trickle or disconnect?

philw

philw

Junior member
Location
lincs
With the weather turning wintery i am deciding whether to keep my Jota battery on the bike (in a cold garage) and trickle it occasionally or take it off and bring it in the house until the spring, but there will be the occasional day when the roads wont be covered in muck and the sun will be out and i'll be itching to take it out for a spin, so i'm tempted to just leave in situ and give it a trickle once in a while...as a relatively new owner to Laverda triples what do you peeps do with yours?...i have had conflicting advice on whether trickle chargers are a good or bad idea on these bikes, the battery is a big lead/acid brick but i'm intending to fit an Odyssey sealed job sometime soon.
Any advice greatly welcomed.
Ta Phil.
 
I keep mine on the bike, in the garage, and top it up occasionally, if I haven't had the chance to ride it for a while.
Which charging system do you have on your bike, Phil?
Odysseys don't like anything other than closely regulated charging voltages. Big lead acids are very tolerant.
 
Don't leave your Lead Acid batteries in the cold - Trickle charging it or not - Keep it at room temp and charge every month or 2 and ensure the fluid level is top off with distilled water.

I tried an AGM Battery on my 750 SF with a generator and it did not work out very well - Under 2 years.

That's my experience whereas you might get 3 or 4 years out of a lead acid battery !
 
Last edited:
The Sock said:
I keep mine on the bike, in the garage, and top it up occasionally, if I haven't had the chance to ride it for a while.
Which charging system do you have on your bike, Phil?
Odysseys don't like anything other than closely regulated charging voltages. Big lead acids are very tolerant.
Click to expand...
Thanks, the bike has recently had a scozia/ignitech system with 3 phase 280w alternator fitted and is still on a big lead acid battery.
 
Currently all my Laverda's and a few other bikes are on Battery Tenders all the time. I have been doing this for 20+ years with no problems. The battery's don't last forever doing this but it does add a few extra years of life to them.

Ron, I don't know what you mean by don't let the battery be stored in the cold. Although battery output will be decreased with a very cold battery it has no effect on battery life. Heat is the enemy of batteries and at room temperature a lead acid battery will discharge about 3% per month. At cold temperatures the discharge is negligible. A completely dead battery will freeze at 32 degrees F. A fully charged one will freeze at -74 degrees F. Also some of the newer chargers have temperature compensation circuitry to maintain the correct charge level regardless of how hot or cold the garage the bike is stored in.
 
Laverda SF said:
Don't leave your Lead Acid batteries in the cold - Trickle charging it or not - Keep it at room temp and charge every month or 2 and ensure the fluid level is top off with distilled water.

That's my experience and you might get 3 or 4 years out of her.
Click to expand...
+1.
Batteries all last better when not exposed to temperature extremes, room temp is best all round.
I prefer to use a smart charger full time (or nearly), but got to keep an eye on the electrolyte levels 👍
 
There are good and bad trickle chargers. I've seen some cheapo types that just deliver a few milliamps constantly. Best to avoid those as they'll eventually over-charge the battery and cook it. Get one with some smart circuitry that'll only deliver a charging current when the battery voltage drops below a threshold level, then switch off when the voltage comes up again. Most good smart chargers will go into battery maintenance mode automatically once the battery is brought up to full voltage, so you can leave them connected all the time.

I've never bothered taking batteries out and tucking them up in bed to keep them warm during cold weather. I think 1200ts is correct that cold weather doesn't damage batteries (unless the electrolyte freezes). It just reduces their CCA output while they're cold. However, heat can permanently damage lead/acid batteries (that includes gel and AGM types) so I suspect the reverse might be a better practice. For long-term storage in hot climates, put your battery in the fridge, but let it come up to room temp before charging.
 
Dellortoman said:
There are good and bad trickle chargers. I've seen some cheapo types that just deliver a few milliamps constantly. Best to avoid those as they'll eventually over-charge the battery and cook it. Get one with some smart circuitry that'll only deliver a charging current when the battery voltage drops below a threshold level, then switch off when the voltage comes up again. Most good smart chargers will go into battery maintenance mode automatically once the battery is brought up to full voltage, so you can leave them connected all the time.

I've never bothered taking batteries out and tucking them up in bed to keep them warm during cold weather. I think 1200ts is correct that cold weather doesn't damage batteries (unless the electrolyte freezes). It just reduces their CCA output while they're cold. However, heat can permanently damage lead/acid batteries (that includes gel and AGM types) so I suspect the reverse might be a better practice. For long-term storage in hot climates, put your battery in the fridge, but let it come up to room temp before charging.
Click to expand...
agree

basic rule though - lead / acid prefer higher rates of charge & discharge
 
bazzee said:
I disagree. Where do you get this claim from?
cheers,
bazzee
Click to expand...
only from the experienced head ... could be written as lead / acid is capable of high discharge rates (e.g.) starting at hundreds of amps and because of its simplicity of construction, the same applies to charging via the reverse chemical process. Of course heat is a killer (mechanically) for all batteries and should be avoided. By lead acid, I'm referring to the 'wet' ones and not necessarily AGM or sealed etc.
 
Back in the 1990's I used to take the 32a/h lead acid battery off of my Mirage and put it in the car (a Ford Sierra as it happens) to keep it in use. It worked perfectly with an occasional charge put into the much cheaper car battery to keep that going. For the past 8 years on the same Mirage; the Odyssey AGM battery now fitted is kept permanently connected to an Optimate 4 smart charger when the bike is in the garage. The ignition/charging system is original CDI and 140W generator. Starting whether cold or hot is instantaneous.
 
I now have all three Laverdas on Odysseys - they just need a couple hours every month or so to bring them
Back to top performance - I have found that they don’t need 24/7 on a tender - I fried one with an optimate 3

Just my take !
 
I have an Odyssey PC680 battery on an Optimate 3 maintenance {trickle) charger, quick connector on the bike. I plug it in whenever I come back from a ride sometimes it has sat for months at a time with the weather hitting 40c for weeks at a time, even hotter in the garage. This PC680 battery is pushing on 12 years old, the previous Odyssey lasted barely 2 1/2 years, go figure, but I didn't use an Optimate 3 trickle charger on the first one. With the first PC680, I did keep it on a low trickle charger but it was not the intelligent type that the Optimate is.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top