what happens if you charge a motorcycle battery with a car charger?
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You will destroy the battery.
A motorcycle battery should never be charged at a rate above 2 amps. It is best if you use a fully automatic battery charger so you do not over charge.
You can use an automotive battery charger if it can be switched down to 2 amps.
Also, if you need to add water, use distilled water only. Tap water contains trace amounts of chemicals and minerals that will shorten the life of a motorcycle battery. Distilled water is inexpensive so do the job right.
See the link below for an excellent article on how to properly care for a motorcycle battery.
If it’s a street bike, it will start the bike. Done it a million times on a number of bikes.
It depends on how many amps you had the charger set at and how long you left it on. Also did it have automatic shutoff. This all determines if you ruined it or not.
Technically, any wet cell battery shouldn’t be charged at a rate (amps) of more than 10% of the amp hour rating of the battery. That means 1.2 amps for a 12 ah battery. In actuality, the bike’s charging system is going to charge the battery at 5-10 times that rate.
Most decent battery chargers reduce the charging rate as the battery charges up. Many also have a 2 amp rate, which will work great for any bike battery. A 10-15 amp charger is certainly going to charge up the battery initially, but the battery is going to get very hot and boil a lot of water out. If you need to get the battery charged in a hurry or don’t have a low amperage charger, use the higher rate until the battery starts to feel rather warm to the touch, then switch to the low setting or disconnect the charger and let the battery cool down. Whatever you do, don’t let the charger run full tilt at high amperage and leave for the day or go to bed for the night. That’s when you need the low setting.