Checking your car battery after every fifth or sixth ride should be a habit as this might get you into trouble; nowadays, it has become common for the bike’s batteries to fail during the rides. This can be heavily dangerous for a driver on a running road, and the battery suddenly stops working.
Moreover, if you are facing such a situation, you can charge your motorcycle battery either by using a battery charger or by push-starting your motorcycle; however, you can also jump-start your bike by using a car battery to charge your motorcycle battery, which can have consequences like overpowering the motorcycle’s battery.
In this article, we will talk about important points to consider if you are thinking of charging a bike battery using a car battery; we have come up with a detailed analysis to help you make the essential points clear.
Table of Contents
What are the differences between a car battery and a motorcycle battery:
The battery is one of the critical elements in any vehicle as they are the powerhouse of all the electrical systems that are equipped on a vehicle. Therefore, choosing the appropriate battery for the appropriate vehicle is necessary. There are a lot of differences between a car battery and a bike battery. Here are some of them:
- Performance- Both the batteries are good at performance for each of the respective vehicles, but car batteries are known to have a better performance than bike batteries.
- Power output- In terms of power output, car batteries produce more power outputs than that bike batteries. Typically a bike battery produces around 9.5V to 10.5V, and a fully charged car battery produces up to 12.6 volts.
- Battery life(after full charge)- Battery life per charge is an important component when considering the battery for any vehicle. The charging of the bike battery is known to last longer than the car battery. The average life of a car battery after it is fully charged is about 2 months, and that of a bike is 2-4 months.
Can you charge a motorcycle battery with a car battery, the actual answer?
This might be one of the worst feelings when you put your key into the ignition, and your bike won’t start. This can happen due to a dead battery as it is the primary cause of false ignition or no ignition. In this case, you have to charge your bike’s battery. Yes, you can even use a car battery to charge your bike’s battery; it is possible to do so with proper measures and an understanding of the process. There are three methods by which you can charge your bike battery using the car’s battery. We have listed the three methods below:
- Jumpstarting your bike using your car battery.
- Use your car battery charger to charge your bike battery.
- Directly charge your bike battery using your car battery.
The above methods are proven to sustain and work perfectly fine in charging the bike’s battery. But keep in mind that the car battery is much more powerful than the bike’s battery, so try to carefully carry out all the methods as this can burn the electrical systems of your bike if not done properly.
Difficulties of charging a motorcycle with a car
It is possible to charge your motorcycle’s battery using your car battery; however, if you opt for this method, then there are some difficulties in doing so. The first difficulty that comes along your way is that a car battery is much more powerful than a bike battery which means that during charging, you may overpower your bike’s battery when charging it with a car battery.
This overpowering of the bike’s battery would result in damaging the electrical systems of the bike. It may also cause problems like heating the electrolyte and damaging the plates by overheating them.
This can also become a severe and fatal issue as during charging of the bike battery if the hydrogen gas starts leaking, it may blow up the battery and cause severe damage and even fatal injuries to the driver and the people nearby.
Another difficulty is that you don’t know when to connect your bile’s battery to your car battery to charge it; this can lead to overcharging of the battery and damage the electrical parts even if you know your car’s model and your bike’s battery.
Can you charge a motorcycle battery with a car charger?
Yes, if you can charge a motorcycle battery using a car charger. According to our detailed knowledge of this topic, we have articulated a step-by-step guide one must take to charge a motorcycle battery with a car charger:
- Bike batteries come in many sizes and shapes; check what type of battery your bike is equipped with. If you don’t know the battery your bike has, then refer to your bike’s manual or just look for a printed name on the battery only.
- Now comes the second step, which is about what kind of charger you need for the type of battery-equipped bike. You can use the following kinds of battery chargers:
The chargers listed below are suitable only for lead-acid, gel, or absorbed glass material.
- Trickle chargers- These kinds of chargers are fully manual-based and are the easiest ones to use.
- Float chargers- These kinds of chargers provide gentle current to the connected battery.
- Smart chargers are the safest ones to use as they don’t overpower the batteries by topping as soon as the battery is charged.
For lithium-ion batteries, you need to go for the specialized chargers to charge these kinds of batteries.
- Now proceed by moving the battery out of our bike before charging it. Don’t attempt to charge the battery while it is connected to the bike as it might harm the other components of the bike, start by disconnecting the negative terminals first and then the positive ones.
- After you have disconnected the battery from the bike, connect the charger to the battery terminals in the correct order. If you are not using a smart charger, you must keep an eye out for charging. A manual charger may cause overcharging of the battery
- After the battery is completely charged, disconnect the battery from the charger and install the battery on the bike again by connecting the terminals in the correct order.
Can you jump-start a motorcycle battery with a car?
Yes, you can jumpstart your motorcycle using your car battery. Just remember to do it safely, as overcharging the battery might damage the internal parts.
- This process involves using jump cables; if you don’t have one, you can buy a pair from the local hardware store.
- Now stop the ignition of the car battery if you are using it to charge the bike’s battery, as both the vehicles have different battery outputs.
- Now connect the red clamp to the discharged battery of your bike.
- Now connect the black clamp to the frame of the battery.
- Attach the other red clamp to the car battery.
- Now finally, attach the black clamp to the car battery’s negative terminal.
- After that, start the bike and leave it.
- Finally, disconnect the clamps after the motorcycle’s battery is fully charged.
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Conclusion
If you are charging your bike’s battery using a car battery, keep in mind that this activity requires safety measures as the batteries are flammable and can even below up the vehicles.
