Odyssey batteries don't like cold weather

Snoopy

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Yesterday overnight temperatures dropped to -4 and my odyssey discharged itself to an extent the engine wouldn't turn over.

The battery has since been charged and all is well again, but the cold froze the acid in it.

A BMW Gel battery may have fared better. :rob
 
I think you'll find that your battery discharged from some other cause......... then the electrolyte froze.

Al :)
 
Well Andrew.

Firstly Merry Xmas and a great 2010. :thumb2

Next: I've got a brand new faulty Odessey sitting in my garage - can't claim as I had to butcher it for my 1200. A pile of poo. Nothing wrong with the Westco or the standard BMW Exide.

Petcul had his fail on his last trip - less than one year old.

So my experiences match yours.
 
Hi Bob haven't heard or seen you in a while - heard you've been busy away from home though. A very merry xmas to you to!

It's true the battery couldn't have been 100% charged - if it had it would have froze at -68c. At 40% it'll freeze at +6.8c. - I've read up :augie.

Still, if you're using the bike for shorter trips during the winter and battery is not on an opimate it's not as good as a BMW Gel battery.

I thought it was worth mentioning, since everybody things Odyssey batteries are god like and all. :rob

PS) Alternator fine and current draw with electrics off is minimal - tested with multimeter.
 
My bike has been standing still for 3 weeks and temp was -3 deg C and last night my odyssey started it with loads of oomph

I could never do that with my BMW OEM thing, it was useless without constant optimating:rob
 
bumpy said:
Are you sure about this figure +6.8c is just a very chilly day, certainly not freezing.

It could be +6.8F
Click to expand...

He's a teacher, he's read up on it.......................... :augie


Electrolyte freezing at +6.8C :blast


Al :rolleyes:
 
Discharged whilst engine was running

On a similar note, I replaced mu OEM with a Westco battery last year...had no problems till a couple of mornings ago....

Very icy/snowy.....travelled about 5 miles with headlights/spots and heated grips on full....but only had engine revs at or below 2k due to following slow moving traffic....pulled in at petrol station and noticed revs very sluggish at idle but thought no more about it:blast

Came out from paying and went to start bike......click:tears

left it 10 mins and tried again and the battery had recovered sufficiently to start the bike....

Once the roads opened up and I was able to increase revs/speed the alternator then charged battery up nicely again....I think there was a similar issue in the 800 section a while back?
 
I have a suspicion that the thing has to be going pretty fast to keep charged with heated grips on high. Happened me a couple of times here that it would not crank after stopping for petrol, with perfect batteries. It may just help to turn off the dip headlight to stop this cutting in just when the engine starts to turn.
Hold indic cancel for 5s, then hold rhs indic for 5 s. Means the lamp won't come on when you are cranking.
Bin
 
Bin Ridin said:
I have a suspicion that the thing has to be going pretty fast to keep charged with heated grips on high. Happened me a couple of times here that it would not crank after stopping for petrol, with perfect batteries. It may just help to turn off the dip headlight to stop this cutting in just when the engine starts to turn.
Hold indic cancel for 5s, then hold rhs indic for 5 s. Means the lamp won't come on when you are cranking.
Bin
Click to expand...

not the case.

i checked the output of my 07 GSA recently, and it was very capable of charging with lights, grips, and two heated jackets on at tickover.
 
i used a voltmeter across the battery to measure voltage rise.

the figures i noted are on another thread here somewhere, but in short, it went up to about 14.5v once the engine was started, and it didn't much care what i connected to it.

airheads are dreadful at this test, but the 1200 has a proper, car type, alternator.
 
A quick way - would be to couple a digital voltmeter across the battery terminals.

Start your engine with the electrical loads off.

Measure the voltage across the battery.

Start switching in your electrical loads - if the battery remains at it's normal "charging voltage" - then you can say that the alternator is maintaining the load.

A d.c. clampmeter can also be used, but as the loads start to approach the output of the alternator - you won't be able to tell too accurately if there is still a slight surplus or not.


Al :thumb2

As Cookie says (he didn't do as much editing)
 
Blackal said:
A d.c. clampmeter can also be used, but as the loads start to approach the output of the alternator - you won't be able to tell too accurately if there is still a slight surplus or not.
Click to expand...

There's never a 'surplus'.:confused: Do you mean spare capacity ?

Surely it can only output what current is drawn in Amps (up to its maximum rated capacity.)

As for battery electrolyte freezing at +6.8C, where on earth did you read that, I gotta have a look at the article with my own eyes. Has somebody rewritten the laws of thermodynamics ???
 
And there was me thinking that Odyssey batteries were originally designed to a US military spec, one of the requirements being cold cranking ability :mmmm

I've used them on Guzzis and BM's and all except my latest bike have lived outside with no Optimate. I have never had an issue with them, far from it!

Andres (who grants god like status to Odyssey batteries)
 
Pukmeister said:
There's never a 'surplus'.:confused: Do you mean spare capacity ?

Surely it can only output what current is drawn in Amps (up to its maximum rated capacity.)

As for battery electrolyte freezing at +6.8C, where on earth did you read that, I gotta have a look at the article with my own eyes. Has somebody rewritten the laws of thermodynamics ???
Click to expand...

Surplus/Capacity - you're too busy splitting hairs to realise that it wasn't me that quoted electrolyte freezing at +6.8 - I merely questioned it.

Yes - it could have read "surplus capacity" which would have been better. The "capacity" was kind of "unwritten" :augie

Al :rolleyes:
 
Blackal said:
you're too busy splitting hairs to realise that it wasn't me that quoted electrolyte freezing at +6.8 - I merely questioned it.
Click to expand...

Sorry Al I should've been more specific, the question of electrolyte freezing information was a general one and not aimed at you in person. My apologies.
 
Pukmeister said:
Sorry Al I should've been more specific, the question of electrolyte freezing information was a general one and not aimed at you in person. My apologies.
Click to expand...

The idea of an electrolyte- even a weak one- freezing above 0degC is a nonsense, although MINUS 6.8degC would be right for an electrolyte with SG around 1.1 (i.e. partially discharged) so I suspect the "+" should be a "-". However, I haven't read it up....so perhaps there has been a recent tweak to the Laws of Physics I haven't heard about.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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