battery charging

A 2 amp charger won't charge at 2 amps. That just its rated max. More
likely it will charge at less than 1 amp. I've been using a two amp charger
for years on a wide range of different size batteries and never had a
problem. I can tell if a battery is fully charged by the amount of gas it
gives off. Once a battery is fully charged you will see a lot more bubbles
forming on the plates than what you see during the charging process.

A volt meter will tell you the state of charge of a battery. 12.6 volts is
fully charged, 12.3 is about 1/2. If the battery has been sitting for more
than 12 hours you can get an accurate reading however if you attempt to
measure the voltage immediately after taking the battery off charge the
voltage will be much higher. After charging I usually check the voltage the
following day just to be sure a full charge has been reached.

I charge my battereis about once per month during the off season and I
usually get 4 years or more out of my batteries.

Dave

97 BMW R1100GS
75 BMW R75/6
87 Yamaha XT350
95 Kawasaki Vulcan 500

"Kim" wrote in message

 > i have a maintenance free sealed battery.
 >
 > on the side it says standard charge .6A 5-10hours
 >
 > what i'm wondering is if charging at 2A for shorter will damage the
battery.
 >
 > my only other option is to buy a 1A charger.
 > ======================================
 > also my battery hasn't been used in a while so how would i check how long
i
 > need to charge for? could i use a voltmeter from a hardware store?
 >

 >
 >
 >> Stay informed about: battery charging 

I had to do some learning about batteries several years ago when we were
building some underwater lights

I believe the power making chemistry in sealed batteries is the same as in
any lead acid battery. A different material is used to alloy the lead to
greatly reduce the water loss while charging due to gassing off, therefore
don't need topping up with water.

A battery used in a bike needs plates to be as thin as possible to give the
max surface area, therefore cranking amps, for the weight. This is 180 deg
to a "deep cycling" battery, like you'd get for your motorhome for when
you're parked. Good part is they put out high amps for their size and can
conversely accept high charge rates. Bad part is they don't like vibration
or being completely discharged. Few things are harder on these batteries
than a bike or a boat because of the vibration.

The key is to keep it charged up and not let the thing go dead. They are
very tolerant of charge rates, as long they don't get "hot" to the touch.
One of the issues addressed in the link below is the 2 different charging
techniques (current vs voltage), there's the 2 charging theories and some
other relivent info there

Bottom line: any charger you'd put on your car you can out on your bike if
it does't get the battery hot.

I keep my bike battery in the back of the fridge in winter, once a month I
put it back in the bike, startup the bike and let it run 'till it's hot, top
up the charge in the battery and put it back in the fridge.

I do this monthly startup thing also partly to keep the carbs from getting
gummed up

Some worthwhile reading here about bike batteries:
<a rel="nofollow" style='text-decoration: none;' href="http://www.yuasabatteries.com/motor_battery.asp" target="_blank">http://www.yuasabatteries.com/motor_battery.asp</a>

Hoping this is of value...

D.

"Kim" wrote in message

 > i have a maintenance free sealed battery.
 >
 > on the side it says standard charge .6A 5-10hours
 >
 > what i'm wondering is if charging at 2A for shorter will damage the
battery.
 >
 > my only other option is to buy a 1A charger.
 > ======================================
 > also my battery hasn't been used in a while so how would i check how long
i
 > need to charge for? could i use a voltmeter from a hardware store?
 >

 >
 >
 >> Stay informed about: battery charging