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Portable generator for bike in storage?


Squealy_Wheelie
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Does anyone know if its okay to use a portable 12v mini generator to charge my battery occassionally?


She’s in storage that has no electricity, only gets ridden twice a month in winter and the heated handlebar grips don’t help.


I used to use a battery tender via an extension into the house but can’t do that now.


If she stands for more than a couple of weeks it takes around 2 hours to charge the battery.


Can a small portable generator do the job?

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No reason to not use a generator. 12V DC is fine although you actually need 13 -14V to actually charge. That said, my dad used to charge his boat like that.

2 weeks isn't very long for a battery to discharge. Are you sure its OK? have you used an optimate to test it?

Is the bikes charging circuit OK? You say you use heated grips. Perhaps you should switch them off for a few minutes before you finish riding to top up the battery.

Could you start the bike from jump leads from your car?


Any way I think about it, using your bike to charge itself has to be more efficient, faster and less outlay than buying a generator.

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If you are going to the trouble of using a generator then you might just as well use the bike. Solar panel would be much more environmentally friendly and a lot cheaper as it can be left plugged in all the time, depends on where bike is though.

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The battery should last more than 2 weeks idle without needing a charge. If it is in storage, I do not see how solar charging would be practical. What about taking the battery out and keeping it on charge elsewhere?

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Thanks for the replies. Much easier to use a generator than to remove the battery, solar deffo not an option in storage.


I’m very careful switching the heated grips off in time to give a bit of charge but not sure if stopping early enough.


Riding the bike regularly isn’t an option. So i thought a generator would be the best option. Could also use it to provide lighting in the storage box when i’m tinkering about.


It’d be a lot easier to carry a small generator back and forth than remove battery constantly as its a pain.


I asked the guy during MOT about the crap battery, he just said its often an issue with suzuki intruders. Not that that helps lol.

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That's not a generator. That's a battery. I don't think you can charge from that but you could jump start the bike from it. If that's all you need, you could just buy a battery and jumper cables.

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/bulbs-blades-batteries/car-batteries/halfords-hb063-lead-acid-12v-car-battery-3-year-guarantee For 2/3 the cost, it is 4 times the capacity of your bike. you might find cheaper if you look around.

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I must be blessed with good luck . Every winter for the last 5 - 6 years I have simply wheeled my GSXR into the garage and forgotten about it. I've never used a maintenance charger , never taken the bike out and started it and never removed the battery to charge it . It has a standard Yuasa YTX14BS and the garage isn't heated but it isn't freezing cold either. So please forgive me but I just can't see what all the fuss is about . I will add that my bike doesn't have an alarm fitted so I guess that if it did I might have to think again. I also don't use fuel stabilizer and once again I have not experienced any ill effects. Come the spring I just wheel the bike out , stick the tap on prime and hit the button. It always fires up ,allbeit a little reluctantly , then I just nip down to the garage , treat her to a tank of Super rather than standard unleaded and then go for a thrash down the A45 to blow away the cobwebs. PS its only 16 weeks till summer anyway! ! 🌞🌡🏍👍

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That's not a generator. That's a battery. I don't think you can charge from that but you could jump start the bike from it. If that's all you need, you could just buy a battery and jumper cables.

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/bulbs-blades-batteries/car-batteries/halfords-hb063-lead-acid-12v-car-battery-3-year-guarantee For 2/3 the cost, it is 4 times the capacity of your bike. you might find cheaper if you look around.

 

My battery tender is wired to my battery, ready to be plugged in when needed, was hoping i could just plug into the above and use it for charging anything else needed at the time. Not strong enough?

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That's not a generator. That's a battery. I don't think you can charge from that but you could jump start the bike from it. If that's all you need, you could just buy a battery and jumper cables.

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/bulbs-blades-batteries/car-batteries/halfords-hb063-lead-acid-12v-car-battery-3-year-guarantee For 2/3 the cost, it is 4 times the capacity of your bike. you might find cheaper if you look around.

 

think it has a 12v to 240vconverter looking at plug socket on the top end


it all depends on how much/long the packs battery takes to drain down in use .

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There is no need to remove battery just need a connector and as for bike being in storage the panel goes outside?, unless you have it in an underground bunker a mile under ground.

 

I already have a small solar panel that i use at home for small stuff, but solar panels don’t work great where i live. I’d have to climb up on the roof of the thing and hide it there to stop it being nicked

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That's not a generator. That's a battery. I don't think you can charge from that but you could jump start the bike from it. If that's all you need, you could just buy a battery and jumper cables.

https://www.halfords.com/motoring/bulbs-blades-batteries/car-batteries/halfords-hb063-lead-acid-12v-car-battery-3-year-guarantee For 2/3 the cost, it is 4 times the capacity of your bike. you might find cheaper if you look around.

 

think it has a 12v to 240vconverter looking at plug socket on the top end


it all depends on how much/long the packs battery takes to drain down in use .

 

Yeah exactly, my hope was to use it for the battery once in a while and the rest of the time use it for lighting or anything else that needs some juice while messing about

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If you can't use a solar charger then I'd get a lithium starter pack and install a lead to the battery so you can attach the starter pack to fire the engine. I use one about the size of a paperback book that has got our neighbour's 3.5 diesel going.


You can also run lighting off it if you need to. I use mine for powering all sorts of things and just charge it once a quarter.

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Not strong enough?
You can't charge a 12V battery from a 12V battery unless its very discharged. You need a voltage difference in order to pass current. Lets say that your dead battery measures 11v and you are charging from 12V, that's a 1V difference. If the internal resistance is 2Ohm, then using Ohm's law:-

I=V/R : 1/2= 0.5Amp. If you have a 5A/H battery it would take 10hours to fully charge .....except that the voltage differential would not stay a full volt for long. As it charges the voltage would rise and the charge rate would drop.

Completely guessed numbers but you get the point.

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Get another battery, charge it at home and take it along with a pure sine wave inverter and a mains 3 stage charger. This set up will charge the bike battery fully :thumb:

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Get another battery, charge it at home and take it along with a pure sine wave inverter and a mains 3 stage charger. This set up will charge the bike battery fully :thumb:

 

Why not just install the spare battery and take the other one home and charge that ? In fact why even bother with a second battery ? Just take the original out and keep it charged at home .

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Get another battery, charge it at home and take it along with a pure sine wave inverter and a mains 3 stage charger. This set up will charge the bike battery fully :thumb:

 

Why not just install the spare battery and take the other one home and charge that ? In fact why even bother with a second battery ? Just take the original out and keep it charged at home .

 

Ze said it was a pain to remove the battery. But that's probably what I'd do.

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