Batteries On The Web: Battery pack

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Can Motorcycle Batteries Freeze

Motorcycle Batteries can freeze

Although we have had a mild winter this year (2013 -2014) I have still gone ahead and decided to write this post for future winters and also for my readers from other sides of the World, especially for the bikers in North America who have experienced an horrific cold and snowy winter.

Although this post is primarily about 12v motorbike batteries it also includes motor bike chargers and intelligent chargers that can also apply to car batteries and car battery chargers.

Most sensible bikers keep their bikes hidden away all winter and then when the spring arrives it is time to get their bikes out clean them up and give them a service, but what about the old battery and more important did the battery freeze if you were unlucky enough to have been in those -40 temperatures. Here in the UK we have watched this on TV and witnessed the problems that such low temperatures can bring, when the big

Weather like this could freeze your motor bike battery

thaw comes.

The coldest I have ever known the temperature to fall to was -19c in France, it was a nightmare all the water pipes were bursting the diesel in cars and trucks was freezing and also some car batteries froze up. As a guy who has being selling batteries for practically all his working life I was interested in which types of batteries had frozen. I found that the batteries were on older cars that still had their original batteries fitted say in-between five to seven years old. The battery acid (electrolyte) had in fact been watered down over the years without any noticeable effect, until the really cold winter came along. The batteries were diluted down and contained more water than acid and I came to the conclusion that this is what had happened.

So a 12v motorbike battery could freeze?

The secret lies in the state of charge of the battery. It would take a severely cold night to freeze a battery that was fully charged. But if a battery is discharged because of damage to cells, poor connections or a charging system that isn't doing its job, the battery could start freezing at the same temperature as water. A fully charged bike battery should take temperatures of down to -24.C, whereas a discharged battery will freeze at 0.c the freezing point of water.

How can you protect your motor bike battery in winter?

The 12v motorbike battery consists of 6x2.5v cells to make for a fully charged battery reading 13.5v when fully charged. If one of these cells is damaged for whatever reason then the rest of the battery will suffer, because the cells are joined in series. So in my opinion the first thing to do before the onset of winter is to charge your battery and check the voltage if it is bellow say 12 volts then the battery has a problem and should be replaced next spring. If the battery reads a full 13.5v, then the battery is good and should be removed from the bike into a frost free place, even perhaps in a safe area of the house.

You can check the voltage with a cheap voltmeter. You should then be prepared to keep your battery in a fully charged state throughout the winter months. You can do this with a motorbike charger, the regular type or better still in my opinion to use an intelligent charger. The intelligent charger will read the state of the battery all through the winter and when the state of the battery falls the charger will automatically top the battery up to the full charge level, it will then go back to standby mode and repeat this all through the winter cold.

Another good piece of advice is that if you have to replace your motor bike battery then try to go for a good make. Here in the UK I would recommend a Varta motorcycle battery; these batteries are made by the Johnson Controls, who’s reputation for quality is second to none.

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Eric Roberts

Hi I would like to introduce myself. I have worked in the Garage and tyre and Battery business now for 40 years. I have worked for a couple for national tyre companies in my younger days, before starting my first business. I now own a company here in the UK called Pellon Tyre and Auto-centre, and I am a keen blogger about anything to do with cars and their related products that will help my business. We are members of Point-S and Motor-Codes and are also a Unipart Car Care Centre and of course Tyre-safe.

Sunday 16 February 2014

To the Public-All Car batteries Look the Same

All Car batteries may Look the Same but there not

It never stops surprising me, the number of our customers who think that they can fit any battery to their car. A typical question is will an 063 car battery fit my Ford Mondeo1, 9 turbo diesel. This is because the 063 cost in the region of £35 to £45 depending on the make of the battery. I suppose that most car batteries do look pretty similar and indeed some are.

Most of the black coloured boxes are in fact recycled and whatever the battery make they do in fact all look the same apart from the fact that they do come in different lengths. In fact most batteries that fit European cars are the same height and width, but they increase in capacity with their length. From a 063 battery being the smallest to the 019 battery being almost the largest. There are larger batteries, but the 019 is probably the commonest of the larger sized batteries and fits many Mercedes and BMW models.

The other colour of box is the white or opaque and is used to make the top quality batteries such as Varta batteries made by Johnson controls, but not to confuse matters; Johnson controls also make other quality battery brand names such as Lucas batteries. Lucas batteries are of excellent qualities and can be bought online at www.batteriesontheweb.co.uk at discount prices with a next working day delivery.

One of the key things to look out for when buying your new battery is the number of amps that the battery states on the label. For instance an 063 battery can have anything between 35amps and 50 amps, the 50amps battery will be the strongest battery, so this is well worth looking out for. Most standard car batteries are known as wet cell lead acid batteries and are designed for starting and supplying the electricity to your car. One thing to watch out for is the advent of the AGM batteries that are now being fitted to some models of cars.

The AGM (absorbed glass matting) have an electrolyte-laden mat made of boron-silicate glass between the plates and therefore can be totally sealed as the battery acid does not evaporate, these batteries can also be used as deep cycle batteries, and are used for mobility scooters and golf carts. In the case of cars the batteries are used in the stop/start systems used by Volvo, BMW and other makes of cars. This is where the motorist has to be careful it is important to fit the correct battery and if you are not sure which type of battery that you have on your car, you must check with your local battery store or better still contact your car makers garage, but don’t buy one off them because you will be paying twice the price as you would online.

Most car batteries that are sold online

will come with a three or four year warranty and to be truthful many of the companies will stick to warranty agreement, like buying any other products you take a certain amount of risk when buying anything online. Check the trustworthiness of the company, a good way is to email them with a question or better still telephone them with a question, you will soon know if they sound genuine or not. If they do not have a contact phone number on the web-site then do not buy a battery off them, there plenty of come and go companies, you are looking for trust and understanding, when you buy a new battery, so that if something should go wrong then it will be sorted out for you.

And finally most car batteries these days will be advertised as maintenance free and come with carrying handles, these handles sure help when it comes to lifting your new battery into the engine compartment.

Eric Roberts