KillEmAll4u Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 Hey everyone. So I've been looking around the internet and can't seem to find what I'm looking for. Hopefully someone can help. I keep my bike in a garage that does not have electricity. My solution has been to remove the battery during the winter and keep it on a trickle charger in my apartment. I miss many riding days though because once I take it out I don't feel like putting it back in. So I'm looking for a device that I can plug into the wall at home, give it a good charge and connect it to my bike for a couple of weeks to trickle charge it in the winter so that the bike is always ready to go. I can grab the charger and plug it in every week or two weeks at home and then reconnect but my bike battery will always be charged. I see portable rechargeable jump starters but nothing that has trickle charge. Please let me know if you have my same situation and what your solution has been. Thank you!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HGP61 Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 Viewing topic with interest, I was looking for something last winter because of a similar bike storage issue and couldn't find anything out there that was suitable. I did think that the small portable jump starters must be able to put some juice back into the bike battery if it is sitting at a higher potential but need someone with a bit more knowledge of this "electrickery stuff"than me to confirm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KillEmAll4u Posted August 21, 2020 Author Share Posted August 21, 2020 Well here is an idea that might work. Using the portable 'jump starters' that also charge to go out to the garage once a week and fully charge the bike's battery. Then run the bike for a little bit to keep the gasoline from sitting in the lines too long even though I use STA-BIL in the tank. Maybe this is the best option. Let's see who chimes in. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKYFLIX Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 Any battery supplied trickle charger would die long before two weeks. Even the largest UPS battery backup couldn't keep your battery charged, simply owing to the circuitry in the charger pulling it's own current, even if it's not delivering anything to the actual motorcycle battery. I think you'll probably find that you are already doing the best procedure. But I certainly do find the problem rather interesting and am interested to hear others ideas. Perhaps if you have access to sun, you could deploy a solar powered charger? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickey63 Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 I use a large car/lorry battery that I had to slave to the bike. I normally take the car/lorry battery down to the house every three months and charge it up. I've used this set-up for a several years now with no problem. Can go for a month/8 weeks without using the bike and it will still start. If I ever need to change the car/lorry battery, I think I'd get a leisure battery (caravan) as they don't seem to suffer as much from discharge/recharge problems. I have a standard SAE lead connected to the bikes battery, picked up another which I lengthened and fitted crocodile clips that I use to connected to the car/lorry battery. Its then just a simple job of plugged/unplugging the SAE leads when you want to use the bike. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member betoney Posted August 21, 2020 Supporting Member Share Posted August 21, 2020 2 hours ago, KillEmAll4u said: Hey everyone. So I've been looking around the internet and can't seem to find what I'm looking for. Hopefully someone can help. I keep my bike in a garage that does not have electricity. I am in no way trying to be snarky or critical, but this might be the solution. Power illuminated plugs and outdoor rated so you can leave it in place through rain and snow. https://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-100-ft-14-3-Outdoor-Extension-Cord-657-143100RL6A/302877743 ***2015 Candy Red FJ-09*** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KillEmAll4u Posted August 22, 2020 Author Share Posted August 22, 2020 Thanks for the responses guys. I live in a large apartment complex and my garage is a good distance from my apartment. No access to the sun and of course an extension cord is out. Does anyone see a reason why a rechargeable jumper/charger hooked to the battery once a week to give it a full charge wouldn't work? I know lead acid batteries like to be fully charged at all times but being charged weekly with consistent rides in between seems to me not so bad a thing. Maybe I have to replace the battery a little sooner than normal but to have the bike ready to ride at all times would be a good trade off in my opinion. Seems to be a topic that a lot of people are interested in. Solar power trickle and extension cord trickle are fantastic options if available. Thanks everyone. As always I appreciate and respect your opinions! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member betoney Posted August 22, 2020 Supporting Member Share Posted August 22, 2020 9 hours ago, KillEmAll4u said: Thanks for the responses guys. I live in a large apartment complex and my garage is a good distance from my apartment. No access to the sun and of course an extension cord is out. I missed the part about you living in an apartment complex with a separate garage area. My bad. If you are going to store the bike over the winter, personally, I would just remove the battery and keep it on a tender. ***2015 Candy Red FJ-09*** Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
littlebruv Posted August 22, 2020 Share Posted August 22, 2020 Halo Bolt, in case of an emergency please use Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tango Posted August 22, 2020 Share Posted August 22, 2020 Maybe a combination of jump start and run while you still have some "riding days" like you said and then bring it in on a tender like betoney say's once it is too cold to ride... 1 Blue Lives Matter Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Supporting Member knyte Posted August 23, 2020 Supporting Member Share Posted August 23, 2020 (edited) My dad has had great luck with solar chargers. He literally silicon-ed one to his lawnmower, so it's connected 24/7. He got one for one of of his bikes, too, but it's not mounted permanently. Maybe you could just zip tie it to the bike or something. https://www.amazon.com/solar-powered-battery-maintainer/s?k=solar+powered+battery+maintainer EDIT: Just saw the part about no sunlight. So much for that idea! What about some kind of quick-disconnect on the bike ? Some way of connecting / disconnecting the battery without tools. I'm thinking for eg of UPS connectors or something: Wouldn't be too tough to wire that in. Now that I think about it, I just might do this on my own... Edited August 23, 2020 by knyte 1 2015 FJ-09 / FJR touring bags / oil plug mod / Evotech rad guard / SW Motech bash plate / VStream touring windshield / Seat Concepts: Sport Touring / Vcyclenut ABS rings (speedo correction) / Cosmo RAM mount Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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