Battery charging

[curryfishball]

Hi, does charging the battery with it still connected to the bike damage anything? I'm using a Datatool charger

[alains]

just unplug the positive or the negative and charge direct on the battery poles . electronics do not like direct charging
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the worst day fishing is better than the best day working

[curryfishball]

Thanks. But why do some chargers come with wiring that connects to the battery with a connector for easy charging so that the seat/battery does not need to be removed for charging?

[alains]

i've never seen those , but as i said , you do not need to take the battery out , use wires with tongs and do not forget : led battery do not like quick charging . charge at 10% Amps the value capacity . ex : 10Ah charge at 1 Amp during 10-12hours
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the worst day fishing is better than the best day working

[Teaman]

I have an optimate that has a seperate lead you can connect leaving a little wire that you can plug in as and when withought all the arsing about,
most charges allow you to keep everything connected as they dont draw power whilst off, most allarms should be the same so nothing to worry about
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[Guest]

Leave the battery in and connected - you won't do it or the bike's electronics any harm. Modern bike chargers are designed to give low current and to charge in-situ.

I've had the bike hooked up to the charger every night for over 6 years with no problems.

[curryfishball]

Thanks, glad to know that I can charge it without having to disconnect the bikes battery, would hate to leave it over night without an active alarm.

[alains]

i hope will hane no surprise
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the worst day fishing is better than the best day working

[Superlight]

Over charging a battery will damage it (car charger / fast charger), and alarms don't like high charge rates, but low current bike chargers are fine.

[alains]

a switch is like a resistor but with a big value . to be sure it takes 1 minute to unplug a wire , why not doing it ?
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the worst day fishing is better than the best day working

[curryfishball]

i guess only the alarm is drawing power when the ignition is off

its not that i am lazy to undo the battery, i often do a lot of the things on the bike where possible. its just that i don't want to charge it over night with the alarm disconnected. yeah, i am a bit paranoid, but its my pride and joy.

[Superlight]

[mchaggis]

I hate to be a smartarse, but the air gap in the switch will conduct if you put a big enough potential across it to ionise it. Air has a resistance, just a whacking big one, so the current across it is effectively zero.
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Mmmm, Guinness
Discovering the delights of Hammerite and a 3/4" brush.

[sickpup]

[alains]

yes but bikes have a regulator , chargers can be faulty . better take precautions than nothing
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the worst day fishing is better than the best day working

[sickpup]

Regulaters can also be faulty.

I understand you are just being safe.

[True Blue]

[alains]

it's never 0
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the worst day fishing is better than the best day working

[True Blue]

Current in the air?
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Past >>>> Honda NSR 125 >>>> Suzuki GSXR 600 K1 >>>> Suzuki GSXR 600 K4 >>>>Kawasaki Z1000 DAF >>>>Suzuki RMZ 250 >>>> Current >>>> KTM Superduke R 1290 >>>>

[alains]

yes indeed
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the worst day fishing is better than the best day working

[mchaggis]

Plain, bog standard air itself is fairly inert, especially if it is bone dry. However, damp air has a lot of ions suspended in it (water droplets, H+ and OH-) which will conduct electricity perfectly well. If you apply a high enough electric potential to air, especially damp air, you can give the molecules enough energy to ionise and become capable of conducting a current.

That is what happens with lightning and is the basis of any electrical spark producing system (i.e. spark plug). Batteries discharge over time as the H+ ions react with the air to become water, and metals undergo galvanic corrosion because air contains moisture so can act as an electrolyte connecting anodic and cathodic regions of the metal caused by impurities.

It's an interesting thing is rust. I found a fairly good description of the process in a pdf of a Specifier's Guide to galvanisation taken from the American Galvanizers Association:
____________________
I must not be a troll...
Mmmm, Guinness
Discovering the delights of Hammerite and a 3/4" brush.

[Guest]

Air is a pretty good insulator if it's dry - I work on the high voltage system and we use air break isloator switches either side of the equipment we have to work on - these give a gap of around 3 ft. for 33000 volts and 8ft for 132000 volts. This is enough to stop us getting killed while working

On a 12 volt system the gap can be almost nothing. If you were pushing enough voltage and current to jump the gap then the wires would have melted first.

on a typical bike's electrical system you have a circuit that goes battery-main fuse-ignition switch-fuse box-other circuits like lights, ignition, indicators etc.

So if you connect a charger across the battery while it's still connected you're only pushing juice as far as the open ignition switch - nowhere near any other components

[True Blue]

[True Blue]

[True Blue]

Anyway, back to the point. It won't do any damage connecting a charger to your electrics. As long as it's connected to the battery. I fit chargers to engines almost everyday in my job and some of them have been running for over 40 years with no problems.
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Past >>>> Honda NSR 125 >>>> Suzuki GSXR 600 K1 >>>> Suzuki GSXR 600 K4 >>>>Kawasaki Z1000 DAF >>>>Suzuki RMZ 250 >>>> Current >>>> KTM Superduke R 1290 >>>>