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Norge battery (RIP?)

A couple of notes out of the B11 Owners Manual:

P.75: When the motorcycle is to be left unused for over twenty days, disconnect the 30-A fuses, otherwise the multifunction computer will keep drawing current and the battery will deteriorate.
Apparently, the instrument panel draws enough current to cause concern.

The LED for the security system can be enabled/disabled under MENU | SETTINGS | IMMOBILIZER LED
 
Thanks, Nero. I'll have a look at that. But again, this can't be a huge draw, it's probably peanuts compared to what the rest of the system draws.

The interesting question is whether date, trip info etc. are retained when removing the 30A fuses. In fact, I'd expect that the computer were protected with much smaller fuses (or is, behind one of those 30A fuses)!

blackcat: was that the factory battery you replaced? Had you been keeping it on a tender or leaving it outside alone in the cold like I (have to) do?
 
Bonus question: I was told that MG dealers are instructed to put the battery on new bikes on a 24h deep-charge in order to optimise their performance, and that I ought to do the same on the new battery I'm awaiting. Now apparently that one will have to be prepared (45 min. procedure), after which I can just take it on a good ride. I'm inclined to follow up the instructions that come with the battery, though I guess that a ride and a (trickle) charge cycle boil down to the same thing. But 24 hours???
Thoughts?
 
Whatever bike Im running (currently B11) I always fit an extra earth lead and use an Odyssey battery.
A PC545 is 13cm high, 8.5cm deep and 17.5cm wide and will fit in a B11 battery compartment (with a bit of wood as packing) I dont know if it would fit an ABS model though?

The live terminal sits under the clutch bleed cable so Ive cable tied a condom on it just in case it accidentally connects.

Ive had no electrical problems whatsoever using Odyssey batteries, they are well worth the expense.
Although I got mine off e-bay for £45 so in this case they are actually cheaper than an oem battery!
The same guy regularly lists them.

Only time the electrics played up was after filling the tank at a petrol station and the sidestand switch was sticking.
 
The inversion of the positive and negative terminals is a bit of a problem. Otherwise, it appears to be about 5mm thicker, so it'll be tight, but it'll fit. You'd need something to get hold of the little rubber that helps holding the cover down, though, on ABS models.

What's the purpose of the extra earth lead?
 
RJVB wrote:

blackcat: was that the factory battery you replaced? Had you been keeping it on a tender or leaving it outside alone in the cold like I (have to) do?[/quote]

Factory battery. What killed mine was the slow trickle from a GPS wire while I waited for a set of inner spark plugs. Ran it down to about 8.0 volts and it never maintained a charge after that experience. Every once in awhile I would put the battery on a BatteryTender and the bike lives in a garage.
 
OK. I connect my GPS through the accessory socket, and never leave it on the bike. I do leave the plug off the socket, though, and I've actually wondered if I haven't have something cause a leak in there (didn't find any fried bugs, though I was probably too upset to notice any if there were :silly:)

New battery is sitting on my desk right now, still with the acid in na separate container. The battery instructions do indeed state to charge it after filling (possibly on the bike), and nothing I've seen mentions that it'll have 80% of the charge "like that". So now the question is: will my 12V 1A charger be able to charge it (in due time), given that the battery says to charge with 1.8A?
 
Update: 4ºC and 11.6V on the dash read-out tonight. Didn't try starting - will do tomorrow to take here on a 300+ km trip (through a drizzle, it looks like :-/ )
 
RJVB wrote:
OK. I connect my GPS through the accessory socket, and never leave it on the bike. I do leave the plug off the socket, though, and I've actually wondered if I haven't have something cause a leak in there (didn't find any fried bugs, though I was probably too upset to notice any if there were :silly:)

New battery is sitting on my desk right now, still with the acid in na separate container. The battery instructions do indeed state to charge it after filling (possibly on the bike), and nothing I've seen mentions that it'll have 80% of the charge "like that". So now the question is: will my 12V 1A charger be able to charge it (in due time), given that the battery says to charge with 1.8A?

Rene,

You should have started yesterday. That said, with the 1 amp charger you are looking at 18 hours for a full charge. That said, juice it and charge as long as you can. Best to charge outside the bike with the caps off covered with a paper towel to let the excessive gas release easily. Then cap it and use it. In the old days with the standard lead acid batteries it wasn't uncommon to have to top off the electrolyte after charging.
 
Thanks, John. 18 hours isn't a real problem as far as I'm concerned, to put a new battery into service and fortunately the charger indicates when the battery is full. I had a doubt that I'd not charge at all, the charger not overcoming the battery's internal resistance. The instruction sheet says to charge with the caps resting loosely in the opening, guess I'll do that.

If you meant my bike ought to have started yesterday: she did! If you mean I should've started the operation yesterday: I couldn't - new battery only arrived today (had to be ordered). But: I want to know more about the old battery's state, and in a sense I'd prefer to repeat last weekend's experience so that I can decide (with the new battery) whether it was indeed the old one dying on me, or something less simple. So I'm going to take (at least) one more longish trip before preparing the new battery.
 
RJVB wrote:
The inversion of the positive and negative terminals is a bit of a problem. Otherwise, it appears to be about 5mm thicker, so it'll be tight, but it'll fit. You'd need something to get hold of the little rubber that helps holding the cover down, though, on ABS models.

What's the purpose of the extra earth lead?

A lot of electrical problems are down to a bad earth, so by running another earth lead off to a different part of the bike you are solving the problem before it appears.
 
Hi - It's good to be back :)

The quickest way to destroy a bike (or any for that matter) Gell battery is Incorrect charging.

A Standard type charger will over charge your battery and start to destroy it the moment it hits Full charge.

Go get a 2 or 3 stage charger.
In the UK the best are regarded as an Optimate and cost about £45.00

This is a charger that will sense the Battery throughout the charging cycle, Bulk charge it, Top it off at a lower rate and then drop to a standby charge.

An Optimate also has a recovery cycle that will often revive a deeply discharged battery. The reality is however that the battery will never be quite the same.
 
hi Parcan,

Quick reaction: ours are not gel batteries, they're AGM (absorbed glass mat).

The charger I have is an intelligent one, just limited in power, and if you look at the link I posted, it looks like 2 drops of water like an Optimate. Pity I discovered the Optimate after buying mine, because it'd have cost me about the same amount...
 
Hey RJVB do you think this is the kind of stuff I should get to prevent the same problem you experienced???

chargeuriq4.jpg
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I saw it here : http://www.rad.eu/fr/c/p/13297-optimate ... tAodeWuB2w
and it seems a good bargain (shipping included in the price)

Whatcha' think? Huh?!:)
 
It mentions AGM and VRLA (no idea, but that's the insult the leaflet with my new battery carries ;) ). So I guess it'll be good, but others will have to confirm. I'm just about as uneducated in this domain as you told me you are.

Have you checked Cardy? Their 'club' price for the Optimate IV is about the same, and for whatever difference there is, you get people behind a counter, which isn't necessarily a disadvantage.
 
Yes I just have to figure out the nearest Cardy dealer in my area!!! Over here it's a biker's no man's land... no real bike accessories store in sight!
I think I'll have to ride into Paris to get what I am looking for!
 
Nearest Cardy can probably be found via www.cardy.fr ;) No need to ride *into* Paris, though, not farther than near the Arc de Triomphe, but you'll have most chance to find what you need at the Coignières shop.

I did about 300km yesterday, without a single problem. Battery hadn't lost since the evening before, and when running (even at idle), voltage shown on the dash was 13.4V. That later dropped a bit — is that a sign of the battery's internal resistance dropping due to higher temperature. Voltage shown immediately after killing the engine was about 12.6V.

Bike is in my mother-in-law's garage now. No working mains connection there, so she's not on the charger. I went out with a multimeter earlier today, though, and noticed there's a good difference between what the dash says and what I measure directly across the terminals (battery connected of course). Engine off, the dash said 11.6V, the meter a good 12.6V. With the engine at 2500rpm, the dash said 13.4V, the meter 13.9V - which sounds healthy to me.

If this were not an AGM battery, would you say it's on its way out? A fully charged, healthy battery should give more than what I'm seeing, no?

Oh, and the resistance between the negative terminal and engine bolts is a very healthy 0 ohms :)
 
I've heard of more batteries ailing that I'd consider *normal* on the new models and I'm pretty sure that it is down to poor preparation and activation than anything else.

I'm happy to deffer to those with more experience and knowledge on the charging rate but I do know that if you simply add the acid, throw the battery in the bike and then start it, (And it will usually start after a few minutes.) the mats won't of had the chance to absorb the acid properly and some will get spat out and the plates/mats/whatever will loose some of their efficiency and storage capacity. this may not be immediately terminal but it will shorten the life of the battery.

Whether its right or wrong on my bikes what I've done is fill the battery then left it overnight for the mats to absorb the acid. Then next morning i put it on a high trickle charge for 15 minutes before installing it on the bike.

My yellow 2006 Griso went to a new home two days ago and still had the original battery in and it would still start on the button even if left idle for a month.

Pete
 
Out of the top of my head, I do think indeed that the instruction leaflet calls for letting the battery sit for an hour or so, before putting it on a charger.

Some background reading (which doesn't really apport any answers to all of the above, if I understood everything correctly):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorbed_glass_mat
 
Hi WonderB

That is exactly the correct type of charger to use.

There are other names and brands out there on the market which are probably just as good.

The important bit is that it's a 2 or even better, a 3 stage charger.
 
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