Author |
Message |
Devondunit
| Posted on Saturday, December 29, 2012 - 11:23 am: |
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Just wondering if it will be a bad to put my battery on my automatic charger all winter, I have misplaced my tender. Is that the same as a tender or will that be long term damaging? Battery is new this year and is an OEM gel battery. |
Nm5150
| Posted on Saturday, December 29, 2012 - 11:38 am: |
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I have never used a tender.I ride often enough in the warm weather and when it is cold I just go start my bike and let it run for a few minutes once or twice a month.Never had any problems. |
Devondunit
| Posted on Saturday, December 29, 2012 - 11:49 am: |
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I'm never sure about that because I've heard that while the bike sits in the cold, from the changing temperature, the oil draws moisture and that one shouldn't restart it until that oil is drained and new oil put in. There are so many differing opinions I'm not certain which method is the best. |
Devondunit
| Posted on Saturday, December 29, 2012 - 11:50 am: |
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I guess on reality I ride up till mid December and start again the first day it hits 40 again which is usually late march so three months isn't THAT long... Dunno |
Zac4mac
| Posted on Saturday, December 29, 2012 - 11:56 am: |
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If you don't have a tender and won't be riding for a few months, charge the battery to full then pull it and set it on a bench/shelf until you're ready to ride again. Don't leave a "charger" hooked up long-term. NOT a good idea to "start and run a few minutes" as this doesn't give the battery the charge it lost starting. Also doesn't give the oil time to get hot enough to get rid of any moisture. Not saying it can't be done without messing something up, just something to avoid IMO. Z |
Duggram
| Posted on Saturday, December 29, 2012 - 06:32 pm: |
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Three years ago I took the battery out to replace it with a Speedcell Lithium Ion. Couple of days ago I had reason to pull that stock battery off of the wooden shelf it was sitting on and put my ohmmeter on it. It registered >7 volts. I'd bet it would be back up to 12+ volts with a quick charge. I'd also bet that you could pull your battery out for a few months and not need a charge for it to work good again. Of course I could be wrong. |
Kevmean
| Posted on Sunday, December 30, 2012 - 01:09 pm: |
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Never start your bike during the winter months unless you are going to run it long enough to get it up to full working temperature including the exhaust system. Otherwise all you will do is increase corrosion from the condensation that occurs in a cold engine when first run. If you can't run it that long you are better not to run it at all. |