Over wintering Motorcycle battery .

I no longer motorcycle all year round now, in fact to my shame not much at all these days.

I take the battery off the bike, charge it up and monitor it, charging as required.

Is it a good idea to connect it to a bulb to slowly drain it, then charge again and repeat. OR connect my Accumate automatic charger to monitor and top up as the bulb drains it.

A continuous cycle of deplete and top up. Is this a safe set up to leave to get on with it for the winter.

I look forward to comments and advice. Thank you.

Adrian.

I just leave mine on the Accumate all year round unless I am actually riding it. Never had any problems.

Phil

On my road bike I used to charge the battery up and then drain it! That's how it arrived when new, but due to miscreants I don't suppose you can buy battery acid any longer.

The BSA Classic Racer runs on Ni-Cads for the total loss ignition system, using 5 x 1.5Volt cells which run a 4Volt coil (as used by the BSA/Triumph Triples) with no ballasting. They get a charge once or twice during the winter.

I have a 12v battery which I only use for around 4 months in the summer and then only 4 or 5 times so what I normally do is to fully charge the battery then connect a small load to slowly discharge the battery, to date the battery is around 10yrs old

H

Accumate for me. Three bikes so all get a one week stint on the charger. I do use my bikes in the winter but if the roads are really messy it means the Yamaha gets out to play,the pre-war stuff is to precious.

Lead acid batteries should be stored fully charged and disconnected. Ideally somewhere cool but where the temperature does not fall below zero. Doing a discharge / charge has no benefit for a lead acid battery.
At the end of the winter give it a charge before using.

Robert G8RPI

I have always used the Optimate conditioners. At one time i had 4 on the go + one on my car. Never lost a battery. The latest is one on my Ducati since 2017 new. One on my 1993 GSXR750 & one on the car. I only disconnect when using the vehicles & put back on when returning home.

Steve.

Another fair weather motorcyclist and Accumate user here.

I don't take the batteries off the bikes & have fitted the Accumate "permenant" connectors to each of them - quick and easy to give each one a top-up every month or so over the Winter. This seems to work well and ,though I do also have a habit of changing my bike every few years, Mrs B's R65LS (which she bought in January '86 at 6 months old & she has assured that it will never leave ) generally does 6 or 7 years on a quality German battery. On the last bike I fitted a new battery to just after I bought it (Moto Guzzi Breva 750) it still had the same battery on when it was p/xed 5 years later. Mrs B's current Moto Guzzi V7 Special manual recommends pulling a fuse to stop the ECU draining the battery if the bike is left for more than a couple of weeks - my RE Interceptor doesn't seem to suffer from such a drain & comes up to charge very quickly.

There was a suggestion a few years ago that leaving an Accumate (or Optimate) permenantly connected over the Winter lead to the early demise of the battery, so I started the monthly top-up regime then & have not had problems.

Nigel B.

Thanks to everyone for your thoughts, very helpful.

Adrian.

Never ever discharge a regular lead acid battery below 50% of its capacity. Special 'leisure' batteries are able to stand a higher discharge but even then it reduces life. Modern batteries (like the last 50 years) do not benefit from cycling. If you have it on trickle or are periodically (every month) giving it a quick recharge give it a good shake to dislodge teh gass bubbles, like it would get when on a vibrating vehicle. As well as self discharging condensation in the wiring loom, or even on the top of the battery in a cold garage contributes tothe gradual discharge.

The practice of supplieing new batteries dry and 'uncharged' is a side effect of the modern manufacturing technique and goes out the window once first used.

I’ve recently purchased a CTEK MXS5 battery charger which has a reconditioning cycle that actually works. It will cope with batteries of 5-110Ah for charging and 1.2 -160Ah for what they call ‘maintenance charging’. Has settings for m/cycle, normal car/truck and AGM batteries plus a ‘recond’ setting.

It most certainly worked with the battery on my wife’s car which got discharged during the first lock-down through non-usage. Charged with a common charge/float charger resulted in much reduced capacity. A cycle with the CTEK restored at least some of that lost capacity, if not most of it.

Robert is spot on regarding lead acid cells. Automotive batteries have a (very) limited full-discharge cycle capability - likely only 50? Part-discharge is cumulative towards the number of full cycles. Therefore they should be kept fully charged at all times (or sulphation of the plates can/will occur). In normal use, the only time the battery is actually discharging heavily is during starting and slowly with modern cars with electronics and security systems operative all the time while parked up. The amount of lead used in cheap batteries accounts for their often short lifespan.

At the best part of £70 the CTEC charger was not cheap. But it works. A friend uses one for charging his stock of batteries. He also bought the even more able version because the MSX 5 affected something on his Range Rover or Discovery (it may have been the other way round, but I know that one caused him hassle).

A lead acid battery on trickle charge should not be gassing. If it is gassing you are over charging it. I would never reccomend shaking any lead acid battery. If it is a flooded battery it is a hazard of splashing acid, if gel or AGM it's pointless.

Batteries supplied dry are not uncharged, they are charged but need a top-up charge wghen filled with acid. This i not modern practice, I've seen WWII surplus batteries that were dry charged. The instructions said a top-up charge was required but the battery could be used right away in an emergency.

The Accucharge units seem reasonable if little expensive.
Their claim that they work equally with flooded, AGM or Gel batteries is a bit of a streach. The voltages they use are a reasonable compromise, however the different types of batteries need slightly different voltages for optimal charging. Even similar types from the same manufacturer may be different e.g. a gel battery intended for standby in an alarm and the physically similar, same capacity battery intended for cyclic use, may have slightly different chemistry and charging voltage.
If you don't want to disconnect the battery they are a good option. If there is standby current draw (most modern cars and some bikes) it is OK to be permanenly on. Otherwise charge for a week, disconnect and leave for 4-6 weeks, reconnect for a week "rinse & reapeat"

Robert G8RPI.

The battery on my ride on mower is supposed to be taken off at the end of the season and connected to its charger all Winter. I have done this from new and have never had any problem when refitting for another happy year grasscutting.