Interesting... So... Should I be leaving my bike battery in my unheated garage this winter? Last year I stored it in my basement to keep it a bit warmer.
battery charging dilema- suggestions apppreciated
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Interesting... So... Should I be leaving my bike battery in my unheated garage this winter? Last year I stored it in my basement to keep it a bit warmer.
As long as the battery is fully charged you can keep it in an unheated garage.
The freezing point of the electrolyte in a fully charged battery is -50C.
The freezing point of the electrolyte in a fully depleted battery (0V) is basically the same as water: 0C.
Recommended storage temperature is about 15C. Anything more starts to increases the self-discharge rate.
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Cool info... Thanks.
And... I was always curious about whether to leave the tender on full time, once a week, once a month etc. Last winter I had the battery in the basement on a piece of wood (I was told years ago to store a battery on something and not let it touch the concrete) and charged it 3 times over the winter on the tender. The previous winter I left the previous battery in the bike with the tender on full time and it did not have enough juice to start the bike in the spring. I should disclose that the previous battery was an el cheapo one and the current battery is a Yuasa which fired up the bike this spring after slumbering in my basement all winter.
Right now I have stabilizer in the bike but the battery is still in it because I am tempted to try and sneak one or two more rides in.
If it's a true tender (ie. "smart" float charger that monitors the voltage and tapers off the charge when the battery is full) and not a dumb trickle charger, then I don't see why you wouldn't just leave it on full time.
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It is a Battery Tender Jr...
You can leave it on but I prefer to hook mine up once every couple of weeks for a quick top up that way there is no danger of overcharging it.
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superseven
Well-known member
I have always just left my battery on my tender jr. Full time. All battery issues I have had seemed to be related to age and a failed cell.
I end up swapping batteries around, 1 charger and a couple different vehicles like the lawnmower etc
I was thinking this too ... is the underground a cold place ? as in 0c ? or is it warm ? in my condo that I lived in a few years ago, it could be -20c outside but I could go downstairs to the underground and at WORST it'd be +10c.
I had a bike and scooter down there all winter. it gave me an excuse to start them up once every 2 or 3 weeks and drive up and down the different levels ... probably about 10-15 minutes of driving every 2 or 3 weeks. why can't you just do that ?
I had a bike and scooter down there all winter. it gave me an excuse to start them up once every 2 or 3 weeks and drive up and down the different levels ... probably about 10-15 minutes of driving every 2 or 3 weeks. why can't you just do that ?
Car alternators put out generally in the range of 100 amps...compact car less, SUV typically quite a lot more.
Through a quality set of booster cables you'll easily get 50-75% of that amperage through to the battery in need of charge. That's still a LOT of amps, and far more than the stator/alternator on the bike typically puts out.
In other words, if the OP does that at least every 3-4 weeks during the downtime it will restore your average sized motorcycle battery to a full SOC in probably 10 minutes or less assuming it has lost only <10% of so of it's charge due to natural depletion in that timeframe. It certainly won't take hours as a motorcycle battery is but a fraction of the size/capacity of a car battery.
Red_Liner740
Well-known member
Except that its not how 12V DC batteries work. Yes the alternator can output 100amps, but a battery only slightly depleted will not draw anywhere near 100amps...As the battery reaches full charge it will draw less and less amperage.
Thats why you can bulk charge a battery to 80% very quickly but then it tapers off and takes just as long to charge the last 20% as it did the first 80%. Does it take hours? No, but it sure as **** wont take 10 minutes either...
Thats why you can bulk charge a battery to 80% very quickly but then it tapers off and takes just as long to charge the last 20% as it did the first 80%. Does it take hours? No, but it sure as **** wont take 10 minutes either...
Charge for 10-15 minutes just to maintain should be ok
