Motorcycles BS Thread 2.0

Pick one you feel comfortable spending. Like said i have 2 from cycle gear that are always in clearance and ive used them for years. I only bought the noco to do lithiums which i found out isnt even necessary if the battery is good

 

Care to elaborate? I thought you needed specific lithium chargers for the higher float voltage and also so they didn't try to desulphate the battery and ruin it with too high of spikes?

@BuzzardsGottaEat Any of the 1 or 2 amp will work great. You don't need a massive one for moto batteries. They have a 2amp 2port one if you're trying to get real fancy with it.

 

FYI .. just got an email about an IMS Outdoors event being held in a few locations this year.

Looks like there's lots of activities planned including demo rides on a bunch of Yamaha models. I might check out the one on 9/10 in Carlisle.

https://motorcycleshows.com/schedule

 

i meant unnecessary to leave a lithium on a charger. i ended up leaving my dirtbike off anything, battery still in and started just fine come april, parked from november.

antigravity recommends not leaving a lithium on a charger and the cold doesnt bother them like it does standard acid

 

Ohhh, yeah, gotcha. Self discharge on a lithium is like 1% a month. It's amazing.

Also, my LiFePo4 HATES the cold if you need to actually start a bike below freezing. For storage though, it loves it. I think they actually recommend throwing them in the freezer if you're storing it haha.

 

They do need "warmed" up in the cold (really just putting a current draw on it) before they operate normally

 

I think this is a big pat of why I'm not moving to one of them. I ride almost year round and cold weather starting is required for my bike. I don't want to be the last one leaving work and find my bike won't start!

 

So what I've done in the past and will probably do again this year.. I took a like $9 Amazon set of heated grip pads w/ switch and harness, wired them directly to the battery, and put the switch near my key hole. Gaffer taped the grip warmers directly to the battery. When I turn it on the battery heats itself up internally and externally and worked surprisingly well haha.

I didn't do it last year and had a few times where I'd have to bump the starter half a dozen or so times until the battery got "warm" enough. Only annoying part was that it'd momentarily drain the battery so low the first time or two that my clock would reset.

 

ive heard turning on the headlight is enough usually.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BeQHtlc7Xc0

 

My headlights are LED and also don't turn on until the engine is started. All I get with key on is a DRL/parking light it wasn't enough draw to warm up the battery. If it's a halogen bulb and it turns on with the key, then yeah, definitely enough.

 

my ktm owners manual has a recommended cold start procedure for their bikes with lithium batteries in order to warm up the battery


it kinda sounds crazy at first coming from traditional lead acid batteries all my life but new technology always seems like wizardry at first
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLS6iut15TA

 

I like the 2 port (and 4) for multiple bikes. Actually cheaper than buying two 1 port units.

 

Yeah they're wild. When I got my first one I thought it was an empty box at first.

 

Looks so naked without all your boxes and bags.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wx-F5p0kt-o

 

Went out to work on finishing off the currently mounted tires before I put on new shoes next weekend. Found a cool spot to take some bike pics.