How Do You Revive a Dead Motorcycle Battery?

Dead batteries can be irritating when you can’t afford to buy them. Now the only question you might have is, how do you revive a dead motorcycle battery? 

You can revive your lead batteries by draining sulphuric acid and adding Epsom salt solution (as an electrolyte).

So what’re the steps to revive your dead motorcycle battery? In this post, we will address some easy steps so that you can do to revive your motorcycle batteries. 

How Do You Revive a Dead Motorcycle Battery? 

As mentioned above, you can revive your dead motorcycle batteries by draining sulphuric acid and adding Epsom salt solution. And here are some materials that you might require to revive your dead motorcycle batteries. 

• Insulated gloves. 
• Epsom salt.
• Water.
• Funnel.
• Pair of googles. 

Steps involved: 

Step 1: 

We recommend not performing this activity if your batteries are still hot. Instead, let them cool and wait for a few hours. We also recommend wearing insulated gloves and a pair of goggles when doing this step. 

Additionally, it’d be better if you choose a well-ventilated room when performing this activity. 

Step 2: 

Step 2 begins with removing batteries by loosening the connectors. After removing the battery, drain sulphuric solution in a separate tub. 

Please pay attention while draining the sulphuric electrolytes. And don’t forget to maintain enough distance to prevent any acid contact with your body.

Step 3: 

In this step, you’ve to make an Epsom solution in water. To make an Epsom solution, we recommend adding 0.5 pounds of Epsom salt to the water.  

You can fasten the mixing process by heating the solution to nearly 100 degrees celsius and adding them to the batteries once it’s cooled. 

Step 4: 

It is the last step in reviving your motorcycle battery. After adding an Epsom solution, don’t forget to give a little shake to your motorcycle battery.  

We recommend using a slow charger, connected at the terminal of your battery. And let the batteries charge overnight and reinstall it once it’s fully charged. 

The Hard Truth: 

Most people believe that changing the electrolytes will make their batteries new again. But “reality is often disappointing.” 

Doing the above activity will surely revive your motorcycle battery, but you won’t enjoy 100% battery capacity again.  For instance, in many cases, people experience 80% power back.  

Why We Used Epsom Salt:

To understand the whole concept, you need to know why your motorcycle battery died because of using the sulphuric electrolyte. 

Generally, the sulphuric electrolyte is the main reason why most people are facing dead batteries. It is because sulphuric electrolytes break into sulfur salt and water. This sulfur salt accumulates on the lead battery plates and leads to dead batteries. And fortunately enough, you can revive the batteries by changing the electrolytes.  

Tips When Revive a Dead Motorcycle Battery

There’re many tips that you need to remember while performing the above activity. And here some tips: 

Say No to Tap Water: 

What most people do is use tap water. We don’t recommend doing this. Tap water contains numerous minerals that could accumulate on the lead plate as sulfur salt does. Additionally, tap water doesn’t give you enough mixability of Epsom salt. 

Overall, it’d be better to use distilled water while reviving your batteries. 

Don’t Use Car Charger: 

Lack of patience is the main reason why most people experience battery problems. And this is also true when charging the motorcycle battery with a high-power charger. We don’t recommend using high power charges such as a car charger to charge your motorcycle battery after adding the salt solution. 

Otherwise, high voltage or power charger, could damage your motorcycle battery permanently. 

Close Caps Properly: 

It’s normal for water to change into vapor while charging. And that’s why we recommend closing the caps before charging.

Dispose of Sulphuric Electrolyte Properly: 

We can’t express the importance of disposing of a sulphuric electrolyte properly. We recommend you dispose of the sulphuric electrolyte far from your children and pets’ reach. Also, please be careful not to exploit nature while disposing of the electrolyte. 

And please don’t dispose of electrolytes in the water bodies around you; believe us doing this would kill aquatic organisms. You can reach the chemical disposing faculty nearest to you and ask them to dispose of your electrolyte. 

Reason Why Your Motorcycle Battery is Dead: 

As mentioned above, there could be many reasons why your motorcycle battery is dead. And here are some top reasons why your motorcycle battery is dead. 

Use of Sulphur Electrolyte: 

Although the sulfur electrolyte is considered best for batteries to work for longer times, sometimes the sulfur salt accumulates on the lead plate, which causes your battery to die. 

And that’s why we recommend changing electrolytes every eight weeks. Doing this will protect the sulfur salt accumulation on lead plates.

Using Tap Water: 

Using tap water is also the main reason why many people experience dead batteries. It is because tap water contains numerous minerals which accumulate on the lead plates as sulfur salt does.

Additionally, tap water has a flawed electrolyte mixing property, which is bad for your battery. 

Battery Overload: 

Battery overload is one of the main reasons why many people are experiencing battery problems. 

In this electronic world, please think again when installing any electrical device on your motorbike because installing additional devices might suck all charge from the battery. And the chances are that there’s no power left in your battery. 

Additionally, you can ask the dealer or see the manual to know the voltage supported by your motorcycle battery. And never plug in an additional electrical system on your motorcycle.

Poor Connection: 

Poor connection between the electrical charge plug and battery could be the main reason why your battery died prematurely. 

The barriers like dust and grease could stop the flowing of electrical current in your motorcycle. And this causes your battery not to charge fully and die prematurely. 

We recommend taking a piece of sandpaper and cleaning the dust or any Greece. 

Alternator: 

The alternator is the primary device that charges your battery during riding. Faulty alternators cause your battery not to charge fully, which might cause your battery to die prematurely.

Additionally, it’s a common trend of faulty alternators prefixed at the time of motorcycle manufacturing. 

So it’s better to accept the hard truth that pre-installed alternators won’t last forever, and you’ve to invest some bucks to buy a good alternator. 

Charge Leak: 

Charge leak is common, especially if you plug numerous electrical devices. Electrical devices like an alarm, GPS, etc., could cause charge leaks, which leads to battery dead. 

You can even confirm the charge leak in your home. And fortunately enough, you just need a voltmeter to check any charge leak.

Remove the negative battery wire and place the voltmeter between the negative and the battery’s negative terminals. And check the reading; in the ideal condition, it should reflect the zero reading. 

Contact dealers or manufacturers in case you find non zero readings.

Frequently Asked Questions:

Our Verdict: 

How do you revive a dead motorcycle battery?  You can revive your lead batteries by draining sulphuric acid as an electrolyte and adding Epsom salt solution.

We’ve covered a total of four steps to revive your motorcycle battery again. Tips like not using tap water, a car charger, closing the cap, and not using sulphuric electrolytes can protect your battery from dying.

Reasons such as using a sulfur electrolyte, tap water, and poor connection are the main reasons why most people experience dead batteries.