont mind spending an extra tenner if it'll last a bit longer.

Anyway, only one more thing bugging me now.
Would there not have been any symptoms of the battery dying? its been working fine and the starters been turning quickly enough the day before it stopped working so whats gone on??? I did think at first that maybe theres a short to earth somewhere on the bike draining the battery, but now i've seen the battery go from 13 to 10 v without being connected, leads me to beleive the battery is fu*ked. I do ride with my lights on all the time too so maybe i wont do that as much anymore
thanks again
Rob
____________________
First bike: 1982 Suzuki Gs 125 'The beast MK1' > 1988 Honda Cb 350's' FOR SPORT! (Good ol' oil burner!) > 2001 Suzuki Sv 650 's' Made it out of the 80's! > 1997 Honda Cbr 600f :p

[rob_scott92]