Every dealer should be providing a battery tender with new bikes. If you want the security system active during storage it's a must. We hookup about every two weeks, over night, just to recharge the battery. I've heard a battery will last long if it's allowed to discharge a certain amount and then be recharged. Don't know if it's true.

 

My buddy has a Softail and hooks his bike up to the tender whenever he is not on it! During riding season do you need to hook up the battery even if you are going to ride the next day or two? If so I will hook up every time, seems kind of excessive? Thanks

 

[quote=grumpy old biker;6064139]Every dealer should be providing a battery tender with new bikes. quote]

And a comfortable seat, a better fuel management system, custom wheels, a better quality radio, premium tour pak hinges, better exhaust, higher flow air filter, and the list goes on.

What, you want to pay $50K for a bike straight off the floor?

 

I went three years without a tender on my softail but my SG has security which is a constant drain on the battery. I got a tender for Christmas and now have a greater peice of mind. The lawnmower storage thread has got me thinking I should have asked Santa for a duel bank charger so I could had charged the mower as well.

 

Mine came with a pigtail (from the local HD dealership in summer of 08') but no tender. I purchased the tender for that upcoming winter. One of the best investments I could have made!! Since then I have one for all of the toys ( 4 wheelers, dirt bikes ect....) and even one for the tractor.. You cant go wrong.

 

Thats what I did when I deployed to Afghanistan. Came back, installed the battery and it cranked up. Also added a fuel stabilizer as well.

 

A concrete floor has zero effect on a battery. That is, purely, myth.

 

I am 50 years old and have heard that it would drain a battery when I first started working in an auto garage at 14. Your response (since it has been the only one) got me to google and apparently you are correct. Thanks for posting!!!

 

Batteries come to the dealer without electrolyte in them so it does not make any difference where they are stored or how long they are stored.
Most dealers do not fill their batteries with electrolyte until they are sold. Large retailers such as Walmart fill their batteries just prior to putting them on the sales floor but those batteries rarely sit on the shelf for more than a couple of weeks before they are sold. A battery that has not been loaded can sit idle for a for a couple of months without discharging any noticeable amount.
I would not recommend charging a battery inside a living area. Anytime a battery is charging, trickle or otherwise, it puts off hydrogen gas. Hydrogen gas is very flammable and any time the air in your living area becomes more than 4% hydrogenated, you can have a lethal explosion if the mixture is ignited.

 

LOL, I am 49 and I still hear that all of the time.