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Ruined my battery
Irony - 23/2/12 at 09:32 AM

Do to my naivety and lack of experience I have I think completely ruined my brand new never been used VARTA battery. I bought it a year ago and have foolishly left it without charging it. I put the multimeter across it the other day and no voltage whatsoever. Is this battery now completely ruined? I haven't tried charging it.

I did by it from a local motor factor and having read up on here about it I made sure it's got either a 4 year guarantee or maybe 5 year. Has anyone tried taking a battery back and in what circumstances is a exchange likely?

[Edited on 23/2/12 by Irony]

Bluemoon - 23/2/12 at 09:35 AM

Charge it first, see if it recovers (you never know you could be lucky).

owelly - 23/2/12 at 09:42 AM

Have a looksy at the plates. If they are all wavy and furry, chances are it's knackered in which case return it under warrenty but don't tell them it's been sat for a year!

wilkingj - 23/2/12 at 09:50 AM

quote:
Originally posted by owelly
Have a looksy at the plates. If they are all wavy and furry, chances are it's knackered in which case return it under warrenty but don't tell them it's been sat for a year!


+1

roadrunner - 23/2/12 at 10:06 AM

The thing with these new battery chargers, is that they need to recognise that a battery has been connected to start the charge. If your battery is completely flat , try fooling the charger by dropping a 12v current across your battery pins. I use a drill/driver battery.
Brad.

P ? - 23/2/12 at 10:19 AM

i shopped for batteries purely for the 4/5 year guarantee... halfords at one point knew what i wanted before i said anything 7 times in a year swapped a battery ... the good old days of large stereo's hehe

just need your receipt

britishtrident - 23/2/12 at 11:22 AM

Frst try this, Put it on a slow charge for 24+hours don't be surprised if it takes 12 hours before it starts to take more than a tiny current if the battery is taking charge the current will eventually rise then slowly fall off as full charge is approached.

clanger - 23/2/12 at 05:00 PM

optimate is your friend, flat batteries are a way of life for us bikers

pewe - 23/2/12 at 05:22 PM

Back in the bad old days we used to whack 30amps into totally flat batteries on the grounds that they were sweet FA use anyway. Surprisingly 9/10 they resurrected themselves but you couldn't wander off and leave then cooking!
If all else fails take it to a local friendly garage and ask them to whack some charge in to wake it up.

BTW clanger just back from a sneaky two wheel blat - boy do I miss that!
Cheers, Pewe10

clanger - 23/2/12 at 05:30 PM

quote:
Originally posted by pewe
BTW clanger just back from a sneaky two wheel blat - boy do I miss that!
Cheers, Pewe10


waiting for the salt to go before pulling the covers off the 748

britishtrident - 23/2/12 at 07:24 PM

There is a difference between a flat battery and an absolutely flat battery with no charge at all.

plentywahalla - 23/2/12 at 08:40 PM

quote:
Originally posted by britishtrident
Frst try this, Put it on a slow charge for 24+hours don't be surprised if it takes 12 hours before it starts to take more than a tiny current if the battery is taking charge the current will eventually rise then slowly fall off as full charge is approached.


Agreed ... if it has just gone flat then it won't have caused any damage/buckled plates etc. If you whack a big charge into it now, that is when the damage is done. Charge it on a very low current, less than 1 amp or so for 24 hours. You have to slowly bring it back into life.