Battery keeping

[Sasquatch Jim]

 The last couple of years I have occasionally gone out to ride and found my battery too low to start.
 Lately it has been doing this with a battery less than six months old.  Whenever I volt meter tested,
 I found that the engine was charging as it should.  It did it again about 3 weeks ago so I have been monitoring
 voltage with a meter and found the battery slowly getting weaker in spite of the good working alternator.
 Then I hit upon it.  With my legs getting worse, I no longer ride long trips.  I have become a short trip rider
 with the result that the engine doesn't have time to put a good charge into the battery before I shut it off.
 That coupled with more days going by when it does not get ridden, have been enough to put a strain on the batteries ability to maintain a charge.  Using a plugged in battery maintainer is the solution but it is a pain in the a$$ to remove
 a panel to get access to the battery terminals for the charger.
  I dug out the soldering gun and solder and some #10 red wire and some end terminals.  I drilled a hole in the plastic panel and fitted it with a rubber grommet.  After soldering terminals onto a short length of wire, I screwed one end to the
 + battery terminal.  The wire goes through the grommet and a terminal with a recessed contact is now outside in front
 of god and everybody.  I then soldered a mating terminal to the + wire of the charger.  Now when I park the machine after a short ride, I just plug the + fitting into the + fitting on the bike and clip the ground alligator onto an engine
 cylinder fin.  It is one of those small half amp battery maintainers that shuts itself off when the battery is topped up.
 I don't expect any further problems from short trip riding.

[canuguzzi]

On short trips, run angear lower to keep the engine running at a higher RPM. Install a LED running lamp and switch the headlamp so you can turn it off.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  I do run in a lower gear now but switching off the headlight is ill eagle.

[Tom]

Numerous short hauls will kill a battery.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  Not any more.

[Tom]

A few years back Mauri killed her car doing a bunch of short haul errands.  Had to periodically do charge thing.  Sound like a solution for your short hauls in the Greater Hawi area.

[Markcarovilli]

or park on a hill......

Mark

[Sasquatch Jim]

  I never had this problem back when motorcycles had kick starters.  Now I couldn't kick one anyway.
 At least my new Rokon will have a pull starter.

[Tom]

I like the options if you kill the engine.

[Cool Runnings]

Just traded in a 05 Royal Star (purchased in fall of 04) that HAD the original battery in it.

[Tom]

IIRC, Yuasa did a competition for the oldest motorcycle battery in use.  At the time,  it was older than 13yrs. with frequent charging.

[Muzz]

The Baby B has a high parasitic drain, I assume from the dash; a month and it is completely flat.  Not just my bike, other Breva owners have noted the same.

Over the years I have noted that posters on this site still have the problem of batteries going tits up even when a battery tender is used.  I tend to leave the bike for about three weeks (over the winter hiatus) then bring it up with a 3 amp smart charger. Got about 9 years out of the original lead acid Yuasa and still going on the second.

Works for me anyway.

[bratman2]

I go the same route as Muzz! No battery tender, if bike sets for two weeks or more a short charge with a 1.5 amp charger. This is how I treat all our batteries, four wheelers, zero turn and even our vehicles if needed. I have had pretty good success with batteries that sometimes sit for long periods of time.

[Sasquatch Jim]

  Both of my Russian bikes had a simple way to avoid parasitic battery drain.
 They each had a heavy duty toggle switch in the ground strap from the battery to the frame.
 When the switch was open, no voltage whatsoever could pass from the battery to anything.
 It was located under the saddle almost unseen.  One of these would be simple to install on any bike.

[johnr]

  Both of my Russian bikes had a simple way to avoid parasitic battery drain.
 They each had a heavy duty toggle switch in the ground strap from the battery to the frame.
 When the switch was open, no voltage whatsoever could pass from the battery to anything.
 It was located under the saddle almost unseen.  One of these would be simple to install on any bike.

Now that is a good idea.

[Cool Runnings]

Now that is a good idea.

Gages go to metric........ 

[jas67]

My former 2006 Breva 1100 still has the original battery when I sold it earlier this year.
I never had a problem with weak starts.   I always kept it on a battery tender during the winter months to make sure it was always topped up, since for weeks on end, sometimes my only riding is my 15 mile commute with heated gear on high.

[Higgins9875]

Newbie here. Enjoy the forum. I recently traded a Triumph Tiger 800 for a black V7 II. I have been using a battery tender for a few years. Works like a charm on a bike that winters in Michigan. I have not seen any untoward effects. This is what I bought:

http://goo.gl/KCp1ev

YMMV.

[Chuck in Indiana]

Welcome to WG Higgins..

[krglorioso]

Each of my 3 street bikes has a Battery Tender affixed at all times when the bike is garaged.  The BTs come with a pigtail to attach to the battery and I lead them out through the frame on the Right side and zip-tie the lead to the frame.  I don't replace batteries very often any more.  I also bought a Schumacher battery load tester and every few months I run a load test.  I also fitted a nice digital voltmeter to the Stones and that tells me the alternator output whenever the ignition is "on".  Oh, and an extra regulator ground strap.

I guess you can say that I don't like surprises. 

Ralph