BikerSOS has tips on battery maintenance during the winter break

Regular maintenance and proper wintering are essential for a long battery life.
We have the most important tips about:

Remove, charge and store the battery

Missing battery fluid must be supplemented with distilled water


With the help of proper maintenance and care, the life of the battery can be significantly extended. Experts suggest that when winterizing a motorcycle or scooter, remove the battery, load it and store it in a cool place (at about ten degrees Celsius). When removing the battery, always disconnect the negative terminal (black cable) first and, when installing, reconnect the negative terminal last. The order is important to avoid sparks. When installing the battery, you should mount the terminals to the clean and grease-free poles and then protect with Polfett. If the battery is charged when installed, the ignition must not be switched on under any circumstances – otherwise there is a risk of damage to engine control units!
Tip: If the vehicle is in a room with temperatures above ten degrees during the winter break, the battery can also stay in the vehicle. However, no permanent consumer (such as a warning system) may be connected. But, even if the battery remains in the vehicle, it must be properly maintained. In many cases, however, this is possible only with additional cable connections due to the location of the battery, so that the expansion is usually the more convenient method.

Check the acid level

In any case, you should check the acid level in conventional batteries. If the battery is missing fluid, correct the level with distilled water. Very important: Only after the charging process, because the acid gains in volume and its level increases. The battery must always be fully charged. Partial charging is just as harmful as overcharging.

Charging the battery

If you take a driving break of about three months, you should charge the battery at least once with a charger in between to reach 100 percent of the capacity again. Of course, this also applies to the end of the service life. The charging process should run in a room that is around 20 degrees warm, but not in living rooms or bedrooms.

Damage caused by the so-called deep discharge can be avoided by regular charging

Battery chargers for motorcycle and scooter

Standard batteries can be charged with non-automatic chargers, which are cheap (from ten euros) to have. However, according to the formula “maximum charging current = maximum 1/10 of the battery capacity”, the charging time must be calculated and the battery observed. When the acid begins to gas, immediately disconnect the battery from the mains!
By the way: For vehicle rest periods of more than three months batteries for trickle charging must be permanently connected to special motorcycle battery chargers, so that damage caused by the so-called deep discharge can be avoided. It is not recommended to use heavy-duty car or hardware store chargers, they can damage or destroy the small motorcycle battery. The right choice is an automatic charger with control electronics that automatically adapts to the size of the battery and its state of charge. For the maintenance-free gel and micro fleece batteries, which are increasingly being installed in newer motorcycles, such intelligent chargers are absolutely necessary at prices between 15 and 30 euros: After all, a visual check of the battery fluid is not possible.

That’s how it doesn’t work

The persistent recommendation to let the engine of the parked engine run idle from time to time, motorcycle experts consider the biggest mistake during a winter break without battery maintenance. Because that does not help with the battery charge and is really bad for the rest of the motorcycle. If you want to maintain your battery properly and are still unsure about the BikerSOS tips, you should seek advice from your dealer or from the manufacturer.
By the way:
With the BikerSOS GPS-Tracker you can surveil your motorbike battery in winter.


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