Battery life during the sad time of year

[Chuck]

Since I don't have access to power in the garage area that I rent, my colleagues at work have convinced me that all I need to do when I put my trike away for the winter is to remove the connecting cable from the negative pole so that my battery doesn't drain away.

My wife expresses surprise that I need to do anything at all, but last year's experience taught me that leaving it connected for two months will be the end of yet another battery.

How do you folks handle battery care this time of year (if you're unlucky enough to have such awful weather)?

 

[Nana]

We now have power and heat in the garage, but in past years we always took the battery completely out of the bike/trike, brought it into the basement and put it on a battery tender there where it was out of the cold. Mike's experience is that the cold is bad for batteries, but perhaps your garage space is not too cold.

 

[ricle41]

Nana is quite right. Take the battery out of the bike and keep it somewhere warmer where you have access to power and a battery tender.
Cold weather will not harm a fully charged battery, but as it loses power (which it will do even if there is not a drain) then the cold can do damage. A discharged battery can even freeze up and bust the battery.
Now, I've probably told you more than I can prove, other than experience with bike batteries and golf cart batteries in the past. When you let 6 golf cart batteries freeze up, you learn an expensive lesson quickly.

 

[rocker bri]

when im not using the trike i keep her on a optimiser and that keeps it topped but if u dont have that to hand just take the battery off take it home with u.....

 

[Nauga Mok]

Ricle41, you've got it right. When the temp drops below 70*, the specific gravity in each cell starts to degrade. The colder it is, the more it degrades. I used to know how many volts a battery in storage would drop per month below 32*. Even a fully charged battery that'll show 13.5 V @ 70* will read 12.5 or a bit lower @ 32*. And -- YES they will freeze & break if the charge gets too low. Nana's suggestion that we remove the battery & take it into a warmer area with the batt tender on it is the best way to insure easy start up next spring. Also -- IF you have one of the old hard rubber cased batteries, it needs to have a piece of wood, plastic, or steel under it if it's to be stored on a concrete floor. The newer plastic cased batteries aren't so sensitive to concrete, but I put something under them too. This is also a good time to wash down both your battery and battery tray on the bike with a mix of baking soda & water -- as much soda as will disolve in the amount of water you use. Rinse with clear water. This is a part of the periodic maintenance that usually gets ignored. This should be done at least every other year -- no set milage on this task, but some will say 30,000 mi. Those of us who ride year round should remember to do this too. We get into the high ambients (100+) that are also hard on batteries & keeping them clean helps our problems as well.

 

[John Luciano]

A battery sitting can loos 1/2 a volt a month ( Nicads included ) that is not even connected to a source .
A fully charged battery can freeze at -40 deg C or F , same thing a dead one freezes at 32 F or 0 C same as water.

 

[Gorilla]

Take it inside as suggested. When I was stationed in Duluth Minn many many years ago (1967-70) We would take our batteries inside just to make sure we had a good one in the morning.

 

[trikerman]

I have never taken my battery off from new (March 2000) our trike is permanently plugged into a optimate battery master and it is now 9 years 9 month old and still going strong.

John.

 

[Chuck]

I reconnected my battery yesterday after two months and the Carver started just fine. Today, I went to get the yearly "road worthiness" sticker and now I'm street legal again.

 

[Mr.Wizard]

Easy fix...

Install a Battery Commander III and change the air fuel mixture!


:yes:

Not knowing anything about your warehouse but one that I used way back when had a light at the top of the garage and was on a timer. The owner set the light to come on at dark and off at sun up. I plugged the tender into the light socket so I knew it was changing at night.

 

[John L. Penn]

I have never taken my battery off from new (March 2000) our trike is permanently plugged into a optimate battery master and it is now 9 years 9 month old and still going strong.

John.

WHAT kind of battery have you got? I have gone through 2 Walmart 270 cca 20 ah batts in the last 3 years (2004 Gl1800). I am buying an Interstate 350 cca this week! I have a friend who uses 2 of these wired in series (1 in a soft side lunch box placed in a saddelbag) He uses heavy guage cable to the 2nd. batt. with a toggel off switch in the positive cable). On a ride Saturday, I had to use his spare batt. to start my trike, even though my batt. tested at 10.5 volts when I got home. Been riding for 54 years and lots of experiance with batts. This is my first GL1800 and it seems to be hard on Batts. (I am even contemplating using a single small sealed car batt. 25% to 50% hotter than the mc batt?)

Suggestions appreciated. John "Popeye" Penn

 

[trikerman]

Quote:
Originally Posted by trikerman
I have never taken my battery off from new (March 2000) our trike is permanently plugged into a optimate battery master and it is now 9 years 9 month old and still going strong.

John.

WHAT kind of battery have you got? I have gone through 2 Walmart 270 cca 20 ah batts in the last 3 years (2004 Gl1800). I am buying an Interstate 350 cca this week! I have a friend who uses 2 of these wired in series (1 in a soft side lunch box placed in a saddelbag) He uses heavy guage cable to the 2nd. batt. with a toggel off switch in the positive cable). On a ride Saturday, I had to use his spare batt. to start my trike, even though my batt. tested at 10.5 volts when I got home. Been riding for 54 years and lots of experiance with batts. This is my first GL1800 and it seems to be hard on Batts. (I am even contemplating using a single small sealed car batt. 25% to 50% hotter than the mc batt?)

Suggestions appreciated. John "Popeye" Penn

Hi John It's the original battery that Harley Davidson fitted when the bike was built, now 10 years old.

John.

 

[Gorilla]

A battery tender is a great item for those down times to keep the battery fresh.