Sitting bike - battery life

[bigdom86]

Hi guys

In general how long would a motorbike battery last just sitting over winter? I have an 02 cbr f4i and has been garaged for 2 weeks now with a s4 datatool alarm active. I have another 2 weeks off work before i will ride again, is a whole month likely to drain it? Should i take it for a ride to charge it - how long would i need to ride for

Cheers

[ADSrox0r]

I've had bikes go 'flat' after a long weekend, others sit for weeks no problem. Depends on the battery and then any drains on it. With an alarm fitted? Be flat in no time.

Invest in a trickle charger. Taking it out for a spin won't charge a flat battery.
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Current bikes: '08 VFR 800 VTEC(yo) , '07 ZZR1400 Winter hack: '95 Aprilia 650 Pegaso Currently lusting after: RC30

[doggone]

If there's items like clock, alarm immobiliser there will be a slow drain and it would be wise to charge at very least once a month, or have a suitable trickle charger on it continuously for maximum life.
A bike without any of the above might go two months but you are still taking a chance.

If not allowed to discharge you can get 5 years and more from it, if you let it go down to where it barely turns the engine a couple of times, you can be buying another almost annually - in short a trickle charger makes a lot of sense unless it's impossible to use where your bike must be kept.
- In which case I'd take the battery off and keep it inside.

[bigdom86]

Cheers guys i ride year round but this year have been given a generous holiday this Christmas so off almost a month (i use my bike for commuting) - i wont be able to remove the battery as wont it set off the alarm/immobiliser? Is there a battery trickle charger which you can use without mains? Probably a dumb question but a charger which you charge indoors then can connect to battery. My garage has no power. Other option is to take it for a 30min to 1 hour ride to recharge the battery. I doubt it will be dead after 2 weeks without use so shouldnt take a long ride to recharge?

[M.C]

[Polarbear]

You can get small solar powered chargers which are just about OK in summer, crap in winter.

Just remove your battery. The bike won't go anywhere without it. If you want an alarm, buy an alarmed disc lock.

If your battery goes flat, you pretty well half it's life straight away. I've killed £500 worth of leisure batteries in a season on one of my boats letting them go flat and thats the sort that are built to take large levels of discharge.
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Triumph Trophy Launch Edition

[woo]

put your alarm into deep sleep mode or even better remove it and throw it in the bin.

alarms have given me nothing but hassle in the past
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Elen sila lummen omentielvo!

[bigdom86]

Tbh ive never had an issue with any datatool alarm and they seem to do what they need to do to be honest, just worried as ive never left my bike for this long before (longest i left the bike is a week with no issue).

I just read the manual and if i put in winter mode i can remove bike battery if it does go dead or i can bump start i guess (no hills near me though)

Might go out for a ride tonight and then put into winter mode

[Hong Kong Phooey]

Disregarding parasitic drain from ECU's alarms etc. these are the self discharge rates by battery chemistry.

Battery system Estimated self-discharge
Alkaline 2–3% per year (7-10 years shelf life)
Lead-acid 5% per month
Nickel-based 10–15% in 24h, then 10-15% per month
Lithium-ion 5% in 24h, then 1–2% per month (plus 3% for safety circuit)

Presuming you have lead-acid then 5% per month is minimum rate with it plugged in to the bike. The alarm will draw something so I understand why trickle chargers are a thing, but I've never needed one.

I've got a LiFePO4 battery in for a couple of years now, which can stand around for ages with no bother as I've no alarm, but I still take the bike out every other week at the moment as they don't recover well if they do go flat and I'm using the car a lot lately.
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'81 CG125, '97 FZS600 : '99 CBR600F4, '09 KTM RC8

[johnsmith222]

for a month sitting, I would definitely get a trickle charger.

If the charger is only going to be used for bike batteries, get a ctek XS 0.8.

If you ever think you'll use it for car batteries too, get the MXS 5.0.

[recman]

I just removed and charged my motobatt gel battery after months of inactivity.
Surprised how quickly it charged but then the bike had been in winter mode.

[doggone]

If you have power a trickle charger with permanently attached tender wires is a no brainer, even a couple of weeks without use can start the decline.

Lead Acid likes to be practically fully charged at all times.
Bike batteries have to be small and are soon tipped over the edge.
They are also disproportionally expensive for many models.

[BIG ZOOK]

I must hold the record for best oem battery.The battery on my gsxr is still going strong and it`s 16yrs old.However I have had new batteries fail in under 1 yr on other bikes.

[FretGrinder]

The batteries come out of both of the bikes when the weather starts getting cold. They live a the side of the house, underneath a separate cover each and a tarpaulin over the top of both, so there's no way of keeping them on charge.

If I had a garage, both of them would be on an optimate, but I don't have that luxury unfortunately.

I learned the lesson, about leaving unused batteries in the cold, the hard way. I left the battery in my cbf1000 over winter. Halfway through the winter I took it out and it measured a shade over 10 volts on a multimeter.

I managed to revive it using a ctek charger, I thought it was toast, but the charger saved it, thankfully.
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Yamaha MT-09

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