Mine doesn't last much more than a week if left not charging (does have an s4 fitted) but still fine after four years
Well after an overnight dose of trickle charge last Friday it started fine the next morning ! Bloody typical. But whilst I tried starting it 4 or 5 times (and it started each time !) it was getting noticeably tougher for the battery. So before I simply bought a new battery my mate tested it yesterday to make there isn't an underlying issue and there doesn't appear to be, but the battery is goosed after just 16 months (and it lives on a trickle charger) !! In the meantime I'm still a bit brassed off as this was the only weekend away I had planned on the bike this year ! I'd also invested in a pair of new tyres last weekend, will have to pay unused hotel room costs and I even bought a new Kreiga bag ! An expensive weekend without getting off my drive !! Grrrr. So I have just ordered a new Motobatt battery for £40 off eBay. One tip though from my pal who is a bit of a geek; he pops his trickle charger on a timer so it only tops up the battery for about an hour a day otherwise he thinks that long term trickle chargers can do more harm than good ??? Any views on this ??? Cheers
Never heard trickle chargers causing a problem with batteries, after all that is their entire raison d'etre. I have mine almost permanently connected to a solar trickle charger, and previously had bikes connected to a Oxford trickle charger without problems. If you started and then stopped the bike 4-5 times without giving it a run then battery would struggle, after all look at the size of it compared to a car battery
Got to agree with above, depending on charger, the latest chargers are designed to float and test, then challenge the battery over a pre defined cycle. One of the biggest issues with batteries is the initial treatment at new. A good float charge from new before putting the battery under load helps with battery life going forward. The issue is that the bike manufacturers in the quest for lighter, lighter are speccing batteries that are marginal, so care of them is critical. I plug mine up on charge every night, I get around 3 to 4 years around 50K before they start to give up.
My thoughts too ! My problems started out of the blue on Friday when it wouldn't start. Saturday was better but only after topping up overnight on the trickle charger. The problem is simply the battery not holding the charge .... :-(
