How Do I Recharge a Lithium Battery?

Can you use any old battery charger to bring a drained lithium battery back from the dead? Recharging a lithium battery is different than charging traditional batteries.

Partzilla’s powersports expert John Talley does weekly live Q&A sessions every Friday at 3PM Eastern on our YouTube channel, and in this session, John answers one viewer’s question about how to charge a lithium battery that was completely drained.  

How to Recharge a Lithium Battery

I bought a lithium battery and completely drained it. Whoops. Anyway, can I bring it back to life?

John Talley: Yes, but be really careful doing this. With lithium batteries, you don’t just throw them on a regular buzz charger, like in the good old days and bring them back up like you would a lead acid battery. The lithium batteries have to be brought up in a certain fashion, and then topped off as far as their charge. And when one has been knocked all the way down like that, even some of the best smart chargers can’t pull it off. So be prepared for the fact that this one might not come back. But make sure you can get ahold of the best lithium battery charger that you can, to hopefully bring it back to life. Just be careful about that.  

As John mentioned, lithium batteries can only be charged with special chargers, but what about the other battery types like lead-acid and AGM batteries?  In the video below, John guides you through three main types of batteries used in powersports vehicles. John does a rundown of how the different battery types work and why they’re used for certain applications. He also covers what chargers to use for bringing each battery type back to life.

Watch the video below to learn more about powersports vehicle battery types and how to charge them.

Want to see more live repair questions answered? See more motorcycle and ATV repair questions answered here.