Battery life

[Seb_uk]

Morning All

I haven't been using my bike much at all recently mainly due to the rubbish weather and me not wanting to get her covered in road salt & winter grime. I'm probably only using her once every two or three weeks and even then only on short rides. How long can I expect my battery to last for before it goes flat? She was stood in Parkinson's for three weeks and I literally only rode for about 10 miles max and she has been stood for another fortnight.

[Capo]

It would be better for the life of your battery if you were to use an Optimate

[NewMon]

I concur. Get an optimate. All my bike batteries have lasted ages (7+ years) while on an optimate. The only batteries I've had to replace are BO (Before Optimate).

My Monster is in the garage now, being fed by Optimate. Which it will need - I have to run the bike from cold for 10 mins or so before riding in this weather. Then, when I get going, it will still stall umpteen times before finally warming up. If the battery was not in good condition I would find myself stuck on some junction with nothing to get it going again. Ah, the character of Italian bikes.

[Seb_uk]

Sounds like an optimate may be a good idea for bikes that are used intermitantlly through the winter months (like mine...!)

Are they difficult to connect / hookup to the bike or is it just a case of connecting two leads to the battery terminals? Any idea of the best / cheapest place to get one?

Thanks

[NewMon]

As far as I remember, the Optimate comes with some leads that you can use to 'break out' the battery connections to somewhere useful (mine is tied to the frame just below the tank). That makes it easy to connect up when you park the bike. Places to buy: Let google be your friend :-)

[BluprintZ]

Aha, that's what the two wires from the battery-to-block connector are on my bike, eh?
I wonder if the bloke who sold me the bike was using an optimate?, i know it spent a lot of time in his shed, before i bought it, hmm.

[moor-ph0]

Hi,
Use my monster daily and generally don't use my optimate, however with some starting issues recently decided to leave her on the optimate last night. Whilst pushing my bike out the garage heard a strange dragging plastic noise. Continued for a short bit then looked down -forgot to disconnect the optimate?????????


Geoff

[BluprintZ]

I did a similar dafty last week!
Hadn't used the bike for a week or so, nice sunny but nippy day, i thought i would give her a spin out.
Thought it was stuck in gear, couldn't find neutral even though the light was on....!
Forgot about the disc-lock..oops!