Charging bike battery with car charger?

--amadeus-- · 09-09-2011 9:44am #1

Hi folks,

The battery on my 1000cc Honda Varadero is flat. I don't have a bike battery specific charger but I do have one for 1.6 and below car engines. I assume that I can use it to recharge the bike battery, can't I?

Thanks!

Oryx · 09-09-2011 10:03am

A bike battery is much smaller than a car one, and usually needs to be charged at a rate of 10% of its own ampage. So car chargers are usually too strong. Moreso with your battery (YTX14BS) which is gel. This needs to be charged on an electronic charger so it won't overheat.

LookBehindYou · 09-09-2011 12:03pm

Give it a jump start from another vehicle (make sure engine not running in other vehicle)
Those yokes are very hard to push start.

Dont use a car charger to charge your bike battery.

Oryx · 09-09-2011 1:19pm

Dont jump start a bike from another vehicle. You might get away with it or you might fry the electrics.

--amadeus-- · 09-09-2011 1:45pm

I didn't know you knew so much about bikes! No end to your talents

Bike wouldn't start this morning and battery was pretty much dead (no kick start on it either). When I got home this afternoon it had changed from damp & cool weather to dry and bright and I was able to coax it into life with whatever residual charge was on it. So then I had to go for a 30something mile spin in the countryside just to make sure everything was fully charged. What a shame!

Oryx · 09-09-2011 1:59pm

Work with em all day long

glad you got sorted.

paddy147 · 23-09-2011 11:25pm

This is what happens to a bike battery when you try to charge it with a car battery charger (note the bulge in the side of the battery).

Highly dangerous and a potential acid bomb ready to explode and badly burn you.

goldie fish · 24-09-2011 12:09pm

Get a Multimate, designed for motorbuke batteries.

Tigger · 24-09-2011 5:34pm

http://www.amazon.co.uk/OptiMate-4-Battery-charger-conditioner/dp/B000R5936U/ref=pd_sxp_grid_i_1_0

31h9XtrbUtL._SL500_AA300_.jpg

brilliant piece of kit

Boskowski · 27-09-2011 1:55pm

Forget about the 1.6 litre thing, its just a simplification made up by the industry based on the assumption cars 1.6 litre or less typically use batteries of such and such capacity.

As indicated its all about the capacity of the battery which is measured in Amp/h. Typical values are 20,40 or 60 or even quite a bit more for car batteries. Meaning you can (theoretically) draw from a 20Amp/h battery 20 amps for 1 hour or 1 amp for twenty hours etcpp. Astarter for a big car engine may require several hundred ampere to turn the engine over and start her. Therefore car batteries - especially for bigger cars - are usually quite a bit bigger than motorcycle batteries. My bike has no starter for example and the batterie is a little 20 amp/h just to run the lights when parked.

Anyway, the correct charging current is 10% of the nominal value, supposed to fully recharge the battery over the course of 10 hours. So for a 60 Amp/h battery the ideal charging current would be 6 amps. A good charger also has a regulator which manipulates the current accordingly when the battery is full.

Check the information on your battery and on your charger and see for yourself whether it is a (near enough) fit.
A decent charger doesn't cost he world on eBay btw.

Charging bike battery with car charger?

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