Moped battery question

[supermatelot]

I've got a 150cc chicken chaser. Used to do around 150 miles per week on it until covid crap. Work from a nearer station now for 4 shifts out of 6 so 6 mile round trips for 4 days, then 2 30 mile round trips.
Now working from home also. Moped is a Sinnis Matrix 3i. Kept in garage. Didnt start today. Dash lit up etc but not enough power to start. 11v on multimeter.

Battery is a Lextek 12V 6aH battery.
STuck it on our car battery charger for an hour and re-connected...moped started.

My question...Battery charger has a "repair mode", and I have reconnected it...and its still running after several hours.
What exactly is going on with it and how long can I expect it to take?

Pic enclosed - the power bar on right of LCD is flashing 100% every 2 seconds. Battery is not warm to the touch.

Anyone experience with these things?

Cheers

 

[UKRaider]

Yep. My charger has a repair mode. The theory is that it pulse charges over a long period and that this breaks down the build up of nasty stuff that has formed on the battery plates. It will turn itself to 'Off' once completed.

 

[OneTenner]

Basically it moves the sulphates that have accumulated on the plates back into the liquid where they should be.
It's not a quick process, the ones for car batteries take well over 24 hours.

 

[bobthedog]

Agree with one tenner, I run a modern 125cc Honda Scooter that has the stop start function on the engine, which has a battery smaller than my fist - if I park the bike up for a week (as with the recent icy weather) I put an Oxford Oximiser 900 on it, it is a maintenance charger and can be left on the battery for long periods of time during which it will provide a trickle charge. From Sportsbikeshop for £32 it is well worth the investment, certainly cheaper than a new battery. I leave a cable permanently connected to the battery and the charger simply connects on a connector to the battery.

 

[Joshua Slocum]

I've got a 150cc chicken chaser. Used to do around 150 miles per week on it until covid crap. Work from a nearer station now for 4 shifts out of 6 so 6 mile round trips for 4 days, then 2 30 mile round trips.
Now working from home also. Moped is a Sinnis Matrix 3i. Kept in garage. Didnt start today. Dash lit up etc but not enough power to start. 11v on multimeter.

Battery is a Lextek 12V 6aH battery.
STuck it on our car battery charger for an hour and re-connected...moped started.

My question...Battery charger has a "repair mode", and I have reconnected it...and its still running after several hours.
What exactly is going on with it and how long can I expect it to take?

Pic enclosed - the power bar on right of LCD is flashing 100% every 2 seconds. Battery is not warm to the touch.

Anyone experience with these things?

Cheers

View attachment 541696

the charger is way to big for that little battery and will kill it, especially as its a Sealed Lead Acid
get an optimate, a solar charger or similair that kicks out less than 1 amp
I use a Cetek, which constantly monitors the battery and changes it rate accordingly

 

[Ravers]

Can’t help with your battery, but that bike has the same engine as my go kart.

Get on YouTube and check out “GY6 tuning / performance”.

For about 200 quid you can double the horsepower of that thing.

 

[supermatelot]

the charger is way to big for that little battery and will kill it, especially as its a Sealed Lead Acid
get an optimate, a solar charger or similair that kicks out less than 1 amp
I use a Cetek, which constantly monitors the battery and changes it rate accordingly

Will the repair mode still bugger it up? Im just reading about sulferisation etc now.

 

[supermatelot]

Can’t help with your battery, but that bike has the same engine as my go kart.

Get on YouTube and check out “GY6 tuning / performance”.

For about 200 quid you can double the horsepower of that thing.

I get about 52mph out of it tops. I'm happy with that as it gets me where I need. If I need to go faster I'll use the Avensis

 

[OneTenner]

the charger is way to big for that little battery and will kill it, especially as its a Sealed Lead Acid
get an optimate, a solar charger or similair that kicks out less than 1 amp
I use a Cetek, which constantly monitors the battery and changes it rate accordingly

Sorry mate, the available current is immaterial - battery charging is all about the motive force - voltage.
A 12V battery needs a charge voltage above it's rated voltage, dependent upon type & temperature (Pb/Ca, AGM, etc.) the charge voltage can be up to 15.5VDC (which in reality is carrying the current at a motive force of up to 3.5VDC), the current will only be what the battery 'needs'.
In 'repair' (or de-sulphate) mode, the current is limited to a few hundred mA but the voltage is pulsed up to the maximum the battery can safely accept to 'excite' the plates into shedding the sulphur atoms.
Having a 50A charger connected to a 120A /10Ah battery is fine, having a 5A charger connected to a 800A / 80Ah battery is fine too - it'll just take longer to charge (providing the voltage is correct).

 

[Ravers]

I get about 52mph out of it tops. I'm happy with that as it gets me where I need. If I need to go faster I'll use the Avensis

Gay.

 

[Awol]

Gay.

 

[kelvin_273]

Gay.

52 mph tops or the Avensis? Or both.

 

[bobthedog]

I get about 52mph out of it tops. I'm happy with that as it gets me where I need. If I need to go faster I'll use the Avensis

I can agree with the sentiment, having previously run a Zip100 from Piaggio, it wouldn't get much beyond 40MPH, but for getting about in town and to work and back it was excellent. The Honda 125 does get to 75MPH and feels much better on the road, but its usage remains the same - about town and the surrounding villages, no way would I take it onto the M11 or A14 with the volume of traffic, particularly trucks many of which are Left Hand Drives.
I used to have a 175cc motorcycle when I was 17 (1976) and used that to travel up and down the A1 from Wetherby to Doncaster on a regular basis, whilst going to and from the AAC Harrogate, no way would I attempt that today with the weight of traffic that uses that road today!

 

[Joshua Slocum]

Will the repair mode still bugger it up? Im just reading about sulferisation etc now.

yes
its kicking too many amps into it, also instead of having sulphuric acid in it, which can boil a little to get rid of excess voltage, it contains an acid gel, the sides of the battery will swell and you will shorten the life of it as the gel dries up
unplug it, if it starts the bike, take it for a ride
then get yourself a Cetek charger and hard wire in the lead, simples

 

[Arte_et_Marte]

Agree with one tenner, I run a modern 125cc Honda Scooter that has the stop start function on the engine, which has a battery smaller than my fist - if I park the bike up for a week (as with the recent icy weather) I put an Oxford Oximiser 900 on it, it is a maintenance charger and can be left on the battery for long periods of time during which it will provide a trickle charge. From Sportsbikeshop for £32 it is well worth the investment, certainly cheaper than a new battery. I leave a cable permanently connected to the battery and the charger simply connects on a connector to the battery.

Have a like for mentioning 'Sportsbikeshop.' The high bar set for customer service and my goto place for nearly everything motorcycle related.

 

[bobthedog]

Have a like for mentioning 'Sportsbikeshop.' The high bar set for customer service and my goto place for nearly everything motorcycle related.

Agreed, it is an excellent store, and on the road to Boston when I go to visit the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby. The guys in the Boston store cannot do enough to help, and the prices are very reasonable too. Just a pity that lockdown prevents a visit currently as I am in need of another pair of gloves, and dont feel right going simply on measurement alone. Its something you really need to try on before buying!

 

[Arte_et_Marte]

Gay.

This is not the crashing into horses thread old boy.

 

[Arte_et_Marte]

Agreed, it is an excellent store, and on the road to Boston when I go to visit the Lincolnshire Aviation Heritage Centre at East Kirkby. The guys in the Boston store cannot do enough to help, and the prices are very reasonable too. Just a pity that lockdown prevents a visit currently as I am in need of another pair of gloves, and dont feel right going simply on measurement alone. Its something you really need to try on before buying!

Buy what you think is correct, try them on at home, if they dont fit, then pop them back in the bag with the labels and return them, go up or down a size as required and change the order. It's no sweat, did the exact same thing last summer for a pair of discounted RSV summer gloves.

 

[Awol]

I’ve never had any success with the ‘Repair’ function on battery chargers. I think that once sulfation (sulphation?) has begun, the battery is toast.

I suspect the ‘Repair’ function is just a gimmick.

 

[OneTenner]

I’ve never had any success with the ‘Repair’ function on batteries. I think that once sulfation (sulphation?) has begun, the battery is toast.

I suspect the ‘Repair’ function is just a gimmick.

Generally once the internal resistance gets above 5.5 mOhms, the battery is unrecoverable, the anti-sulphation function does work (and on most expensive chargers operates transparently once the battery has a decent level of charge), I've left one of my own batteries on charge for five days and it has fully recovered from a 'replace' status to 'good' using a Midtronics tester.