Charging a new motorcycle battery for the first time - drip charger?

Factual Questions
1

Replacing a motorcycle battery. I can buy one online that comes “dry”, I’ll need to add the acid (included) and charge it prior to use. All I have is a drip charger / battery tender (harness is already installed on the bike). Question - can I install the battery in the bike and then use the drip charger to charge it for the first time? I realize it may take a very long time for it to fully charge (days?), but is it possible? Other than the time commitment, anything else that would make this a Very Bad Idea?

Thanks.

2

I bought one locally and was told to put it on a trickle charger for a few hours. I just used my normal battery tender and it worked fine.

3

The slower the better, so if you have the time, trickle away.

Some battery tenders will monitor and scan the battery, and increase the charge rate when it’s below 50% (just as an example), then move to slower charging rates as it charges.

It’s not that faster harms anything when a tender does it (because it monitors the battery constantly), but a trickle charge, if that’s all ya got, is 100% safe/fine/healthy.

.

4

Should work fine, “should” but it depends on the type of charger. El-cheapo wall wart Battery maintainers, the tiny micro-amp chargers aren’t a good choice. They are simply to maintain an already charged battery. The better ones employ circuitry to automatically switch to a float charge after several hours to prevent boiling a battery dry.

Beware “damp dry” batteries will read 12+ volts upon the installation of the electrolyte. This does not mean you don’t need to charge them thoroughly prior to use.

5

Perfectly OK. I’ve done this with no problems.

6

As noted, there is a big difference between a “trickle charger” that simply uses a low charging current, and a “battery tender” that intelligently controls the charging level. The latter can be used without attention, but the former can fry a battery over time, low current or no.

As long as you don’t leave it unattended for long (a day, max) any low current charger should be fine, in or out of the bike. But charging newly filled batteries is best done as slowly as possible… so I’d buy or borrow a tender if you can. Controlled charge rate and zero worries about damage should you get distracted.

7

Funny, I just did this exact thing yesterday. Added the electrolyte, put on my Battery Tender, which provides 750mA charge and in about 24 hours it was ready to go.