Maybe a naive question on charging battery.

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Blue_Goose

Blue_Goose

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Believe it not I am a total novice when it comes to batteries and want to make sure I'm doing this right.

The battery in my 06 Ninja 250 needs to be charged. I took it out of the bike and I bought myself a Schumacher 1562A Battery charger.

I hooked up the positive terminal first and then connected the negative. I then plugged in the charger. Seems to be working (charging) on close inspection of the instructions I read that for the negative post you are supposed to hook up at least a 24 inch 18 gauge jumper cable to the negative post and THEN connect the 2 negative clamps together.

Whoops


Did I dodge a major bullet and am I alright to leave things the way they are (positive on positive post, negative on negative without the jumper cable)

Also to confirm, when I'm done charging, negative cable off first then positive?

Sorry to sound like a dummy




Goose
 
Can' speak to whether you did any damage, but might i recommend

Battery Tender junior. I have my ATV hooked up to it year round and it does a great job maintaining the battery all winter long. It has green and red lights that flash according to what they are doing.

They are like 30 bucks. Check em out.
 
I was going to get a Tender Jr but impatient me did not want to wait as I could not find one locally. Maybe next winter I'll get one


Cosy- The instructions say to attach a black jumper cable to the negative post the hook up the positive to the positive post...THEN connect the negative clip of the charger TO the black jumper cable that is already attached to the negative post.

I just hooked up the positive and then the negative without using a jumper cable.....now did I do things backwards buy hooking the positive first? (sounds like I should have hooked negative jumper first)


OR to make things simple

If you were charging a battery outside of a vehicle, how would you do it?


Goose
 
Saturn_Fan - Does that work for car batteries too? I'm not familiar with ATVs or what kinda batteries they use. I'd like to use one for my car in the winter when I store it for weeks at a time waiting for a decent day...
 
They want you to use the jumper wire to prevent an explosion. A battery produces gas that can be lit by a spark. Putting the jumper on it and having it 2ft away when you connect the cables will have any sparks far enough away to prevent an explosion.
 
That's what I figure...but is it necessary? Also can someone answer how they charge a battery and dishook it?

Goose
 
From the web site:

"Are you getting ready for storing your toys for the winter? When winterizing your car, boat, RV, ATV, motorcycle, mobile home, jetski, or camper don't forget to protect your battery. Nothing is worse then when Spring arrives and your battery is dead. These battery charges are not the normal trickle charges. They are made by Battery Tenders.

Rated #1 by the Motorcycle Consumer News. "The #1 Selling Charger in the U.S. Powersports Industry!" All Battery Tender battery chargers are designed to fully charge and maintain a wide range of styles of lead acid batteries in ways that avoid the potential damaging effects that can be caused by trickle chargers.

Don't spend another winter storing your car without this must have car accessory!"


Makes a great holiday gift.
 
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I dont think they make batteries like they used to, old batteries would outlive the car, I can remmember when I was a kid changing the Sears Diehard out to another car when the car died and it would keep going. Car batteries are disposable maintence items anymore and ATV batteries are even worse.
 
Jumper wire is purely a CYA for charger manufacturer as Chris 142 mentioned.

If you have fear of everything that "could" happen when working on a car it's a excellent idea. Course if that's the case you need a different hobby/pastime.

For 30 years I've been grabing cables in no particular order(although to proper polarity) and sticking them on the battery, usually with charger turned off. Admit I do some ducking and cringing if charger happens to be running and sparks and arcs start flying across top of battery!

Only one I've ever blown up was already charging away when a welder spark bounced onto the top. S. O. B. went off like a M80!!

Bob
 
Without the battery tender on my ATV's battery, the winter temps inside my garage (-10F) would, and have toasted the battery. Since I started using a tender on her, the batteries are always ready when I want them.
 
Originally Posted By: Saturn_Fan
Without the battery tender on my ATV's battery, the winter temps inside my garage (-10F) would, and have toasted the battery. Since I started using a tender on her, the batteries are always ready when I want them.


funny you should say that I had the battery in my truck freeze up this year. Left it sitting to long. Anyways I thawed the thing out charged it up and its still going. I was kind of surprised it could take that.
 
First off, Schumacher is a quality product with a respectable history behind it. I currently have the repackaged Sears Die Hard brand Shumacher 100 amp start/15amp/2amp charger and am pleased with the writeup and performance of this charger. It actually has a desulfating phase that it can go into if it senses the need.
Now, as to the jumper, I say it's not necessary if you follow the rest of the instructions. Namely, attach the red clip to positive, then the black clip to negative, switch the dip switches to the proper settings, set the charger anywhere but on top of or right next to the battery needing to be charged, then plug the cord into the wall outlet. This should be just fine, and you should be able to pass this charger down to your children.
Appears you still need a trickle charger if I read correctly, since the one you have shuts off after charging to full charge.
By the way, I'm believing you meant a 5216A-PE charger.
Hope this helps.
Steve
 
I have the same charger for all my motorcycle batteries. I have never used a jumper. We use a Schumacher SC1000A at work and the directions say to use a jumper (but we don't). Never had a problem.
 
So positive clamp first then negative...and just reverse when done charging? Negative off first then positive?



Goose
 
Buy a motorcycle battery tender with the harness that stays on the bike. Real easy. Harley carries a nice on for about $35. Then you leave the battery in the bike with the harness on it and just plug in once a month.
 
Originally Posted By: Blue_Goose
So positive clamp first then negative...and just reverse when done charging? Negative off first then positive?

It isn't about the order: it's about making the last connection as far away from the battery as practicable to avoid sparks near the battery. Like making the last jumper cable connection to a ground point away from the battery on the car with the good battery.
 
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