Battery question

[Alex28]

2004 Honda CRF230F Question

I just bought a new battery and a charger for my 2004 Honda CRF230F, the battery didn't come with a charge so I have it in the bike right now and it's plugged into the charger. The charger says that it can take 35 hours to charge a battery that has never had a charge. (I bought a cheap charger.) Anyways my question is I'm itching to ride and the bike bump/roll starts no problem, would it hurt the battery to unplug when it's not fully charged and go for a ride and then plug it in when I get back?

Thanks
-Alex

 

[Alex28]

anyone?

 

[Porkchop]

That should take about an hour. Is 35 hours a type error? Golf cart- multiple battery set ups take that kind of time, not a small mc battery. Cheap chargers are what they are.
Consider getting a diehard smart charger, It will tell you the voltage & what % of charge state the battery in question is at. I have one & am vary pleased with it. I has modes for 6 volt, 12 volt, deep cycle, agm, & standard lead acid auto batteries.
disconnect your battery from your bike when charging.
Cost was 60-80$ & well worth it. Good Luck.... :cool:

 

[Alex28]

It's a $20 charger, and it says for batterys that have never had a charge you should charge it for at least 35 hours. It doesn't harm anything leaving the battery in the bike while charging it right? It's a hassle to remove it if there is really no reason to do so.

 

[rmc_olderthandirt]

It's a $20 charger, and it says for batterys that have never had a charge you should charge it for at least 35 hours. It doesn't harm anything leaving the battery in the bike while charging it right? It's a hassle to remove it if there is really no reason to do so.

A) $20 is cheap for a charger, and I don't trust cheap chargers much.

B) How a charger could say that it takes 35 hours to charge a battery without knowing the size of the battery is just plain ridiculous.


A lead acid battery (which your battery probably is) doesn't need an initial charge. When you pour the acid into the battery it starts off charged.

If you drain a battery so that it is completely dead then you WILL damage it, how long it sits dead determines how much damage. You don't want to do that.

If the battery is just low you can calculate how many hours it will take to charge the battery based on the size of the battery and the charging current available. A typical motorcycle battery will be between 4 and 8 amp-hours. If you have an 8 amp-hour battery, and charge it with 2 amps, it will take at most 4 hours to fully charge it, assuming it was nead dead when you started.

A cheap charger won't provide a constant current so you may have to double or triple the time in order to compensate for the current tapering off as the battery voltage comes up.

I would NOT leave a cheap charger on a motorcycle battery for more than a few hours as it could over charge the battery. 'Battery tenders" are very low output chargers that are designed to not overcharge and these can be left on, but don't expect them to charge a dead battery.

Bottom line, though, is that if you just got a brand new battery, put it in and go ride!

Rod

 

[Alex28]

I appreciate the response man, I went out and bought a better charger and the battery is now charged, the problem is my electric start wont work, and its an 04' Honda CRF230F so it doesn' have a kick start. I can bump start it no problem and it runs good, I just don't know why the electric start won't work.

 

[holeshot]

, and its an 04' Honda CRF230F so it doesn' have a kick start. .

This is why I think dirt bikes (any) with e-start and no kickstart back-up are a bad deal. Many argue that your car/truck doesn't have a kickstart, so what's the big deal?. Has the e-start on my car/truck ever failed? Yes, on more than one occasion. Fortunately, I was in a place accessible to a tow truck - you won't be so fortunate if your e-start bike fails in the boonies.

Failure to start - reasons as follows.

1. The battery went dead because of a failing charging system.
2. Battery went dead because the battery was defective.
3. The starter was shot.

Or maybe in your case, you have a short or broken connection (fuse?).

Start with a cheap multi meter like the ones found at autozone and try and trace the fault. If the starter is getting sufficient voltage, then it's the starter.

A service manual is a wonderful thing ....

 

[Alex28]

Thanks for the help, I need to buy a service manual.

 

[rmc_olderthandirt]

The fuses would be a great place to start.

Make sure all the electrical connections are tight.

Then with either a test light or a meter I would begin testing at the battery and work my way back. I find a test light easier (one hand operation) in this kind of testing. They are cheap, buy them at any auto parts store. Looks like an Ice Pick with a wire coming out the handle. Clamp the end of the wire to the battery negative, poke the sharp end to the battery positive and the light should turn on.

Leave the clamp on the battery negative. Follow the big wire from the battery positive to where it goes, which will probably be the starter relay, but it could be to the starter itself. Poke that terminal, light should come on. If it doesn't, then either the wire is bad or the connection is dirty.

If it is a relay then there will be another wire about the same size going from the relay to the starter. Poke that terminal and try to start the bike. If the light turns on when you push the start button, then the relay is good and the starter is bad.

If you get nothing out of the relay then either the relay is bad or the control to the relay is bad. There should be a small wire that connects to the relay which would come from the starter switch. Poke this terminal, and push the start button. If the light comes on, but the relay doesn't operate, then the relay is bad. If you get nothing at the small wire terminal then you need to trace that wire up to the start button.

Now it gets harder to trace. The small wire on the relay should go to the handlebar area but the exact order and how it routes can be hard to establish. There is the "push button" and the key switch. Somewhere there should be a fuse.

Now is where you need the service manual.

Rod

 

[Alex28]

Thank you so much Rod, you don't know how much I appreciate your help, I'll go through those steps and hopefully I can figure out whats going on.

 

[Porkchop]

Some bikes with e start are wired with the control wire positive hooked up full time, the negative wire then becomes the control from the handle bar switch. If a prior owner changed out the bars, they may have left the negative jumper wire off. See if there is continuity be between the frame & the handle bars? If there is none, & this is the case, provide one.(the wire should connect to the frame, on a bolt & on the other end connect to one of the two bolts that retain the handle bar clamps, under the top triple clamp.) And as RCM stated, find & inspect the fuse (s). Good luck... :coocoo: CAUTION, verify this with a wiring diagram from your manual first.

 

[mike6187]

Great discussion here. I got the same motorcycle battery problem with Alex. So, thankful i found this thread this will be a big help to me and to everyone.
A big THANK YOU to Rod to all his shared knowledge and ideas regarding the problem. :cool: