Battery on or off for winter lay up?

[squiz]

morning all


just a quick one that some may find abit daft but here goes,


winters here blah blah....since moveing to the main land from the isle of man i dont have a garage for the bike so it lives out side next to my shed that is 12 inchs to short to fit bike in(fckin typical)..anyway...i have it covered with an oxford all weather stormtech cover so all is good....gave a good coating all over with a rag and wd40 before hand, now question is...




..shall i take battery off and leave in the house or start the bike once week? the bike wont get used now till the threat of snow has passed so cld be weeks cld be months.


anything else i should consider?

[dogruff]

Hi,Had similar problems as i don,t ride in the winter any more (not since the old courier days) .I removed my battery and bought a maximiser/optimiser,as they are as cheap now as they,re ever going to be.Fazer doesn't have a big battery,and extreme cold will kill it.Some good deals on Oxford 600 on the bay at present,Oximiser is just  a re-marketed trickle charger.If cash is tight, the Chinese ones are around £6.

[squiz]

cheers dogruff,


i have an optimiser 3 sp charger,cant find instructions tho atm so dont know if i can leave it connected to battery all the time or just connect and charge every couple of weeks?

[John Silva]

I take my battery off the bike even tho the bike is in a wooden shed.
I then charge the battery over night maybe twice a month and all is fine.

[dogruff]

Don,t use insructions for anything myself.Have an Oxford 600 and leave it on constantly.Shouldn,t do any harm as it,s just a very low powered trickle charger.Hasn,t done mi ne any harm.

[squiz]

thanks for the replies lads.battery is now off....charger will be set up this afternoon

[Fazerjon]

Yep, optimate for me if I'm not riding for more than a couple of weeks at a time in the winter. Nice and simple, plug under the seat and the unit is wall mounted in my garage. Well worth the money 

[squiz]

unfortunatley i dont have a garage with the flat we are in atm just a shed(which is 12inches too short grrrr) so have to settle for battery off and in the hallway.


leave on or just charge every couple of weeks??

[dogruff]

Trial and error really.If you have a very good Batt,try it every other week.When i said i have mine on all the time  i mean, whenever i'm not at work or asleep.