Durability and shelf-life

Bought my '95 ST1100 five years ago. Still running the same battery it came with. Put her on the Tender every winter.

Haven't had any electrical issues since I bought the bike. But I figure that 5+ years might be pushing things, so I'm thinking of buying a new battery to have on hand (on the Tender, of course) for when "the inevitable" happens.

Q: Am I overthinking this? The new battery's "clock" starts ticking soon as I buy it (even though it will be in the garage), and who knows, my current (!!) battery could go another year or two. So should I just ride & maintain until "the inevitable" DOES happen ... THEN get a new battery (so that it's as fresh as possible)? Or is it a good idea to get a fresh one now, to have at-the-ready? (Maybe even just go ahead and replace it now, regardless?)

PS: During my battery research, I realized that I might want to install some manner of electrical system status gage / indicator (voltmeter, status LED, etc.). Anyone have any buy / avoid recommendations?

If you get a volt meter get one quick enough to give you a clue about voltage while cranking. Maybe an expanded scale old school analog one. Resting voltage tells you about state of charge but gives no hints about capacity.

I bought this battery bug to monitor my new battery that I put in 2014. It still says I have 70% life left in it. I don't think they still make this model, but you may find it on eBay. Or there might be another company making an equivalent device.

What you should probably do is load test the battery every so often by watching the voltage when you crank the starter. If it starts falling to something in the neighborhood of 10, it's time to think about a new battery.

If you buy a replacement to keep on hand, keeping it on a tender will help extend its life.

--Mark

BUTR said:

But I figure that 5+ years might be pushing things, so I'm thinking of buying a new battery to have on hand (on the Tender, of course) for when "the inevitable" happens.

Click to expand...

I've had my ST1100 for 19 years and I tend to get about 7 years on a battery, but I don't have the winter layover to deal with. Unless you're planning a ride where obtaining a new battery would be problematic, I'd wait until its broken before fixing it.

It really boils down to your tolerance for the unexpected and how you deal with problems. If you keep the battery, it will eventually fail, perhaps when you try to start it for a weekends outing, or maybe out on the road when you are breaking camp and going to head home. In either scenario, it will be a hassle to deal with. On the other hand, you could replace it now and bypass (well, there is the unforeseen) said problems.

I prefer the latter because I prefer to avoid any forseeable hasles, and do a lot of preventative maintenance that some guys here would not - but that is just my approach to these things.

I asked my friend who does most of the more complicated work on the bikes for me now about the 'red wire bypass' and he says it doesn't need to be done, he's very good at electrics too so it's hard to argue with him,
I keep her on the tender a lot, not getting the ST out much at the minute now that I have the vstrom.