Unsealed battery maintenance

[asp_125]

Can sulfated batteries be revived by adding distilled water or are they just going bad? Unlike the sealed batteries on my Gixxers the BMW battery is the old kind. I've got it on a tender for 12hrs now and it's not gone into float mode, so I suspect the battery is not holding a charge. Have not had the chance to remove the fairings to check the acid levels in the cells.

[Wrider]

It can definitely help to add the distilled water, but sometimes even then they're too sufated. There are a few chargers out there that send pulses into the battery as a way of breaking up the physical sulfation, and they work, but they're damned expensive.

[Sarge]

All batteries sulfate, it's just how they work. The problem is, if the sulfer builds up too thick or too long, it crystalizes, and once it crystalizes it's pretty much a lost cause. Normal use sulfer is typically a powder. If a battery hasn't been charged in 6 months sulfer has typically sulfated to a crystal state and a standard charger won't dislodge/destroy the crystal sulfates. So, in response to your question, you're probably gonna need a new battery.

[asp_125]

http://www.xtremechargers.com/collections/battery-chargers

Anyone used these before? I guess for what I'd pay for one of these I might as well get a new battery.

[Wrider]

That's actually the one I was talking about. I did see it bring back a battery that had been sitting for a year outside (protected from rain/sun but exposed to temps) in Gunnison. Customer used the battery for another year before it died.

[brennahm]

Do you really want to ride around with a repaired battery in your charging system? I'm all for saving money too, but...

[asp_125]

Well.. battery maintenance 101 fail. I took out the old one and half the cells were way dry. On the BMW you have to remove two fairings, pop the seat and then get at the battery, so my slacking off killed the old battery.