Dual Battery Maintainer?

So I put the VFR and the Ninja in the heated basement for the rest of the winter last night. I filled the tanks and put stablizer in them also. And I have a couple questions.

1. I just had the oil changed before winter, should I have it changed again when spring comes around?

2. In the VFR manual it suggests that you contact your Honda dealer about draining the gas out of your tank after winter. Should I drain them come spring time?

3. I just bought a battey maintainer today at Wal-Mart. I was planning on hooking it up to the VFR battery and using some alligator clips to link the VFR battery to the Ninja battery and 'maintain' both of them at the same time. Could this be bad or would it work?

 

Well I don't know if that would be good or not with the battery, I know I was watching speed one day and on my classic car or something. They were talking about a battery tender that was shapped like a Vtwin and it was made for two batteries (two different hook ups). So if they made something like that I don't know if what your doing is ok or not. I mean why would they make the product if people could just do what your doing. Draining your gas seems wierd. I just use it when it gets nice out again.

 

My parents have a dual Battery Tender that they use on their bikes.

 

Depends on the type of maintainer. I have a dual Battery Tender and it works great for both batteries, but what you're doing will probably work okay. I use a maintainer on my Dodge diesel with two batteries and it works fine there. You just don't have much amperage available when you hook them like that. But if they are fully charged it should be okay. The Battery Tender site has some good info.

 

You don't have to drain your tank when springtime rolls around just take your bike out, just run it almost dry on that tank full! I've never heard of draining it before, it just sounds like a move on Honda's part to make more money for their dealers! I wouldn't worry about it but when you go to fill up the tank for the 1st time in spring, give your bike a good drink of the highest octane!

As for the oil if it really bothers you just dop the oil while it's been parked for awhile, the filter should be good until your 1st oil change after you have had out for awhile! Then do an oil change and filter! I do it because it's easier to drop the oil during the winter time then doing the whole change because the filter is not that old when it comes to use. Good luck

 

It makes more sense to me to just move your tender from one battery to the other every couple weeks. I usually leave my batteries as cold and dry as possible...they discharge slower. freezing isn't an issue unless you let them discharge. It also helps to place them on a nonconductive surface, like wood.

I top off the fuel tanks of my bikes with primo (here in MN that's the non-oxygenated stuff) treated with a small dose of "stabil" just before I store them. I also have a couple "cagers" that don't see Winter use and I do the same with them. Fuel has kept just fine for me for 5 months in cool, dry weather this way (hot and humid all bets are off). Also, full tanks are less likely to see rust...which is a major bummer when it happens.

 

Well thank you for the advice all. I'll probably just switch batteries every other week and just ride with the tank and oil when spring rolls around. I hope this helped someone else also!

 

This is straight from the Battery Tender website:

14. Can the Battery Tender Plus battery charger be used to charge more than 1 battery simultaneously if the batteries are connected in parallel?

Yes, the Battery Tender Plus battery charger can be used to charge more than 1 battery simultaneously when those batteries are connected in parallel. Theoretically, there is no reason that you cannot recharge your batteries in parallel, or that you can’t use a larger battery. HOWEVER, you must recognize that the amount of time required to recharge may be much longer than you would normally expect. Effectively, by charging more than 1 battery in parallel, the charger behaves as if one larger battery is connected to its output terminals.

Batterytender.com - Home of All Your Charging Needs

I have 2 motorcycle batteries, wired in parallel, hooked up to my Battery Tender Jr. One is hooked up with the ring terminals from the charger and they are pigtailed together with 6" sections. No switching back and forth, no worrying about one discharging or freezing.