Do these need a special Charger? I left one on charge for 24 hours, nothing seemed to happen.
PR: Proprietary Items Burlen Batteries
- Thread starter Len Matthews
- Start date
No,, not in my experience. just use a conventional charger, as for lead acid batteries. They are very reliable, but if they have been fully discharged, and not recharged straight away, they will not recover.
Overcharging will also ruin them if it is prolonged. An indication if that has happened is that the concave base of each of the 3 cells becomes flat, or convex, and in severe cases, a safety feature under the Burlen or Enersys sticker should go off.
Overcharging will also ruin them if it is prolonged. An indication if that has happened is that the concave base of each of the 3 cells becomes flat, or convex, and in severe cases, a safety feature under the Burlen or Enersys sticker should go off.
Last edited:
Thanks for the information.When you say that iffully discharged they will not recover they are scrap?
Might be worth connecting up a jumper battery and try again. The charger might not "see" the totally flat ones.
Yes, usually.
If you can afford it dump them for a single conventional battery nowadays there are many that fit the old case. or a lithium I cannot believe the power available from my lithium inside the dummy case it turns over my Comet starter with ease and even with protracted restarts recovers within a mile or so. I am saving up for another one certainly on my cammy velo I could easily have hours of night riding without all that dynamo & regulator gubbins
My experience of the Burlen batteries has been if fully discharged they will not recover, I've had 5 pairs and lost 4, two pairs due to a leaking zener diode on my Norton and two pairs due to a leaking electronic regulator on the Vincent, the good pair have been on a bike for 16 years now !!
Len, I've had these batteries fail on me, suddenly going open circuit. I believe these were intended for back up duties in fire alarms etc so might not like the shocks and vibrations they get when fitted on a bike.
I no longer use the type that Burlen supply. I have also had them suddenly go open circuit. If you dig around the terminals they fail just near here. I now use AGM (Absorbed Glass Matt batteries) If using an old proper hard rubber case you will need to shave it inside with a sharp wood chisel. I use one 12volt battery on the Shadow and my Triumph Thunderbird and two 6volt batteries connected in parallel on the "A" Comet.
As regards charging I use a Motobatt trickle charger which can be switched to 6 or 12 volt. For any 12 volt batteries I use an Optimate but this can't be used on 6 volt batteries. Last autumn I took all the bike batteries and the caravan battery off and put them in the garage and gave them a charge about once a month. Both chargers will turn off when the batteries are fully charged.
Brian
As regards charging I use a Motobatt trickle charger which can be switched to 6 or 12 volt. For any 12 volt batteries I use an Optimate but this can't be used on 6 volt batteries. Last autumn I took all the bike batteries and the caravan battery off and put them in the garage and gave them a charge about once a month. Both chargers will turn off when the batteries are fully charged.
Brian
Thanks for all your responses.I took issue with Burlen some time ago over their claim that these batteries would hold a charge for up to two years when they were only guaranteed for only one.Anyway I have dumped the Burlen in favour of a normal lead acid battery.