Ducati Sporting Club UK > Model Specific - Discussion, Technical Problems and Help > General Motorcycles only > is my battery dead

[Glyn]

as i'm off work for xmas and the new year i've popped my bike onto the optimate thingy keep the battery nice n fresh.
after the charge the little light comes on saying weak.
what does this mean?
is it just a matter of knocking some miles up to get it charging right, or time to get a new one.
it seems to turn the engine over as well as ever.
also when it first went on charge the desulphate light was on.
once again i'm clueless

[phil_h]

Hmmm
'smart' changers ... I'm getting fed up with mine ... I'm an electronics engineer by training, and the 3 different ones I have all get it wrong for pretty simple things.
Personally, I hate the optimate, cos it promises the most and delivers ... quite a bit less than that ( I have had several batteries that it has said were crap which have charged perfectly with its cousin the simpler 'ultimate')
Because the chargers monitor the battery terminal voltage differently according to what amount of current they are putting in, different things can confuse them.
My latest problem has been that those stupid right-angled bits on my 748 have had the horizontal-bolt-bit start to come out (couldnt feel them tightening properly), which caused just a bit of a bad connection, and hence about 0.2V extra drop on charge which caused the charger to short-cycle in and out of boost and maintenance mode. (Sorry to go on, but that means its not good !)
If you have this kind of problem it will prob mean that the bikes reg wont charge the batt properly either !
ALWAYS CHECK ALL THE BOLTS FOR TIGHTNESS FIRST !!!

If you read the leaflet it'll tell you the voltages it is working on, and they are the numbers you need to look at with a voltmeter to tell if the battery is still ok really, just 'past its best'.

You have already worked out the 'acid' test (sorry) which is whether it turns the engine over !
The time to really really change the battery is when it makes the sprag-starter chatter - that means some horrible wear is happening inside the left hand case which is to be avoided !
(Rant over)

[Jools]

Dunno about your battery mate, but mines been on the optimate all the time it's been off the road. Came to move it the other day (uphill) and thought I'd pipe it up for a bit since I was going to have to start it to move it.

Nothing! Not even the datatool LED flashing. Checked that I hadn't done anything stupid like unplugging the optimate, no...that was still plugged in, but didn't have a single light on. The leccy drill worked when I plugged it into the same socket so it looks as if the optimate is dead

I suppose it could be something obvious like a fuse, but I haven't had chance to check it out for any more than a few minutes. I don't know if the battery will charge again when I get the optimate sorted (or get a new one - but it's only just over a year old), maybe the battery is so deeply discharged that it won't take a charge no more? Anyhow, our bikes are virtually the same age if yours is like mine and on it's original battery it may be getting past it at three and a half years old

[phil_h]

If you check the optimate fuse and that ok, and you havnt got another bike battery to test the optimate on ... it's fine to try it on the car's battery !
It wont charge it of course, but you should see its lights come on.

[Monty]

Glyn and Jools, if it makes you feel any better the battery on the 4S has just died-and it's 3 1/2 years old-just like yours!
The battery was fully charged 2 weeks before xmas for when you were going to borrow it Jules, went to start it for our aborted run on the 28th-nothing-not even the immobilizer light was working, so I think that is REALLY dead............
Luckily I have a spare which I have charged so will swap it over tomorrow.

John

[rockhopper]

When i plug the optimate into either of our bikes it always initially comes up with the weak light no matter how long the bike has been standing or if they have just been ridden or whatever. They both always start first time though!!!