Will my battery drain?

[JBravo]

Hello all,

So I'm away for 2 weeks, will the bike start up ok when I return? I've only had it 3 weeks and it's my first proper bike so any advice is appreciated.

 

[2nd childhood]

Assuming the battery is in good shape now, you should be okay to have it set two weeks.

 

[92Bit]

Never hurts to put it on a trickle charger, but if you don't have one 2 weeks should no problem at all. Worst case scenario you might have to jump start or something, but that is unlikely unless you have a bad battery.

I found out earlier today one thing that does drain your battery fast is leaving the high beams on and forgetting to turn the bike off. D'oh! I went inside for less than 30 minutes. Came out and the bike wouldn't start, left it sit for 10 minutes and it just barely managed to start then.

 

[Blackcombe]

Was only just thinking today that I need to search this answer as my plan is that I wont ride in our Winter months so do I need to look into a float charger. Cheers.

 

[iSteve]

My bike sits for 4+ months every winter and it always starts right up in the spring. If a battery can't hold a charge for two weeks then forget about the trickle charger and buy a new battery.

 

[Motogiro]

Also there can be a component failure where the battery does not reach complete charge or a leaky/shorted diode that allows current back flow which drains the battery quickly.

You should easily be good for 2 weeks as long as you have a health system.

 

[FinalImpact]

Like iSteve said, mine also sits for 4 months at a whack. The first year I pulled the battery. 12.99V. 4 months later put it back. No charge added and it was 12.92V.

That was 4 years ago on battery made in 08.
This year it sat for 3 months, checked it a few weeks back was at 12.92V in the bike. It fired right up even though it was 28F or some cruel temperature like that.

FWIW:
Fully charged batteries are fine in the cold and won't freeze. Dead batteries will freeze.

Some bike alarms draw too much idle power and cause issues. Let us know if yours has an alarm there may be a test you can do.

 

[dpaul007]

Like iSteve said, mine also sits for 4 months at a whack. The first year I pulled the battery. 12.99V. 4 months later put it back. No charge added and it was 12.92V.



That was 4 years ago on battery made in 08.

This year it sat for 3 months, checked it a few weeks back was at 12.92V in the bike. It fired right up even though it was 28F or some cruel temperature like that.

Exact same experience with mine. I left my battery in this winter and started mine up a month ago after many days below zero and she turned over a little slower, but fired up no problem. I've had mine packed away since October.

 

[bigdog9191999]

like others have mentioned i too live were year round is impossible and for several years the only charging i would do is to fire the bikes up mid winter and let it run up to temp. and only had an issue if the batt was on its way out anyway. two weeks is nothiing assuming eveything is at least in decent shape. now with something like my goldwing i am afraid there may be too much draw for extended periods and have a batt tender on it. but even with it if it didnt last two weeks i would be replacing the batt.