Editor’s Note: If it’s advice about batterymaintenance that you seek, you’ve come to the right place. James Deanworks on the J&P Cycles sales technician lines and is a graduate of WyoTech’sAmerican Motorcycle Institute’s Harley program. To find out more aboutJames, read his Meet The Team write-up here on the J&P blog.
For most of us in this country who actually experience winter months,preparing your motorcycle for hibernation requires some action on yourpart. And that holds particularly true when it comes to batterymaintenance.
The first thing to always to remember is you should make or break abattery connection by using the negative cable. This ensures there won’tbe any voltage spikes. More important, if there is gas seeping from thebattery, it won’t ignite and explode. That’s much more than a personalpreference issue. It’s a safety concern.
Secondly, when you’re hooking up battery connections, it’s alwaysbetter to use dielectric grease on the connections and make sure youhave a tight connection in order to prevent corrosion. A contaminated orloose battery connection often results in high resistance, whichinterferes with the flow of electrical current.
The best method of keeping a battery fully charged is to hook it upto a battery tender. The battery tender will maintain the battery atfull charge and will not overcharge or overheat the battery. I alsorecommend you never charge a motorcycle battery with an automotive-typebattery charger. Why, you ask? Primarily because most automotivechargers are of the constant voltage, variable current type, which meansthey don’t shut off. And that could result in overcharging yourmotorcycle battery, causing big time damage.
Ifyou’re purchasing a brand new conventional battery, make sure you fillit with an acid pack — and follow the safety instructions. Once abattery is initially filled with the electrolyte solution (sulfuric acidand distilled water), you don’t have to add any more electrolytes tothe battery. That’s because over time, the distilled water evaporatesand the electrolytes collect on the plates inside the battery (calledsulfating). These electrolytes are released back into the solution whenthe battery becomes fully charged, so if the level is low, all is neededis to add distilled water until the level reaches the top fill line.
One thing you don’t want to do is use tap water, which containschlorine, iron and other contaminants that will damage and shorten yourbattery’s life. Once the battery is filled, leave it alone for a halfhour before charging. Then go ahead and charge the battery for one-tenthof the amp hour rating for 10 to 12 hours, after which you can installthe battery on your motorcycle.
If you get clumsy and spill any electrolyte solution, you canneutralize it with simple baking soda and water. Of course, if youpurchase a sealed/maintenance-free battery, it’s already been filledfrom with acid. You should charge this type of battery — also at 1/10amp hour rating for 10 to 12 hours — and then install the battery onyour bike.
Amp hour rating is defined as the discharge rate of the battery’samperes in hours. Here’s an example: A 12-amp/hour battery willdischarge fully if 1 amp of current is consistently discharged from thebattery for 12 hours. Motorcycle batteries are rated in ampere-hours, sothe larger the amp/hour numbers, the stronger the battery. But knowthis: Voltage does not change in relation to amp/hour ratings.
These tips should help you prepare your battery for the wintermonths. We’ll have more tips on battery maintenance once the weatherstarts to warm and you’re itching to get back out on the road again.
