battery charging

[Ron_S.]

Should I be charging my '86 R65 battery?  I read that it may not be getting fully charged except at above 4K rpm.  It only seems to struggle to turn the engine on those just above freezing mornings.  Otherwise it seems fine.  But should I be trickle charging it and what should I know about that?  Thanks.  

[Barry]

The short answer is most likely yes you should trickle charge with a battery tender when the bike is not in use.

The bottom line for a good service life from a battery is that it should be fully charged at all times. Unless you ride almost every day and for a reasonable distance that is unlikely to be the case whether we are talking about an Airhead or any other vehicle. All batteries (standard wet cells in particular) have internal self discharge when not being used. The expensive AGM types are much better in this respect. The thing about not charging until 4000 RPM is a bit over done in my opinion and is simply not the case unless your bike is heavily loaded with accessories. Mine charges from any speed above idle. What people mean is you don't get the full 280W output until something like 4000 RPM. Also riding a bike for the most part doesn't charge the battery any faster than a good battery charger so if a bike is taken on a ride with the battery 75% charged which I suspect is a very common occurrence then you would need to ride for at least an hour to fully charge the battery irrespective of how many revs were used.

If you have a digital voltmeter measure the resting battery voltage at least 12 hours after the bike has been ridden or the battery charged. It should be approx. 12.6 Volts if the battery is fully charged. Assuming the bike is not used and you were to take measurements every day you will see the voltage slowly fall indicating the battery is discharging. Once down below 12.4 volts (75% charge) the battery will begin to sulphate which shortens it's life.

[Bob_Roller]

I would get a float charger and leave it on whenever the bike is parked .

I've got three of these Harbor Freight chargers on my bikes currently and one on the Z3, they do a great job on any 12 VDC vehicle .

If you get on their mailing list, you'll get 20% off coupons .

http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/battery/15-amp-three-stage-onboard-battery-charger-maintainer-99857.html

They also have this one, don't have any, so I don't know anything about them .

http://www.harborfreight.com/automotive-motorcycle/battery/automatic-battery-float-charger-42292.html

If you put a regular trickle charger on it, you may want to put it on a timer and have it charge for maybe an hour or two a day .

Anything would be better than just letting it be .

[EGRG]

I agree that the trickle charger should be used. In a situation when you don't have one, I recommend disconnecting the positive side, it is easy enough on my bike, just a 10 mm wrench and she is isolated.

[EGRG]

In our business we use permanent battery chargers to keep emergency generators ready to start at all times. We use a automatic charger from Deep Sea Electronics. The 2 amp 12 volt model 9150 is a compact little charger that works great and you could carry on your bike.

[Bob_Roller]

If by chance, you have a serviceable type battery, where you can add distilled water when the electrolyte level has gone down, you may want to keep an eye on the fluid level and see how fast it does go down with the battery on a charger .

[Vegasrandall]

I just got a battery monitor thingy called a batterymarvel that monitors your charge state and gives a audible and LED warning if the battery is low.
I just got mine and will do a write up after a couple of weeks.

[Ron_S.]

Wow.  What a response.  Thanks to all of you.  Consider my bike trickle-charged.