Motorcycle Battery

Mark from Idaho

Hello, I’m writing you in regards to battery storage. I have a motorcycle that I store in my garage in the winter months. Every year it seems that I’m always shoveling out 100 bucks  for one of those expensive batteries. I was wondering if you had any tips for winter battery storage, as I am tired of always buying a battery.

Bestbatterytips.com

Mark, you are a victim of sulfation. When storing batteries for winter or any other season, there are a few things you must consider first. Never store a battery in a discharge state, always be sure the battery is 100 percent charged. You can check the state of charge of a battery with a digital voltmeter. I will tell you that this is the least accurate way to check the state of charge of a battery, but we are not after exact science for this process. However if you feel the urge to be exact check the battery with a hydrometer. Checkout our article on Hydrometer(Specific Gravity) for info. Please don’t forget to wear safety goggles while you work through this process. Be sure to disconnect the positive and negative cables.  Also keep in mind that you don’t want to read surface charge of a battery, so if the battery was previously on a charger or the motorcycle was just running you need to wait 6 to 12 hours before taking a reading. You will want to measure DC voltage across the main positive and negative terminals of the battery.

Below is a batteries state of charge when hooking a volt-meter to the battery.

• 12.75 & Above      100% Charged
• 12.60 to 12.74      85 to 100% charged
• 12.40 to 12.59      75 to 85% Charged
• 12.20 to12.39        50 to75% Charged
• 12.00 to12.19        25 to 50% Charged
• 12.00 & Below       Fully Discharged

Once you have determined the battery is ready for storage, we need to consider the conditions the battery will be stored in. Batteries do not like hot temperatures, so a storage area at 30 degrees Celsius or 86 degrees Fahrenheit is no place for batteries. Once you have figured out a proper location for storage, you need to make sure the battery is removed from the machine. A lot of the time motorcycles, Atv’s, snowmobiles, and automobiles have some system that requires power from the battery even if the ignition is off. A example of one of those items that requires power from the battery at all times is a clock. I mentioned to you at the beginning of this response that you were a victim of sulfation. This happens when the battery voltage drops below 12.4 volts. The more discharged a battery is, the worse sulfation happens. In short, deposits build on the lead plates inside the battery and the surface that the deposits occupy is less surface area electrons have to produce power. Results are a battery that can not produce the power in which it was designed to do.

Battery Tender Junior 12 Volt

To prevent this from happening, I would strongly recommend a float charger. Battery Tender makes a excellent product for this application. A Battery Tender 12 volt or 6 volt Jr. can be hooked up to your battery and left unattended all winter long. The advantage is that it will keep your battery at 100 percent charged, and prevent any sulfation. The Battery Tender Jr. will turn on and off all on its own to maintain your battery. Money well spent, and will pay you back many times over in the long run. Battery Tender Jr. will run you any where from 29.95 to 39.95, and they can be purchased almost anywhere batteries are sold.

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