Motorcyle winter storage

Carol Reed

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5,533
Location
Coolidge, AZ
I'm a wimp. I don't ride my bike in the winter. It is stored in a cold shed with Stabilizer in a full gas tank. My question has to do with the battery. I am not concerned with it freezing.

I have been looking at solar powered (no power in the storage shed) trickle chargers.

Anybody got any experience here? And how bad can HF screw one of these up? :D
 
I have a old corvette that I keep a trickle charger on during the winter. Never heard of a solar one though. Sounds like a good idea. Why not just take the battery out and store it inside?
 
If the battery has no charge, it can and will freeze and break. For any tractor or vehicle not going to be used during a season, I take the battery cables off. My dad had a trickle charger on his '48 Packard, something shorted out, burnt their garage to the ground, house was stripped to bare studs and rebuilt (insurance wouldn't pay to tear it down!:eek::huh:) So I either charge a battery or unhook it. I do have the solar charger from HF, it is on the machine shed roof, when I have the winch on the big trailer, I park it alongside the shed, hook the cables up, keeps the deep cycle marine battery topped off that way. Dad had the same charger on his pontoon boat for the trolling motor. A lot of people laughed until they saw his battery always being full and no down time. So, HF hasn't in my estimation messed with this to badly, just won't leave another appliance deliberately hooked up at my house that could potentially start a fire. How's that for going around the barn the long way in not giving a concrete answer to your question!?:dunno::dunno:
 
They COULD screw it up - I can see how that could happen. They're not LIKELY to, though.

Ya don't have power out there? If not, it'd be a bunch cheaper (short and long term) to pull the battery & keep it on a tailed trickle charger over the winter. If you do, just use the tailed trickle charger in place.

Nearly any wall-wart trickle charger will work for a bike, including one for an electric-start lawn mower. Do get the polarity right or you'll regret it... :)
 
I have a friend who stores his in Florida... Of course he has to go keep it company and well exercised with frequent riding about. :thumb:

I believe, right now he is wondering if he should ride a bit further South, frost again last night :(
 
If the battery has no charge, it can and will freeze and break. For any tractor or vehicle not going to be used during a season, I take the battery cables off. My dad had a trickle charger on his '48 Packard, something shorted out, burnt their garage to the ground, house was stripped to bare studs and rebuilt (insurance wouldn't pay to tear it down!:eek::huh:) So I either charge a battery or unhook it. I do have the solar charger from HF, it is on the machine shed roof, when I have the winch on the big trailer, I park it alongside the shed, hook the cables up, keeps the deep cycle marine battery topped off that way. Dad had the same charger on his pontoon boat for the trolling motor. A lot of people laughed until they saw his battery always being full and no down time. So, HF hasn't in my estimation messed with this to badly, just won't leave another appliance deliberately hooked up at my house that could potentially start a fire. How's that for going around the barn the long way in not giving a concrete answer to your question!?:dunno::dunno:


I'm walking out to the garage to unplug the trickle charger now :eek:
 
To answer your question. Solar powered chargers work just fine. Only downside with lower priced ones is that they are not weather resistant. They are intended to be put on dashboard of cars and trucks. Quality, and weather proof ones are costly but work fine.
Other than that, just remove and take inside.
 
One more thing... if/when you take that battery indoors, don't set it on a concrete floor. I know, I know, old wives' tales & physics says it can't happen, but I've watched a perfectly good (nearly brand-new) battery drain itself flat overnight sitting on a concrete floor... then keep its charge just fine afterwards sitting on a wooden stand.

No good explanation for the phenomenon - there's no way it CAN happen... but it does.
 
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