Another battery thread

[bulldog]

Hi all.
Long time no post. This is a general question. How long can you expect these gel batteries to roughly last. I dont use my bikes much these days & I only seem to get 2 years out of both the Ducati & Yamaha batteries. The Yam has an immobiliser & the Duke hasn't but the life span seems about the same. Do I need one of these optimiser things. Never needed one before but rode more often before. Any info appreciated.

[barbican]

Batteries liked to be cycled regularly to keep them up to scratch, if you're not using the bikes much then an optimiser type charger is the next best thing. Once they get a low charge and then a bit of cold weather it seems to kill them off. Sometimes the optimiser will get them back again, so try one first.

[bulldog]

Thanks Barbican. We had a week of -5deg & as you say it killed the yamaha battery. The other one is ok because its only 1 year old. I will get an optimiser & start storing the batteries over winter. Cheers