Battery Charging

[Langzaiguy]

I'm fairly new to motorcycling and have a question about maintaining my battery over the winter. Last winter I lost a battery and I don't want to repeat my mistakes.

Currently, I own a charger but not a tender. Should I charge my battery weekly or should I simply keep it on a tender? Not only am I new to cycling, but I'm new to home-owning as well. Do either practices pose a fire risk? The last thing I want to do is catch my bike on fire. Burning down the house would be bad too.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[PAULBACH]

Use the ring terminals to connect the battery DIRECTLY to the battery tender. Plug it in and forget it. No fire danger.

[PGlaves]

A standard 1 amp non-automatic charger can be used to keep your battery up to snuff if that is what you have. Anything up to 2 amps would be OK.

Charge the battery for 24 hours once a month. I did that for years, before automatic chargers became affordable. With 5 or 6 or 7 or 8 bikes - I started at one end of the row on the first of each month and did one a day until I ran out of bikes. Start over next month..

[keelerb]

My bikes all sit on Battery Tender Pluses (via those supplied pigtail connectors to the battery) whenever not actively being ridden. And you wouldn't believe the years my batteries last (as in, 8+ for wets, don't know yet for AGMs cause they haven't given out yet....and don't even get me started on wonderful Odysseys!!!)

[Langzaiguy]

Thanks guys! I appreciate the good ideas and the peace of mind on not burning down my house....

[tuber1]

before there were Battery tenders, I would just put the charger on it several times during the off season. I used a small 1a charger, never left it on more than 2 days. my batteries always lasted