How often do you trickle charge your fuel injected bike
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Your battery should not need to be trickle charged unless it sits long enough for the battery to discharge. If it sits for a few weeks or longer, it may need to be charged to bring the battery up to full voltage.
Instead of a trickle charger that puts out a constant current (usually about 1/2 amp or 500 milliamps) I suggest using a battery maintainer, such as the Battery Tender brand or something similar.
Battery maintainers put out the labeled charge current until the battery is fully charged and then switch to a maintenance mode to maintain a fully charged battery indefinitely. You can leave them connected to your battery essentially all the time without having to worry about overcharging your battery. That way if you do not ride the bike for a couple weeks for any reason, it will be ready to go any time you are with a fully charged battery. It is also better for the battery to remain fully charged rather than let it discharge and recharge it.
I suggest you consider purchasing one of the units (such as the Battery Tender Plus) that puts out 1.25 amps or so rather than the smaller 0.75 amps units (such as the Battery Tender Junior) as it will safely recharge the battery more quickly than the smaller unit if you happen to do something like leave the ignition or lights on for a while.
They come with a lead that you can permanently connect to your battery and then route out to a place on your bike so you can easily connect and disconnect the charger/maintainer without having to take your bike apart.
I have a Battery Tender Plus that I connect to the bike any time the bike is in the garage. This keeps the battery fully charged and ready to go. It stays connected all winter also.
Hope this helps.
Instead of a trickle charger that puts out a constant current (usually about 1/2 amp or 500 milliamps) I suggest using a battery maintainer, such as the Battery Tender brand or something similar.
Battery maintainers put out the labeled charge current until the battery is fully charged and then switch to a maintenance mode to maintain a fully charged battery indefinitely. You can leave them connected to your battery essentially all the time without having to worry about overcharging your battery. That way if you do not ride the bike for a couple weeks for any reason, it will be ready to go any time you are with a fully charged battery. It is also better for the battery to remain fully charged rather than let it discharge and recharge it.
I suggest you consider purchasing one of the units (such as the Battery Tender Plus) that puts out 1.25 amps or so rather than the smaller 0.75 amps units (such as the Battery Tender Junior) as it will safely recharge the battery more quickly than the smaller unit if you happen to do something like leave the ignition or lights on for a while.
They come with a lead that you can permanently connect to your battery and then route out to a place on your bike so you can easily connect and disconnect the charger/maintainer without having to take your bike apart.
I have a Battery Tender Plus that I connect to the bike any time the bike is in the garage. This keeps the battery fully charged and ready to go. It stays connected all winter also.
Hope this helps.
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I never keep my tender connected during riding season. In the winter I remove the battery and keep it on the tender until Spring. this has always served me well. I only ride about 2500 miles in a season, usually get out once or twice a week even if it's just for 10 or 20 miles. The electric setup in my barn leaves a little to be desired, I have to have the lights on when there is power to the outlets, so that's part of the reason I don't keep the tender on. I guess keep it on a tender can't hurt but it may not be needed if you ride pretty regularly.
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#8
Rarely. I changed my battery after 5 years and put the old one in my riding mower. It has been working great for the last 3 mowing seasons after sitting each winter, without a tender, in a cold outbuilding. Cold is less of a problem than hot weather.
Last edited by SamStone; 09-24-2011 at 07:51 PM.
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