Not to convolute this any farther, while I still say you probably will need a new battery overall after two years of being dormant. I have brought dead batteries back to life with only a 1.5 amp trickle charger. Takes time and the battery can't have been dormant for too terribly long.

 

Batteries are cheap so why screw around and get stuck somewhere? Ditch it and buy a new one.

 

had it on 20 amp charge for about an hour and about 4 hrs on 2 amp charge, didn't clickety click, did turn over this time but not enough to fire it up, going to let it go overnight on a 2 amp charge.

 

Battery is probably toast. Just went through the same on my atv this weekend. Battery sat for a while put on charger charged to full charge hit start button and solenoid just clicked. Put the battery tender on it for the night no difference. Put new battery in she starts like a champ

 

Here's a link to a site with some very interesting reading on lead acid battery maintenance. Maybe this will help you decide what to do?
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/a...acid_batteries

 

Most retail battery chargers will not charge a battery below 11 volts take it to one of the battery shops that have the commercial charger that can make the adjustments and if it can they will charge it

 

Even if this battery is able to start your bike,I would not trust it!

 

I'd be investing in a new one. It will be one less thing to worry about when you're making your way down the road.

 

If it were a deep cycle battery, designed to be substantially discharged and re-charged, you'd probably be ok. But your battery is designed for delivering high current (such as exerted during starting) and being immediately brought back to full charge. You may get it charged up. But unless you have AAA, or another service that will come get you (or bring you a new battery), I wouldn't rely on it. It's liable to just go 'dead' without warning. Even if you get it to hold a charge for a time.

The separate question about the Battery Tender, it's not the best bet for charging a 'dead' battery. The low rate of charge is, as others have said, designed to 'maintain' a fully-charged battery...higher current is generally required to restore a 'dead' battery. And as noted, a battery designed for starting a vehicle is not a good candidate for 'resurrection' once it's been fully discharged...especially if for a long (1.5 year) period of time.

Alan

 

yeah, better to be safe than sorry, he'll just have to spend a few bucks on a new one, and besides...it has a small sticker that says 'Made in Taiwan'

thanks all for the battery edgumication