[ArizonaJim]

All batteries loose their charge over a period of time, even brand new ones.

Although they loose their charge, it is a very slow process so in your motorcycle batteries case I suspect that it was not fully charged when you last shut the engine off.

Royal Enfields don't have the most powerful charging system and if they are ridden slowly with the headlight on, it will charge very little or not at all.
If they are ridden slowly with the headlight on for very short distances the net effect of starting the engine with the electric starter motor and the low recharge can actually result in a battery with less power than it had before the trip was started.

Another common cause of weak motorcycle batteries is due to low levels of their fluid in the cells.
If your battery has 6 small caps on its top that can be unscrewed the level of the fluid in each cell should be checked. If it is below the "full" indicator distilled water should be added to bring it up to the full level. Never use regular water in a battery. It will destroy it.
That fluid in the cells is dilute sulfuric acid which can be very harmful so if you are doing this yourself, be very careful not to get any of it on you, your cloths or the motorcycle.

To maintain your batteries charge I suggest that you buy a small battery charger.
This must not have a charging rate higher than 1 1/2 amps and it should have internal circuitry to sense the charge of the battery.
This is important to prevent overcharging the battery.

There are a number of these small battery maintaining devices available and it is likely that your dealer will have some available.
Here is a link to one web site that offers a good brand. I'm putting it here so you can see what they look like.
http://batterytender.com/

If you buy one of these battery maintaining chargers, connect the red clamp to the Positive (+) battery terminal and the black clamp to the Negative (-) terminal.

These chargers can also be used on a automobiles battery if it isn't going to be driven for a few days or more.

[GreaseMonk]

Originally Posted by si1ver0ne

1. Is this normal for the battery to die down for not using the bike in two weeks?
2. Should I just take it to the nearest RE Service Center and get the battery checked or should I replace it?
3. Due to work timings and other personal commitments I've not been able to take the bike out for any rides, now there is a possibility that I might travel on official work and may not be able to take the bike out for 2 weeks to a month. How do I handle such situations of the battery losing power if I've not been able to use the bike for about a month or more if a situation arises?

1. Really depends how long you run the bike before the two weeks? If it is just for a ride around the block, its not really gaining any charge lost over time. But then again, the C5's batteries are quite rubbish anyway so it could just be that instead.
2. Obviously first get the battery checked before replacing it.
3. Get yourself a Battery Tender or a reliable trickle charger that allows you to keep it connected to a battery indefinitely without damaging the battery. Then whenever you are away from the bike for more than a few days, just disconnect the battery and hook it up to the charger. If you have a garage inaccessible to the public\neighbors then you can even leave the battery connected to the bike and charge it.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

To maintain your batteries charge I suggest that you buy a small battery charger.
This must not have a charging rate higher than 1 1/2 amps and it should have internal circuitry to sense the charge of the battery.
This is important to prevent overcharging the battery.

There are a number of these small battery maintaining devices available and it is likely that your dealer will have some available.
Here is a link to one web site that offers a good brand. I'm putting it here so you can see what they look like.
http://batterytender.com/

If you buy one of these battery maintaining chargers, connect the red clamp to the Positive (+) battery terminal and the black clamp to the Negative (-) terminal.

These chargers can also be used on a automobiles battery if it isn't going to be driven for a few days or more.

I need one of these for my garage. Jim, do you get ones which can be connected to more than 2 bikes at a time?

[ArizonaJim]

Originally Posted by ebonho

I need one of these for my garage. Jim, do you get ones which can be connected to more than 2 bikes at a time?

I don't believe so.

They have a sensing circuit that monitors the state of the batteries charge and if connected to two (or more) different batteries I believe it would confuse the charger.
For instance if one battery is fully charged and one battery is almost dead, the charger would set to work charging both batteries.
Overcharging a battery can be as destructive as leaving one discharged.

If you buy one of these at a local store you could always ask them about doing this but often (unfortunately) the sales clerk will not have good information.

Beyond trying to sell things and knowing what the price of a article is. a sales clerk's knowledge is often limited to knowing when it is time to go home at the end of the day.

[GreaseMonk]

Originally Posted by ebonho

I need one of these for my garage. Jim, do you get ones which can be connected to more than 2 bikes at a time?

Actually, they do. And its conveniently priced almost exactly twice that of a single charger.

http://batterytender.com/2-bank-inte...emisphere.html

However, I suspect that due to lower sales volumes of this model you will not find many discounted deals on this one. When I got my regular Battery Tender Plus, I had found a deal on Ebay.com that ended up costing the MRP shipped alal the way to India.

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by GreaseMonk

Actually, they do. And its conveniently priced almost exactly twice that of a single charger.

http://batterytender.com/2-bank-inte...emisphere.html

However, I suspect that due to lower sales volumes of this model you will not find many discounted deals on this one. When I got my regular Battery Tender Plus, I had found a deal on Ebay.com that ended up costing the MRP shipped alal the way to India.

Grease can you help me out with some good makes or links please. Will ask my friend from Australia to get a couple down - my need an extra one for my Baleno too as the Storme is doing regular duty now.

[si1ver0ne]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

To maintain your batteries charge I suggest that you buy a small battery charger.
This must not have a charging rate higher than 1 1/2 amps and it should have internal circuitry to sense the charge of the battery.
This is important to prevent overcharging the battery.

Here is a link to one web site that offers a good brand. I'm putting it here so you can see what they look like.
http://batterytender.com/

Originally Posted by GreaseMonk

... Get yourself a Battery Tender or a reliable trickle charger that allows you to keep it connected to a battery indefinitely without damaging the battery.

Thanks ArizonaJim and GreaseMonk for your responses. I went through the website and was able to see four different variants of the product:

Battery Tender® Plus 12V @ 1.25A
Battery Tender® Plus 12V @ 0.75A
Battery Tender® Plus 6V @ 1.25A
Battery Tender® Plus 6V @ 0.75A

Please let me know which one should I buy as I'm not good at this volts and amps stuff. I intend to only use it for my C500, but in one of the posts noticed that it can be used to charge the car battery as well! Hence requesting to guide me to the right one from the above. A friend is coming back from the US next week and I could have him bring this for me.

Thanks,
Si1lver0ne

[GreaseMonk]

Originally Posted by si1ver0ne

Thanks ArizonaJim and GreaseMonk for your responses. I went through the website and was able to see four different variants of the product:

Battery Tender® Plus 12V @ 1.25A
Battery Tender® Plus 12V @ 0.75A
Battery Tender® Plus 6V @ 1.25A
Battery Tender® Plus 6V @ 0.75A

Please let me know which one should I buy as I'm not good at this volts and amps stuff. I intend to only use it for my C500, but in one of the posts noticed that it can be used to charge the car battery as well! Hence requesting to guide me to the right one from the above. A friend is coming back from the US next week and I could have him bring this for me.

Thanks,
Si1lver0ne

If you're going to use it on your car battery as well then definitely get the 12V 1.25A one. If its just for your bike, then either the 12V 1.25A or 0.75A will do.

The amp rating is the maximum current the charger can generate which is used to charge the first 80% of the battery's capacity. With the 1.25A one that I have it takes around 20 hours to fully charge an almost completely dead C500 battery. With the 0.75A one, this time will be a lot longer (not quite double, but around there). If you're going to use it to charge a car battery which are much higher capacity than motorcycle batteries, then the 0.75 A will probably take forever (I feel the same about the 1.25A one as well, but I will concede to Jim's opinion regarding this since I have never actually tried using my Battery Tender on a car battery).

Since you mentioned you won't be using the bike for more than a week, then the time difference between the two amp models wont make a difference to you: either way you'll have a fully charged battery when you take the bike out next.

If it was my money and I had to buy one again, I'd say try and get the one that runs off of 220V (they have some international models) since its an added annoyance to get one of their normal models and then have to get a separate transformer.

@Doc, did you want me to look at alternative brands to Battery Tender or did you want help deciding which model of Battery Tender to get?

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by GreaseMonk

@Doc, did you want me to look at alternative brands to Battery Tender or did you want help deciding which model of Battery Tender to get?

Alternative brands, and the specific models both bro. And since I am a complete electrical ignoramus, please suggest ones that can work on the Bullet 500 (12 V, AC-DC, 5 Ah battery), the KTM Duke 200 (12 V, looks like a dry cell battery - Amaron I think), as well as my cars (Baleno, Zen, Storme).

[ArizonaJim]

@si1ver0ne

Your C500 uses a 12 volt system so either of the chargers that say "12V" (12 volt) will work fine.

I'm not sure when Royal Enfield changed from the old 6 volt system that was used back in 1955 but I am sure that all of them made since 2000 are 12 volt systems.

Most automobiles switched from 6 volt to 12 volt systems back in the early 1960's.

Electricity is measured by "volts" and "amps".
Very simply put, "volt" is the measure of energy available to push the electricity thru the wires.
"Amps" is the measure of energy available to do the work.
The total amount of work that can be done is a combination of the volts multiplied times the amps and is called "watts".

The battery on your Royal Enfield is rated at 14 amp hours which means it can supply 1 amp for 14 hours or 14 amps for 1 hour.

If the battery was just about dead, the charger that can provide 1.25 amps of power would (if it was a perfect world) take 14/1.25 = 11.2 hours to charge it.

The charger that can provide .75 amps of power would take 14/.75 = 18.7 hours to charge the battery.
By the way, gentle charging is better for the battery than fast charging but both of these chargers are so slow that neither should cause harm.

Because your motorcycle will be sitting unridden for well over 20 hours, either charger will do the job. Being the "cheap" guy I am, I would go for the lowest cost charger.

[abeerbagul]

How to oil the chain of a bullet:

My service center recommends cleaning and oiling the chain of a Classic 500 every week.
Steps:
1. Create a mixture of grease and gear oil 50 : 50. Stir it with a spoon till the grease gets emulsified in the oil.
2. Go to the local car wash center and get the chain cleaned with the high pressure jet
3. Buy a disposable plastic syringe (injection) from the medical shop, as big as you can get. I got a 100 ml syringe. Throw away the needle safely. You only need the plastic syringe body.
4. Insert the nozzle of the plastic syringe in the grease mixture and draw out the plunger, loading the syringe with grease.
5. Start the bullet and put it in first gear. Now the chain is rotating at a set pace. Safely, taking care of your fingers and hands, position the nozzle of the syringe above the inner side of the rotating chain.
6. Slowly keep depressing the plunger, as a steady stream of grease falls on the rotating chain.

The oiling of chain is complete. Keep the greasy plunger around for reusing the next time.

[ArizonaJim]

Thank you for your helpful instructions. I only see one thing mentioned that I disagree with.

Although you warned people to be careful, I think the risks of lubricating the chain while the engine is running and in gear outweigh the benefits.

As many of us remember, it was not too long ago that one of our members lost several of his fingers as they became entangled with the sprocket. Although he was using a rag at the time to wipe the chain, there is still a great risk whenever ones hands are around a moving piece of machinery.
Also, with the engine running there is the possibility of inadvertently touching the very hot silencer.

With the motorcycle sitting on the centerstand and the rear tyre off of the ground it is very easy to move the chain by simply rotating the wheel by hand, allowing it to stop, applying the grease and then rotating the tyre again to expose a new section of chain.

Sorry about being such a worry wart but fingers are hard to replace.

[abeerbagul]

Hmm, I will also stop this habit. Was trying to minimize the effort due to sheer laziness
Rotating the tyre by hand has one more benefit that the chain moves more slowly and you can inspect the links for damage.

[azm@bpl]

Originally Posted by abeerbagul

How to oil the chain of a bullet:

My service center recommends cleaning and oiling the chain of a Classic 500 every week.
Steps:
1. Create a mixture of grease and gear oil 50 : 50. Stir it with a spoon till the grease gets emulsified in the oil.
2. Go to the local car wash center and get the chain cleaned with the high pressure jet
3. Buy a disposable plastic syringe (injection) from the medical shop, as big as you can get. I got a 100 ml syringe. Throw away the needle safely. You only need the plastic syringe body.
4. Insert the nozzle of the plastic syringe in the grease mixture and draw out the plunger, loading the syringe with grease.
5. Start the bullet and put it in first gear. Now the chain is rotating at a set pace. Safely, taking care of your fingers and hands, position the nozzle of the syringe above the inner side of the rotating chain.
6. Slowly keep depressing the plunger, as a steady stream of grease falls on the rotating chain.

The oiling of chain is complete. Keep the greasy plunger around for reusing the next time.

thanks for making a dull job sound and appear so simple. i always wondered how to lubricate the chain as it one of the most damage prone part in any bike. a weekly job would definately go a long way keeping the chain and sprocket healthy and running!!

[ebonho]

Originally Posted by ArizonaJim

Although you warned people to be careful, I think the risks of lubricating the chain while the engine is running and in gear outweigh the benefits.

Golden rule is to always work on the lower chain segment (below the swingarm) where the chain moves OFF the sprocket - compared to the upper chain segment where the chain moves INTO the sprocket.