Battery Charging

[Blown&Injected]

Have not been on the bike for Months Anyway it almost did not start due to weak battery.

I hook-up my charger. 10 Amps for a couple of hours and then switch it to 2 Amps and forgot it was hooked-up. Was on the charger, but only at 2 Amps, for six days.

Did I hurt anything?

It says it is not an Automatic Charger but the Amp meter goes down as the battery charges - thought that what Automatic chargers do.

 

[Electrajim]

Any harm? Doubt it. I think leaving a battery dead for a period of time is worse!

ElectraJim

 

[Scott-N-GA]

If the battery is serviceable, meaning you can add water/acid you may want to check the level. Usually those vent enough to not hurt them. If you get a sealed battery sometimes it will drop the level.
A good battery charger would kick on and off so it should be fine.

Scott

 

[Blown&Injected]

I think I should be OK, it is holding 12.8 volts.

Can't open the battery.

 

[Greyling]

As your battery charges up it'll draw less and less current. Should be fine. I've had batteries sit floating with an Astron power supply on them for weeks and no harm done.

 

[87GNSteve]

It depends on the charger. If it kept delivering 2 AMPS when the battery reached a fully charged state, then some damage might have occured.

Charge Termination
Once a battery is fully charged, the charging current has to be dissipated somehow. The result is the generation of heat and gasses both of which are bad for batteries. The essence of good charging is to be able to detect when the reconstitution of the active chemicals is complete and to stop the charging process before any damage is done while at all times maintaining the cell temperature within its safe limits. Detecting this cut off point and terminating the charge is critical in preserving battery life. In the simplest of chargers this is when a predetermined upper voltage limit, often called the termination voltage has been reached. This is particularly important with fast chargers where the danger of overcharging is greater.



Safe Charging
If for any reason there is a risk of over charging the battery, either from errors in determining the cut off point or from abuse this will normally be accompanied by a rise in temperature. Internal fault conditions within the battery or high ambient temperatures can also take a battery beyond its safe operating temperature limits. Elevated temperatures hasten the death of batteries and monitoring the cell temperature is a good way of detecting signs of trouble from a variety of causes. The temperature signal, or a resettable fuse, can be used to turn off or disconnect the charger when danger signs appear to avoid damaging the battery. This simple additional safety precaution is particularly important for high power batteries where the consequences of failure can be both serious and expensive.


[reference: mpoweruk.com]