how to be nice to my battery

[izzi81]

As winter is approaching and my workload looks to be getting heavier I'm thinking there's not going to be many bike opportunities over Dec/Jan/Feb. But I don't want to wreck my battery by letting it run down! So if I'm going to try and take out the bike regularly, how regularly does it need to keep the battery good? Once a week? Once every 2 weeks? Then I have a target to aim for
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[Kickstart]

Hi

Depends on the load on it. Some alarms drain batteries rapidly, and flattening them totally wipes them out rapidly. With no load on them a decent make of battery can easily last months without being touched

If the bike is stored inside / well sheltered then think about an Optimate type charger to help the battery.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[map]

In order for the alternator to put charge back into the battery then the bike needs to be run at optimum revs. That'll be around cruising speed in 4th/5th, so say 4K revs (ish - ballpark figures here). So just turning the bike over on tickover would actually damage your battery (continues to run down as nothing put back in). If you let a battery get too low then it will be damaged and unable to take a full charge again.

As above I'd recommend an Optimate or Accumate charger and leave plugged in (assuming bike in garage). They're not cheap but it was one of the first bits of bike kit I got and IMO one of the best.
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[izzi81]

oops sorry put this in the wrong place didn't I

thanks for the replies. Ideally I hope to be able to get out and run it often enough to keep the battery going - sounds like a nip up and down a wee bit of motorway might be what's called for, how long does it want to be run at optimum revs? - but I'll look into the battery charger thing, that could come in handy as well.
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"The problem with the French is they have no word for 'entrepreneur' " George W Bush
Age doesn't matter unless you're a cheese
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[Kram]

you have to ride for something like 4 miles (ish) before the battery will start charging, then be riding quite speedy as well. (but ride around with lights off etc.)

it might be easier to take the battery out.. and charge it for 2 hours every week?
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FS1E -> SR125 -> CB400N -> CB650 -> FZR600 Genises -> VFR400 NC21 -> CBR900RR Fireblade -> Renault Clio 1.4

[Chriss]

My stealer told me to replace the charge in the battery from starting a bike, it takes around 15 minutes of riding. Not sure if it's true, but it's what the dealer told me.
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TheShaggyDA: I've got 3 or 4 pairs that predate my wife, so at least 11.5 years old.

[muddycoffee]

I did some work about 20 years ago on Lead acid batteries and Charging.

Basically a 12v Car or bike battery will show a slightly higher voltage when it is fully charged, and the voltage goes lower as it gets discharged.

I think that something like 13.7v will be what you would expect for a fully charged up battery.

If you allow a Car Battery ( and likewise a Bike Battery ) to discharge below about 10v then it will damage the chargeability and will never work as well again, and you should buy a new one. You will get a battery like this to work but it's power rating will be down and it could loose charge rapidly.
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[Robby]

Get an optimate, they can have a quick release type attachment that you install onto your battery, then whenever the bike is parked up in your garage just plug it in.

Its an intelligent charger, so it can't damage the battery by leaving it plugged in for months.

[True Blue]

What muddycoffee says is right enough. You could roughly check the condition of your battery by measuring the voltage. I would definitely recommend you buy a battery charger though and keep it on trickle charge when your not using it for long periods.
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