Remove Battery over Winter?

[partenr]

I went out and rode my bike a few blocks the other day after not running it for a couple months. The battery did not seem to be low in the least after all the sitting in the cool weather. It made me wonder if I need to remove it or disconnect it all this winter.

Do you guys that live in cold climates remove or disconnect your battery over the winter?

 

[Zewerr]

It would probably be a good idea no matter what the climate is if your not going to be running it for a while. Either that or keep on a battery tender.

 

[maxcruiser]

In my neck of the woods, the temp can drop down to -40 celcius, therefore the battery definitely needs to come out. I put it on a battery tender as the off season is 6 months long.

 

[4gasem]

Mine all stay in the bike. I have a pigtail connected so I can just connect the tender and let it go...:thumbs up:

 

[113s&s]

Mine all stay in the bike. I have a pigtail connected so I can just connect the tender and let it go...:thumbs up:

figured i would add a pig tail to battery to charge once in a while.....took one look at the cluster on top and changed my mine :confused2:..before i go that far ill read up a little first....but what i did do was........connected charger to end of positive red cable where it goes onto round thing...and put ground on battery..for a quick charge through winter........question my battery tender is a 6 amp..used the 6 amp on my gel in my other bike..will stock battery take the 6 amp charge ok..it will run its cycle for about 6 to 8 hours then go to storage....or think its better to charge with tender for and hour here and there

 

[4gasem]

figured i would add a pig tail to battery to charge once in a while.....took one look at the cluster on top and changed my mine :confused2:..before i go that far ill read up a little first....but what i did do was........connected charger to end of positive red cable where it goes onto round thing...and put ground on battery..for a quick charge through winter........question my battery tender is a 6 amp..used the 6 amp on my gel in my other bike..will stock battery take the 6 amp charge ok..it will run its cycle for about 6 to 8 hours then go to storage....or think its better to charge with tender for and hour here and there

30 bucks buys you a Deltran battery tender junior and you leave it plugged in all the time...:thumbs up:

 

[maleko89]

30 bucks buys you a Beltran battery tender junior and you leave it plugged in all the time...:thumbs up:

With stock battery, put a battery tender on it. For a gel battery a charger isn't necessary since the charge loss is infinitesimal.

Mark
#1098

 

[Rusty McNeil]

figured i would add a pig tail to battery to charge once in a while.....took one look at the cluster on top and changed my mine :confused2:..before i go that far ill read up a little first....but what i did do was........connected charger to end of positive red cable where it goes onto round thing...and put ground on battery..for a quick charge through winter........question my battery tender is a 6 amp..used the 6 amp on my gel in my other bike..will stock battery take the 6 amp charge ok..it will run its cycle for about 6 to 8 hours then go to storage....or think its better to charge with tender for and hour here and there

My opinion is that a 6 amp charger is going to cause your water consumption to go through the roof. When they say trickle it usually means something around 500milliamps or less.


Also, easiest way to pigtail is go to the constant hot on the start solenoid and take the ground to one of the bolts around the fuel pump, overflow tank area.
Fuse it and leave it hanging outby the seat tank junction.

Rusty

 

[113s&s]

thanks for all the info guys,,the tender is a deltran 6 amp tender....Ill play it safe and not use it...probaby just use it for a quick first charge of next season...for 30 bucks ill grab the junior,,,,,,,,was told at the time the 6 and would give the gel a complete full charge made for gel where the junior would not

 

[4gasem]

thanks for all the info guys,,the tender is a deltran 6 amp tender...

Your fine with that... As long as it's not a trickle charger... It shuts off just like the junior! My bro in law uses one of those on his Deep cycle boat batteries!

 

[partenr]

I connected a slow-charger to mine. I can see why you guys wire up pigtails- it's pretty tight quarters in there for hooking up a charger!

 

[113s&s]

Your fine with that... As long as it's not a trickle charger... It shuts off just like the junior! My bro in law uses one of those on his Deep cycle boat batteries!

it goes into storage mode after its cycle....im thinking the amps come down ..the closer it gets to full charge...no matter if you charge a full battery or a dead battery..seems to run a 6,7 hour cycle

 

[Rusty McNeil]

Yeah, I'm not saying it will positively boil a battery. Even my 20 amp charger will regulate down to 12.7 volts eventually. Not being familiar with one brand versus another I'm just a little leary of the bigger chargers unless I know they have really good electronics that will regulate output voltage and current.

 

[113s&s]

Yeah, I'm not saying it will positively boil a battery. Even my 20 amp charger will regulate down to 12.7 volts eventually. Not being familiar with one brand versus another I'm just a little leary of the bigger chargers unless I know they have really good electronics that will regulate output voltage and current.

..Im with ya on that one..thats why it wont stay pluged in during layup....little burst here and there when having a smoke

 

[zombie6513]

I went out and rode my bike a few blocks the other day after not running it for a couple months. The battery did not seem to be low in the least after all the sitting in the cool weather. It made me wonder if I need to remove it or disconnect it all this winter.

Do you guys that live in cold climates remove or disconnect your battery over the winter?

I PARKED MINE ABOUT 2 WEEKS AGO WENT TO RIDE YESTERDAY BATTERY COMPLETLY DEAD SURE THOUGHT IT WOULD LAST LONGER THAN 2WEEKS.......

 

[Marky_max]

It never really gets cold here so the only non-riding season is when I go away on holiday, usually summer.
I just remove the terminals from the battery to reduce leakage. I do the same on my cars. Seems to work, reconnect and they crank good and strong.

I wonder if that would also work in the cold.

 

[4gasem]

It never really gets cold here so the only non-riding season is when I go away on holiday, usually summer.
I just remove the terminals from the battery to reduce leakage. I do the same on my cars. Seems to work, reconnect and they crank good and strong.

I wonder if that would also work in the cold.

We used to do that on our boats. We had 4 deep cycles and we would just remove the negative side. Problem is that lead acid batteries build up crap in them which shortens there life. Also, dead batteries will freeze!