Battery Life When Bike Is Idle

I am continuing to use my bike over the winter but only when it is dry and not salty - I only plan on keeping the bike long enough to build a couple of years NCB then want to sell it for an SV1000 so I need to maximise its resale value and sadly a dry miles only bike will go for more.

This means the bike could go long periods without being used. If we have a bad winter it maybe as much as two months before we get salt free roads as they go right over the top around here with the salt trucks.

What I want to know is on a K5 with no alarm, how long will the battery hold its charge given that I keep it in a bike barn with no charging facility? I don't want to get into removing the battery as I want the bike to be ready to use for work whenever it is dry. What is the longest anyone has left one without the battery going flat?

Also with twin hardwired-on headlights, at what sort of rev's will the battery actually start charging? I notice if you rev it from tickover the headlight beam on the road brightens... I got a thoroughly enjoyable 40 miles in last night (first time I had seen dry roads in two weeks!) and was wondering how much I would need to do to restore the full charge?

i was once told that 15mins of normal (going through all the gears) riding will fully charge the battery.

in my experince my sv650sk4 with alarm will last around 3 & half weeks before the battery goes flat. just get yourself a trickle charger & leave it connected to the bike to solve this thou. i got a trickle charger for £10 when i went to B&Q, top bit of kit works just as well as any other more expensive one on the market.


really i would say your bike should be ridden at least once a month for 15mins, just so the juices can move around. but other people may know better.

[TSM]

My bike was not started for about 5-6 weeks, when i got it, i was turning it over for a total of 1 min till i realised that the fuse on the alarm had blown. Changed it and the bike started up fine.

My bike is a K2 with Datatool3 alarm, there is very mixed views on this, some people leave the bike for 2 weeks and its dead, while others like me for ages and fine.

Chargers will charge the battery better than the bike will from riding it.

As for brands of charger, I expect its the same as anything - you get what you pay for.

[Sid Squid]

Originally Posted by hall13uk

i was once told that 15mins of normal (going through all the gears) riding will fully charge the battery.

I think you may be confusing charging the battery with putting back in the battery what was taken out by using the starter, If your battery is anything like run down it'll take a whole lot longer to fully charge the battery, especially on a more modern bike with the lights on permanently.

It's a reasonable rule of thumb that a fully charged, good condition battery will lose about 1% of charge per day, so as a usable figure, (it's not exact so don't consider it so), a battery will be nearing exhaustion after about three months, assuming no load that is, so no alarm. Whether your bike will start at that point depends as much on how well the bike starts and runs anyway as it does on battery condition.

FWIW, the worst way to treat a battery is to neglect it, the best way is to use it, it might be a nice idea to have the bike ready for use randomly all the time, but unless you remove the battery every so often and give it a top up, say six to eight weeks, (better still take the bike for a run), it may not be there for your use when you want it.

Originally Posted by Sid Squid

I think you may be confusing charging the battery with putting back in the battery what was taken out by using the starter, If your battery is anything like run down it'll take a whole lot longer to fully charge the battery, especially on a more modern bike with the lights on permanently.

It's a reasonable rule of thumb that a fully charged, good condition battery will lose about 1% of charge per day, so as a usable figure, (it's not exact so don't consider it so), a battery will be nearing exhaustion after about three months, assuming no load that is, so no alarm. Whether your bike will start at that point depends as much on how well the bike starts and runs anyway as it does on battery condition.

FWIW, the worst way to treat a battery is to neglect it, the best way is to use it, it might be a nice idea to have the bike ready for use randomly all the time, but unless you remove the battery every so often and give it a top up, say six to eight weeks, (better still take the bike for a run), it may not be there for your use when you want it.

yeah think i was confused thats for the full explaination sid

quick question then if my bike has been sitting out side for a month or so with only the very occasionly 15min run & i go out on an all day ride out will that fully top the battery up without the need for a charge up

Originally Posted by hall13uk

quick question then if my bike has been sitting out side for a month or so with only the very occasionly 15min run & i go out on an all day ride out will that fully top the battery up without the need for a charge up

Yes.
If I understood correctly you can't switch your headlights off. My bikes' not used in winter, but I start it every few weeks & run it until it's hot (without lights). That maintains the battery ok.

Would it be practical to disconnect the headlight plugs?

[TSM]

K3+ bikes have day time running lights.

Just use the bike normaly like i did, every now and again just take it for a good ride 30-40 mins that should do fine. I have never had a flat battery since i bought my bike.

[mattSV]

I use an optimate if I am not using my bike for more than 3/4 days. Never had any starting problems, however I do not have an alarm.