Battery Hey everybody, Last night I bought a new dry battery (Advance Auto / type 12A-A) for my bike. I added the electrolyte and was getting ready to charge on 2 amps for the recommended 7 hrs or so. Before charging, I checked the battery with my voltmeter just out of interest and it was at 12.8v already just from adding the acid. After about 40 minutes of charging I was getting 13.25v and was worried it was gettting too high and stopped. I'm affraid to charge it for 7hrs. and overcharge it. I understand that the first charge is very important to the life of a new battery. So, should I be worried about over charging? Should I keep checking it w/ the voltmeter while charging? and if so, what voltage reading is too high when a battery is charging? Lastly, it seems like the electrolyte level has expanded after filling and is above the upper line now. Maybe I filled it on an unlevel surface. Should I take some back out now that I've charged it a little?

Firstly is never add water to a discharged battery as the level will rise during charging. If the battery overflows, the sulphuric acid electrolyte causes the sort of corrosion it is difficult to stop or get rid of...
Heat generated during charge/discharge and natural evaporation causes some evaporation and adding a little (preferably) distilled water to a fully charged battery

If the battery electrolyte has been allowed to fall so much a cell appears dry, begin the recharging process on a low current checking the electrolyte level every few hours; if after around 12 hours the plates still appear dry add about an egg-cupful of water and repeat...

Eventually the electrolyte level will be correct - either a quarter to a half inch above the plates depending on the size of the battery or if there is an indicator, level with it. Once the electrolyte level is correct and it has been on charge for a few hours and then allowed to stand until cool the state of charge and battery condition should be checked with a hydrometer.
A healthy battery has each cell with a similar hydrometer reading within a very small margin and is close to the gravity of the original fill, typically 1250/1260.

Hey Anon, remove the battery, have it's CCA's - ( Cold Cranking Amps ) checked... this is the only true measure of a batteries health. O'Reilly's, Auto Zone, Advance Auto can check it..they will tell you if its good or not. Install new (recommended) spark plugs.. Next, its time to make sure the injectors are getting fuel,,..make sure the petcock is letting fuel through.. DO NOT put "additives" in it...make sure the injectors are passing fuel..(fuel pressure) It might be time for a trip to a qualified professional to double check the injectors..
An internal combustion engine requires 3 things to run:
1. A properly timed spark
2. Adequate compression >120PSI
3. A proper fuel/air ratio

one - or more - is not working.. eliminate one by one..

if its not charging while running at14.5 volts or so you have a charging problem mabey no power to the alternator if its charging at 14.5 or so and the batery load tests good and its going dead over night you have a draw from some component in the system.

How many volts does your battery currently have? A cheap multimeter can tell you; I'm not saying the crew at Advance Auto aren't on top of their game, but they do work at Advance Auto... Anything less than 12v DC indicates a problem, and the battery probably won't have enough juice to turn your motor over with less than 10-11v. If your battery voltage is >12v it sounds like you've got a bad starter solenoid (some vehicles integrate these with the starter itself, some do not). Try giving it a few whacks with a rubber mallet or a hammer handle (aka the wooden part).

Hi, firstly you are probably rite about the clicking being related to a discharged battery, i would suggest you try some jump leads of a car or another battery my guess is it will start or turn over and the clicking will stop, suzuki motorcycles of this eara did have some charging probs, running with a discharged battery for a prolonged period is not recomended.
Secondly its not unusual for even a new battery to become low state even when left continuasly on chage with a trickle charger, and eventually the battery.becomes dead through overcharging

If you have the type of battery that can be user serviced, check the electrolyte level.. your battery could be dry.

i know this sounds silly ,but when you bought the battery had it been activated,new batterys are critical in their first charge and you cannot use a standare type automotve charger,if bought dry the battery needs to have the acid filled ,left to sit for at least 2 hours prior to charging,once it has sat for the 2 hrs with the acid in,the new battery will need to be charged with a "cteck"or similar type charger for at least 13 hrs before it can be put into normal service,what happened with yours i think is that sure you gave it a charge but it has only recieved a "surface charge"and will be usable for a very short time,it may recover for a brief period and go again untill the surface charge dissipates,(or in other words ..runs out of charge)best thing you can do with the battery is take it to a auto electrician and have the battery cycled and conditioned,this is not expensive to do and will give you piece of mind,after conditioning the battery shouldngive excellent service,i have the battery in my goldwing coditioned about every 12 months and i have the same battery that was in the bike when i bought the bike 8 years ago and still no electrical or battery problems(costs about $25 to get it done)once a year but that beats $280 for a new one...hope this helps

Either you have a dead short in your wireing or your battery is not charging fully. Use a volt meter your battery will have 12 volts start the bike and it should read 13 plus then take it up to 2000 rpm above idle anyway it should read 14 plus. If you dont have these numbers then you have a stator or regulator problem or both. You may be geting a slight charge when running but not enough to keep the battery peaked out.

Your best bet is to go to a Suzuki shop and get one there. That way you know for sure you have the right battery and that it will fit your bike.

though if it was a problem it would have blown the 10amp fuse????Don't rely on on whether the bike will start at a gas station to determine if the charging system is working. Get the multimeter out and do a proper test. Should be getting about 14.5 volts @ around 3K RPM. It's too easy of a test to to just skip. If it is charging then start looking for something else. Was the new battery properly charged to begin with? Loose battery connection? I suppose the GPS could be too much but you said that it was dying last november so I would suspect something else. P.S. you need a properly charged battery to get an accurate reading for the charging test. ,,,