21 GP1800R Dead Battery - Any Draining Issues?

[Thor]

This thread came to mind as, around Noon today, I was at our storage facility where I’d unhooked the smart charger / battery Minder off the ‘23 GP1800R1l (no sound system) which was 100% charge and hooked up an adjacent Spark TRixx … that was around 6pm Thursday so, one and a half days, 18 hours ago …

When I hooked the battery Minder back up to the GP1800, I was taken aback to see the battery was only at 25% … trying to figure out wth could drain 75% of a brand new battery in just one-and-a-half days?

I sure am glad we have solar chargers on our dock …!

[K447]

… When I hooked the battery Minder back up … the battery was only at 25% …

Those LED level indications on the BatteryMinder are very coarse approximations. In my view they more represent the battery’s ability to accept charge rather than the ‘level’ of charge currently inside the battery.

The elapsed time required to transition for ‘needing charge’ to ‘close to full’ is the more important aspect.
If it took, say, 20 minutes to change from what is shown on your photo to the ‘green’ pretty close to full indicator, that will tell you the battery did not need much energy input to achieve near fully charged.

Next time, watch how quickly the LED ‘level’ indicators ripple towards the full indication. Just a few minutes at each level means the battery is topping up fairly quickly. Which means there wasn’t that much energy ‘missing’

Note: A battery that is internally degraded can sometimes also appear to ‘charge’ quickly. But when asked to then do work (supply load) the battery charge depletes rapidly.

[KEYZBUM]

I have had a few clients with this problem and the easy fix is to put this battery clip in place of the red cable battery end..
Then they clip it on for the day and pull off when not in use..
And yes it is possible for you to jump and bang the ski around enough to dislodge the clip But I have not seen it happen yet...

[Team Bilford]

This thread came to mind as, around Noon today, I was at our storage facility where I’d unhooked the smart charger / battery Minder off the ‘23 GP1800R1l (no sound system) which was 100% charge and hooked up an adjacent Spark TRixx … that was around 6pm Thursday so, one and a half days, 18 hours ago …

When I hooked the battery Minder back up to the GP1800, I was taken aback to see the battery was only at 25% … trying to figure out wth could drain 75% of a brand new battery in just one-and-a-half days?

I sure am glad we have solar chargers on our dock …!

I would expect that you have either a bad battery or a short in the regulator. Maybe someone can chime in that has a better idea based on experience.

[Thor]

…Next time, watch how quickly the LED ‘level’ indicators ripple towards the full indication. Just a few minutes at each level means the battery is topping up fairly quickly. Which means there wasn’t that much energy ‘missing’ …

I will; and, I know I’ll have an oppty to get back over there before it warms up enough to actually splash it. Thanks!

I have had a few clients with this problem and the easy fix is to put this battery clip in place of the red cable battery end…..

I have seen those but, hadn’t considered them for ski battery applications. I intend to fasten a charger cable lead with pig tails onto this battery, same as all our other skis but, I didn’t have an oppty to do so yet as we had to hit the road as soon as we took delivery of it.

I would expect that you have either a bad battery or a short in the regulator. Maybe someone can chime in that has a better idea based on experience.

Oh I hope not either; the ski is literally just off the showroom floor. (With my luck tho, haha!)

I’m going to have to find the time to get back over there, unplug it again, give it a day or two, plug it back in - and this time stay there to watch - and see how long it gales those “coarse” led indicators to go back to all four green lights …


Thanks all and HAPPY EASTER!!!!!

[seabrook]

my 15 fz would kill a battery in 2 weeks when brand new- i just leave a trickle charger on it all the time

[TimeBandit]

What "lithium" battery did they install? Lithium batteries arent suited for the duty cycle of the charging system on most engines. The voltages arent quite the same. Either way, you paid for it and it should be covered.

Generally agreed !!
As mentioned before I run LiFePO4 packs in my ski, even in my motorcycles. The issue, is that these vehicles are engineered around lead-acid technology - and that technically means voltage levels and impedance (load a battery presents in-circuit). Lead-acids of all varieties exhibit around 12.8 healthy voltage levels which equate to "fully charged". For liFePO4, it's not that simple, as their capacity of charge depends moreso on the voltage level - and that's way more dynamic than lead acids. For example, a LiFePO4 having the same voltage as a lead-acid 12.8v, is said to be only 17% charged to capacity. It isn't until you get up to the ideal voltage of 13.6/14.4 (3.6v per cell peak) that the pack is at or near 100% charged capacity. These numbers are important, because the average regulator rectifier (R/R) in these craft are SCR-based, and wildly vary between 13.0 - 13.7v depending on RPM. Looking at the voltage-chart, at-best 13.7v takes us right up to the lower threshold of 100% charge capacity. Remember, these are idea numbers/charts we are referencing.
That said, generally, dropping a LiFePO4 into a ski will work. Just know, it will likely empty a lot quicker than an acid battery: a) as the 'starting packs' don't have the capacity that acids do, b) the stock R/R likely will never offer a full-charge potential while riding.

So, what can you do?
Have a LiFePO4 charge at home. Allow it to fully charge the pack, so that the afternoon you are out riding, won't really empty it all that quickly.
I went a step further. I swapped the SCR R/R out for a MOSFET, as these get you closer to a pure stable 14.4v charge while riding.