I have a brand new 20lb. Die Hard Gold that has been sitting on a shelf in my garage for two years, I put it in my buddies 2004 Deuce and let it sit overnight on a battery tender and finally got the green light, tried starting it this morning and it just seems there's not enough juice to turn it over, jist the click click click of the starter?

just wondering if the battery tenders charge a battery to full capacity or just maintain the charge that is already in a battery?

 

It is supposed to fully charge the battery. Its possible that your battery became so discharged that it will not take enough charge to work.

 

Have the battery load tested. I have seen batteries that would take a charge but would not create enough amps to start a vehicle. Battery is probably bad after setting for two years.

 

a tender will maintain- not charge.

a dead battery like you have will need about 48 hours on a 10 amp hour charger.



Mike

 

my charger only has 2 amp, 20 amp, 60 amp settings, so if I charge it overnight/24hrs, on the 20 amp setting that might do it?

 

yes, go 20 hours, then do 2 amps for 10 hours.

watch for excessive heat from the battery casing, and no smoke/no sparks, batteries release hydrogen gas when charging.



Mike

 

If the green light came on and the battery still doesn't have the proper power it sounds like a bad battery. While a tender does charge a battery, the green light only indicates that it sees the battery as fully charged. A surface charge would give that indication. I'd be willing to bet that with the green light lit, the battery at rest would indicate 12.9 volts and the second you go to crank the bike over the voltage drops way off.

If the charger is automatic (voltage drops automatically as charge progresses) run it at 20A. If not automatic, get a cheap 10A automatic charger and run that. With a 10A charger you should be able to charge a dead battery up overnight. I don't know that I'd trust a 2 year old battery not stored properly.

 

If you left it uncharged for two years its definetly no good, Being a diehard dose'nt help either.

 

purchased it in fall of 2010 , so it's about 1½ yrs., purchased as dry cell, added acid then did a full charge and put it in my Dyna WG for
about 2 weeks, maybe a half of dozen starts on it, took it out and it sat since (on a wooden shelf in it's original box)


I did a quick ½ hr. 2 amp charge and just tried it... still click click click but much faster now? now charging on 20amp hold ... for how long?

 

General rule of thumb for charging a battery is:

amp hours/amps=hours

this will get the battery to about 80%. it will take an equal amount of time to get the other 20%