Q: charging my motor cycle battery? | GTAMotorcycle.com

Q: charging my motor cycle battery?

D

Dingo

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I have a battery charger similar to this:

http://www.canadiantire.ca/AST/browse/4/Auto/3/Batteries/BatteryChargers/PRD~0111571P/MotoMaster+Battery+Charger+with+100A+Engine+Start.jsp?locale=en

I have the older model from 3-4 years ago.

My question is will that be good enough to charge my battery this winter? I have a 2009ninja500ex i just bought in Oct, i pulled the battery in Late Nov.

Reading the spec it doesnt have "Float Mode Monitoring", which for some reason rings a bell ... if i remember correctly with float mode you just leave it plugged in worry free all winter?

That being the case i assume i could charge it up every 3-4 weeks (for 20-30 mins)?

Any suggestion would be appreciated.
Thanks
 
Its a little big, but put it on 2A mode and charge one a month then disconnect and you will be fine. Get the C-Tek they sell if you want to leave it on all winter.
 
Your battery will not want that attached and constantly trying to charge it when the
battery is fully charged. There are ways to hook it up so you can set it and forget it:

1. Get a 24-hour timer switch, and set it to be active for 15 or 30 minutes per day.
Plug the charger into that and hook the charger to the battery.
I have not tried this, but it seems sound.

2. If you have an electrical garage opener, and it turns on a light, you can screw an
adapter into the socket and plug your charger into that. From then on, every time
the garage door is activated, the battery will get a few minutes of charging.
That also seems sound.

Good luck, and best wishes for an early and balmy spring.
 
As was mentioned, you want to charge your MC battery on the 2 amp. setting. Keep an eye on it - it will charge much faster than a car battery. Get yourself a multi-meter (you can get an adequate one at C.T.C. for $10-$15, when they go on sale (all the time)). If the battery is out of the bike (or simply disconnected), once it's charged, it should be fine for the rest of the winter - assuming it's a decent battery to start with. Once you've charged the battery, let it sit for an hour, then check it with the meter. A good battery should be showing at least 13.25 volts - an okay battery should show at least 12.75 volts. Leave it in the cold - a cold battery will "self-discharge" slower than a warm one. After a couple of weeks, put your meter on it again and see where it's at - if it's not lost much (.05 - .10 V) - then you probably don't have to look at it for another month. Once it drops below 12.5 volts, hook it up to the charger again - an hour or two should do it - but keep an eye on it.
I killed a brand new car battery, over a winter's storage, by charging it a few hours every month - I didn't have a meter at the time and really had no idea that I was over charging an already charged battery.
 
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Plug it in once a month for a few mins till the "Charging" light changes to the "Charged" light. I plug my charger in ever month or so and the battery is fully charged within 5 mins.
 
Most of these chargers detect the level and stop charging once it's charged. I'd still manually charge it up once a month. Bought some el-cheapo tender but it tended to cook batteries, so I got rid of it. Heard good things about those C-Tek's, but if you have a 2A setting and auto cutoff on yours, no need to spend additional cash.
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