Battery maintenance

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

I found this on another forum. Useful information about the kinds of batteries we use in bikes and how to maintain them for longer life.

 

https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-706-summary-of-dos-and-donts

[Simon Davey]

Topping up every 6 months is interesting, I thought it was more often. 

Having said that, our horsebox (7.5T) will start with no care after 3 months. 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

10 hours ago, Simon Davey said:

Topping up every 6 months is interesting, I thought it was more often. 

Having said that, our horsebox (7.5T) will start with no care after 3 months. 

Depends on the battery's capacity and where it is being stored. My leisure batteries stored at a steady room temperature last much better than my motorcycle batteries kept in a cold garage. 

[Gerontious]

After almost 6 years, seems the best way to maintain the battery in my bike is to ignore it completely. Though I imagine the fact that it has nothing connected that might be drawing power has helped. Somewhat.

[Nick the wanderer]

10 hours ago, Gerontious said:

After almost 6 years, seems the best way to maintain the battery in my bike is to ignore it completely. Though I imagine the fact that it has nothing connected that might be drawing power has helped. Somewhat.

Have you not an immobilizer and such drawing some power? 

[Mississippi Bullfrog]

13 minutes ago, Nick the wanderer said:

Have you not an immobilizer and such drawing some power? 

An immobiliser won't draw power. It's a passive system that checks the key is in the ignition. On most bikes even the flashing LED goes off after a short time. 

[Nick the wanderer]

Yeah the little flashing light does go off after a bit. It remembers the time and such so it must have some parasitic draw, even miniscule.

I use one of the little solar trickle chargers on mine, been good for me.

[husoi]

On 12/04/2024 at 13:50, Mississippi Bullfrog said:

An immobiliser won't draw power. It's a passive system that checks the key is in the ignition. On most bikes even the flashing LED goes off after a short time. 

You tell that to my pan.

That H.I.S.S. takes more power from the battery than an electric shower

[Gerontious]

1 hour ago, husoi said:

You tell that to my pan.

That H.I.S.S. takes more power from the battery than an electric shower

 

Then you have a problem. because it should not do that. so either its got a major fault or you have another fault and think its the immobiliser. H.I.S.S hasn't really ever changed - the only draw from it is the flashing led. and you can turn that off. So, aside from the blinking light it is completely passive and does nothing until you turn the ignition key to 'on'.

 

Here is the relevant page from the owners manual.

 

 

 

Edited May 2, 2024 by Gerontious