Disconnecting My FTR 1200's Battery

[EllenGtrGrl]

I just picked up my new FTR 1200 (it's the Base Model version) an hour and a half ago. I rode it home, and froze in the process but it was worth it. Yee Haa!

I have a question, with the weather here in Wisconsin being iffy at best until at least the middle of April, my FTR 1200 is going to more than likely sit unridden for the next several weeks. I don't want to kill the battery, and I don't have access to a power outlet for a battery tender, in the underground parking space, that my car and bike are parked in (in my apartment building). Therefore, as I have done with other motorcycles I've had, during the winter, I will have to disconnect my FTR 1200's the battery. I know how to do it, but I wonder - could I possibly get the same effect (a disconnected battery), if I pull one of the main power fuses? If so, which one? It would sure beat having to lay on dirty cement, to get at my battery.

Ellen - in chilly WIsconsin

 

[mark.lb]

Not sure if just pulling a fuse will do the trick. I would just go down to the garage and start the bike and warm it up every 3-4 days. That should keep a new battery sufficiently charged until spring arrives. Don’t forget to go to the ”face with a name” thread and post a picture of you and your new bike!

 

[EllenGtrGrl]

Not sure if just pulling a fuse will do the trick. I would just go down to the garage and start the bike and warm it up every 3-4 days. That should keep a new battery sufficiently charged until spring arrives. Don’t forget to go to the ”face with a name” thread and post a picture of you and your new bike!

Thanks for the info. Oh, and in a few days, I'll have photo up with me and the bike (I'll also probably use it as an avatar photo). The salesperson who sold me my FTR, took a photo of me with my FTR 1200, sortly before I left the dealership. She said she would e-mail it to me in a few days.

Ellen

 

[K9F]

Not sure if just pulling a fuse will do the trick.

It won't! If you have no parasitic drain or consumption for example an alarm it is generally the cold itself that diminishes battery capacity and removing the fuse won't make any difference. Always best to remove it and take it somewhere with better environmental conditions IMHO. You could consider leaving the battery in and buying a portable booster should you need it when it comes time to fire the FTR up or run it for a while in the garage. Remember rule of thumb, starting a v-twin it will be approximately 7 miles of constant riding before what you have taken out of the battery has been replaced. Starting it in the garage running it for a couple of minutes then shutting down will have a detrimental affect too on battery longevity, you need to run it for 10-15 minutes ideally.

 

[ferraiolo1]

Seems like the indain batteries are hit or miss, the CCA are some what low for the bike.

Some can leave it not plugged in for a month and it works fine, others its dead after a week in the cold.

If you're not going to be riding it for a while, pull the battery out and bring it inside.

 

[EllenGtrGrl]

Seems like the indain batteries are hit or miss, the CCA are some what low for the bike.

Some can leave it not plugged in for a month and it works fine, others its dead after a week in the cold.

If you're not going to be riding it for a while, pull the battery out and bring it inside.

Luckily, the garage of my apartment building is heated, so cold temps aren't my biggest concern - it's draining the battery to keep the ECU powered up. That issue is what killed the battery on the BMW R1150R I had back in 2013/2014. For my last 3 bikes (Triumph Thruxton 900, BMW F800R, and the BMW R1200R I traded towards my FTR 1200), I just disconnected one of the battery leads, left the battery in the bike (because I really don't have a decent storage space in my apartment for a battery) and I was good to go - when I reconnected the lead on the battery of the R1200R (which had been disconnected since the second week of October), to ride it to the Indian dealership yesterday to complete the trade-in and bring my FTR 1200 home, it fired right up. I can do the same thing with my FTR 1200 (disconnect the battery lead), but it would be nice to not have to lay on the concrete to do so. If I have to, I have to (I can always bring home a large enough piece of scrap cardboard from work, to lay on). Maybe down the road, when the battery calls it quits, I'll do like I did with my old Thruxton, when it turned out to have a crappy battery - replace it with a Lithium Ion battery, since those batteries have a charge regulator to reduce the amount of battery discharge, making it less necessary to disconnect the battery.

Ellen

 

[ferraiolo1]

no, when the key is off you should be fine, mine sits in a non heated garage in PA, and i dont keep a tender on it, i still ride it every few weeks and its fine.

But like i said its hit or miss with those batteries.

 

[EllenGtrGrl]

no, when the key is off you should be fine, mine sits in a non heated garage in PA, and i dont keep a tender on it, i still ride it every few weeks and its fine.

But like i said its hit or miss with those batteries.

Thanks for the info. I'll give that a try.