Battery question: How long before I need to charge her up in winter conditions?

Hi dear fellow citizens of the forum,
I have a question about the battery.


I park my NCX inside my underground parking place (sheltered) but it can get as cold as 0 degrees or even single digit minus temperature.

When do you reckon (estimate) that I need to hook her up to a trickle-charger before she "will not" start?
1 week? 2 weeks?

I have no idea about the battery specs, and would love the techies here to advise me how long can I wait til she runs to a "dangerously low" level of charge? And of course, since this is a battery thread, what is your battery charger, how much it costs, and why?

Can someone also tell what type of battery we have, and what other alternatives is "better"? A gel one?

Best regards
Joe

Basically, get a voltmeter. Having the battery in standby (ignition off), if you get 12.5v or more you're good. As soon as you get less than 12.3 start to think you need a charge.

I keep my bikes on a battery tender all winter. Always ready for the unexpected ride!

Yep, your situation sounds like a prime candidate for what we call a battery tender over here.

Battery Tender Junior Charger - Street Motorcycle - Motorcycle Superstore



It's basically a trickle charger that monitors the voltage/health of the battery and adjusts how much to charge to avoid overcharging and frying your battery.

trey

treybrad said:

Yep, your situation sounds like a prime candidate for what we call a battery tender over here.

Battery Tender Junior Charger - Street Motorcycle - Motorcycle Superstore

It's basically a trickle charger that monitors the voltage/health of the battery and adjusts how much to charge to avoid overcharging and frying your battery.

trey

Click to expand...

Thanks! That is exactly what I use. Have done so for many years without issue. Never had a cooked battery.

Get this one:
XS 0.8



It's the best there is.
Connect it once every month over night and you (and the bike) will do fine. You can also leave it connected all winter long without any problems.
I got one and can highly recommend it. Use the quick connector with charge status lights and you always know what status the battery got.

The "battery Tender" works great. It comes with a nice quick disconnect fused leads. I popped the cover off the battery in the fake trunk and it is so simple to thread the lead down to just above the engine, where it can be jip-tied out of the way and makes hooking up the charger super simple. You can hook it up and let it be, as it cycles off and on reading the battery charge needs, or hook it up every 3-4 weeks to bring the charge up, which usually only takes a few hours.

Art

I have all my bikes on battery tenders all year long and I have never had to buy a battery for any bike I have ever owned
Bikes always start in any kind of weather.

All our bikes are kept on Optimate tenders with no problems. like these as there is no need to remove battery

The battery in the NC700X is an AGM (absorbed glass mat) construction battery. The electrolyte is held in foam-like glass mat between the plates. It acts kind of like a gel battery in that it is sealed and the electrolyte cannot leak out but it charges and discharges like an old fashioned wet or flooded lead acid battery. AGMs are the best current battery technology to use in a motorcycle. Gels take special voltage levels to charge and maintain a float charge. AGM batteries do not need special charging regimes and survive long periods of storage without damage.

A battery tender plugged in overnight every 2 to 4 weeks will keep the battery in fine mettle and ready to go.

Like they said. Make sure what you get is a battery tender, not strictly a battery charger. It will bring the battery to full charge, and then shut down. It will automatically come back on if the charge level drops. I put all my bikes on a tender if I think they are going to sit for more than a few days. I always have a charged battery and they seem to last much longer when they don't have to go through many deep cycle recharges.

I've been using a Deltran Tender for several year now and plug in whenever I arrive home. I used to replace my battery every 2-3 years and now they last twice that long.

On my batteries stored or installed outdoors, I use temperature compensated battery maintainers. Why?

Batteryminders Specials | BatteryMinders.com

Indoors, I use the non-compenaated battery maintainers for the specific chemistry (AGM, flooded, LiFePO4, etc.).

Thanks guys.
I did forget to mention a tiny little detail.
I have no power outlet in my shared communal underground carpark. Last bike I had, I had to remove battery and hook it up indoors (which is a pain to re-install and un-install).

That is why I am asking my questions in the OP.

If I could (and i know) I will hook up to a battery tender charger. But I cannot.

happy said:

Thanks guys.
I did forget to mention a tiny little detail.
I have no power outlet in my shared communal underground carpark. Last bike I had, I had to remove battery and hook it up indoors (which is a pain to re-install and un-install).

That is why I am asking my questions in the OP.

If I could (and i know) I will hook up to a battery tender charger. But I cannot.

Click to expand...

I was going to ask that question but forgot to...


In this case, I really would take the battery out of the bike. (Super easy on the NCX! Only a few minutes, and it's out. Only semi ornery part is getting the little hook on the rubber strap undone from it's plastic catch. Still easy though)

L.B.S. said:

I was going to ask that question but forgot to...


In this case, I really would take the battery out of the bike. (Super easy on the NCX! Only a few minutes, and it's out. Only semi ornery part is getting the little hook on the rubber strap undone from it's plastic catch. Still easy though)

Click to expand...

yeah, that would be my second option.
Thing is: i hooked up an auxilliary outlet to the battery, and would not like to mess with the setup every time.

Thanks anyway.

Ctek are excellent battery battery chargers/minders whatever they are called. If they are good enough for Swedish conditions then they are good enough for Scottish conditions also.
Jim

I used CTEK charger and CTEK eyelet recommended by SuperMek. They are awesome. I figured that you would have some power outlet somewhere in the common area no?

lamlamz said:

I used CTEK charger and CTEK eyelet recommended by SuperMek. They are awesome. I figured that you would have some power outlet somewhere in the common area no?

Click to expand...

Sadly no. No power outlet at all. I need to run a LONG cable if I want to charge the bike, and leave the DOOR to our apartment block open, which is a big no no.
I guess I have to either drill a hole in the wall, or take out the battery for charging.

Here's an option, if sunlight is closer than the closest outlet.

Amazon.com: Sunforce 50013 1-Watt Motorcycle and Powersports Solar Battery Charger: Automotive