In terms of not damaging my motorcycle battery, which must remain
outside but unused this winter, is there a real difference between my
1 amp battery charger that I got used from my 80-year old cousin in
1967 versus the new ones they sell now that say they regulate the
voltage as the battery reaches full charge?

Is there a benefit to me to buy one of the new ones, when the old one
still works fine.

Mine has a a circuit breaker (a little glass thing that looks
something like a small Christmas tree light) that trips when it goes
over 1 amp. It trips every 5 seconds and resets automatically in 2
seconds. But below one amp, it charges at the full rate that can be
squeezed into the battery, declining as the battery becomes fully
charge, but never reaching zero, I think. I have always wondered what
is going on when the battery is fully charged but I'm still charging
it, and that includes a car battery. When cars still had ammeters,
even maybe when the car was idling, but certainly at higher speeds,
there were always 5 amps entering the battery. How come that doesn't
hurt it?

The motorcycle battery is 12 ampere-hours, and since I haven't been
able to get the cycle runnning yet, it will have to be charged maybe
once a month during the winter.

Remove NOPSAM to email me..

In article , mm wrote:
In terms of not damaging my motorcycle battery, which must remain
outside but unused this winter, is there a real difference between my
1 amp battery charger that I got used from my 80-year old cousin in
1967 versus the new ones they sell now that say they regulate the
voltage as the battery reaches full charge?

Is there a benefit to me to buy one of the new ones, when the old one
still works fine.

Mine has a a circuit breaker (a little glass thing that looks
something like a small Christmas tree light) that trips when it goes
over 1 amp. It trips every 5 seconds and resets automatically in 2
seconds. But below one amp, it charges at the full rate that can be
squeezed into the battery, declining as the battery becomes fully
charge, but never reaching zero, I think. I have always wondered what
is going on when the battery is fully charged but I'm still charging
it, and that includes a car battery. When cars still had ammeters,
even maybe when the car was idling, but certainly at higher speeds,
there were always 5 amps entering the battery. How come that doesn't
hurt it?

The motorcycle battery is 12 ampere-hours, and since I haven't been
able to get the cycle runnning yet, it will have to be charged maybe
once a month during the winter.

Most charger like the one you have will cause the battery to bubble at a
rate too high for constant charging. You only need perhaps no more
than 10 ma. after the battery is charged to maintain it. There are some smart chargers
but they may still overboil the battery. I would actually recommend trying a solar charger.
I should install one of those on my vehicles. 5 amps through the battery is certainly going to
boil it hard, but not 24 hours a day.

greg

GregS wrote:
In article , mm wrote:
In terms of not damaging my motorcycle battery, which must remain
outside but unused this winter, is there a real difference between my
1 amp battery charger that I got used from my 80-year old cousin in
1967 versus the new ones they sell now that say they regulate the
voltage as the battery reaches full charge?

Is there a benefit to me to buy one of the new ones, when the old one
still works fine.

Mine has a a circuit breaker (a little glass thing that looks
something like a small Christmas tree light) that trips when it goes
over 1 amp. It trips every 5 seconds and resets automatically in 2
seconds. But below one amp, it charges at the full rate that can be
squeezed into the battery, declining as the battery becomes fully
charge, but never reaching zero, I think. I have always wondered what
is going on when the battery is fully charged but I'm still charging
it, and that includes a car battery. When cars still had ammeters,
even maybe when the car was idling, but certainly at higher speeds,
there were always 5 amps entering the battery. How come that doesn't
hurt it?

The motorcycle battery is 12 ampere-hours, and since I haven't been
able to get the cycle runnning yet, it will have to be charged maybe
once a month during the winter.

Most charger like the one you have will cause the battery to bubble at a
rate too high for constant charging. You only need perhaps no more
than 10 ma. after the battery is charged to maintain it. There are some smart chargers
but they may still overboil the battery. I would actually recommend trying a solar charger.
I should install one of those on my vehicles. 5 amps through the battery is certainly going to
boil it hard, but not 24 hours a day.

greg

To add to the above, if you hear/see the battery bubbling (boiling) you
are overcharging it.

"mm" wrote in message
...
In terms of not damaging my motorcycle battery, which must remain
outside but unused this winter, is there a real difference between my
1 amp battery charger that I got used from my 80-year old cousin in
1967 versus the new ones they sell now that say they regulate the
voltage as the battery reaches full charge?

Is there a benefit to me to buy one of the new ones, when the old one
still works fine.

snip

Get an Optimate II, it also includes a de-sulphate charging mode and
constantly checks battery condition when left on charge.

My spare bike didn't get used since the previous MOT, and although the
battery was new for that MOT the bike had not been started once in a whole
year, when I got the bike out for the last MOT the battery was nearly flat
and just starting to sulphate - a couple of days on the Optimate and the
bike started first time.

Any good battery maintenance charger should do something similar, the
Optimate uses a combination of current limiting and voltage limiting to
recover sulphated batteries and continually charge without excessive gassing
(electrolyte loss).

"mm" wrote in message
...

In terms of not damaging my motorcycle battery, which must remain
outside but unused this winter, is there a real difference between my
1 amp battery charger that I got used from my 80-year old cousin in
1967 versus the new ones they sell now that say they regulate the
voltage as the battery reaches full charge?

Why not bring the battery inside? Charge it for an hour every so often.

In article ,
ian field wrote:
Get an Optimate II, it also includes a de-sulphate charging mode and
constantly checks battery condition when left on charge.

It's a hell of a price for a tiny power supply. Plenty of real chargers on
the market which include an auto maintenance charge - but will also charge
a flat battery in a reasonable time. For not much more money.

--
*A person who smiles in the face of adversity probably has a scapegoat *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

"Dave Plowman (News)" wrote in message
...
In article ,
ian field wrote:
Get an Optimate II, it also includes a de-sulphate charging mode and
constantly checks battery condition when left on charge.

It's a hell of a price for a tiny power supply. Plenty of real chargers on
the market which include an auto maintenance charge - but will also charge
a flat battery in a reasonable time. For not much more money.


The Optimate is what the bike shop near me keeps in stock - in other
locations there may be more choice.

mm wrote:
In terms of not damaging my motorcycle battery, which must remain
outside but unused this winter, is there a real difference between my
1 amp battery charger that I got used from my 80-year old cousin in
1967 versus the new ones they sell now that say they regulate the
voltage as the battery reaches full charge?

Is there a benefit to me to buy one of the new ones, when the old one
still works fine.

Mine has a a circuit breaker (a little glass thing that looks
something like a small Christmas tree light) that trips when it goes
over 1 amp. It trips every 5 seconds and resets automatically in 2
seconds. But below one amp, it charges at the full rate that can be
squeezed into the battery, declining as the battery becomes fully
charge, but never reaching zero, I think. I have always wondered what
is going on when the battery is fully charged but I'm still charging
it, and that includes a car battery. When cars still had ammeters,
even maybe when the car was idling, but certainly at higher speeds,
there were always 5 amps entering the battery. How come that doesn't
hurt it?

The motorcycle battery is 12 ampere-hours, and since I haven't been
able to get the cycle runnning yet, it will have to be charged maybe
once a month during the winter.

Remove NOPSAM to email me..
simple solution put a 24 hout timer on it and let is cycle 1 or 2 hours
a day, they run about 5 bucks and work for years

"David Naylor" wrote in message
. ..
mm wrote:
The motorcycle battery is 12 ampere-hours, and since I haven't been
able to get the cycle runnning yet, it will have to be charged maybe
once a month during the winter.

Remove NOPSAM to email me..
simple solution put a 24 hout timer on it and let is cycle 1 or 2 hours
a day, they run about 5 bucks and work for years

Lead acid battery self-discharges about 1% per day. 1 amp/hr a day would be
a serious overcharge.

30% discharge is pushing it on sulfation alone. I keep my bikes in a
basement/garage so have forgotten the details but a discharged battery can
freeze.

On Mon, 06 Nov 2006 10:00:40 -0500, mm
wrote:

In terms of not damaging my motorcycle battery, which must remain
outside but unused this winter, is there a real difference between my
1 amp battery charger that I got used from my 80-year old cousin in
1967 versus the new ones they sell now that say they regulate the
voltage as the battery reaches full charge?

Is there a benefit to me to buy one of the new ones, when the old one
still works fine.

Mine has a a circuit breaker (a little glass thing that looks
something like a small Christmas tree light) that trips when it goes
over 1 amp. It trips every 5 seconds and resets automatically in 2
seconds. But below one amp, it charges at the full rate that can be
squeezed into the battery, declining as the battery becomes fully
charge, but never reaching zero, I think. I have always wondered what
is going on when the battery is fully charged but I'm still charging
it, and that includes a car battery. When cars still had ammeters,
even maybe when the car was idling, but certainly at higher speeds,
there were always 5 amps entering the battery. How come that doesn't
hurt it?

The motorcycle battery is 12 ampere-hours, and since I haven't been
able to get the cycle runnning yet, it will have to be charged maybe
once a month during the winter.

Remove NOPSAM to email me..

I wouldn't be surprised if this unit from the 60's didn't use a
selenium rectifier...

These operated on the bulk charging principle and relied on the
voltage difference between the rectifier output and the battery
voltage to determine the current drawn. When the battery is flat the
output voltage from the rectifier is high relative to the battery
voltage. In this case the maximum current available from the rectifier
passes through the battery and the current operated thermal switch
then operates to prevent the transformer from burning out. Ideally, As
the battery voltage rises with each successive charging burst the
difference between the rectifier output voltage and the battery
voltage diminishes to the point where they are hopefully nearly equal
at around 14V or thereabouts. The thermal switch now remains closed
even though some current is being pushed through the battery.
Unfortunately, it is never possible for the transformer to regulate at
around 14V when the battery is fully charged since because the
charging current diminishes the rectifier output voltage tends to
increase slightly thus resulting in a voltage differential which
produces a fairly high trickle charge. Prolonged trickle operation
will damage the battery.

If you want to retain this relic for sentimental reasons you may be
able to fit it with an add-on charge regulator kit like this one which
was specifically designed for simple low cost units like yours.
http://www.jaycar.com.au/productView.asp?ID=KA1795