After 3-years, a motorcycle battery will likely be on its last leg. The battery’s life depends heavily upon how you ride and care for your bike, as well as weather conditions and temperature changes that occur throughout this time period. Even if it spends most days in storage or used, only short trips can wear out an electric motorbike’s power source.
If I give you the straightforward answer to the question, How long do motorcycle batteries last, then I will answer motorcycle batteries last between 3 and 4 years before they need to be replaced. Daily riding will prolong the life of a motorcycle battery while using an appropriate charger can extend its lifespan even more so by topping off with acid when low or running out in-between charges altogether.
To get this lasting power for as long as possible, you should keep your batteries charged up at all times – but don’t forget about them. Depending on the situation or the maintenance power, your battery life can be about 3, 6, to 4 years.
Why Do Motorcycle Batteries Die So Fast?
You might be surprised to learn that a motorcycle battery drains while riding due the many reasons such as bad terminal connections, corroded terminals, or if you have too many electrical add-ons.
If your bike is an older model with automatic shut-offs, it could also just be because of how much charge their engine runs on (you don’t want this!).
The following passage discusses some reasons why do motorcycle batteries die so fast. Read below:
- Bad terminal connection
The terminals on a motorcycle battery are the metal rods that stick out from either side of its top. When they have bad connections, it could lead to drained batteries while riding because the cables won’t be getting much charge through them if there isn’t any electricity going into those posts when you’re driving your bike at high speeds through city streets or country roadsides.
- Corroded terminals
Corroded terminals can lead to several problems, including battery drainage while riding. It’s possible for acid from the corrosion process to seep between them and another part in your bike, like the cable that connects to the stator, which means you won’t get any charge when biking.
The problem with these corroded parts is not just that they don’t work it could also cause serious damage if left unchecked over time, like short circuits or overheating. Even worse than this would be leaking lithium ion fluid everywhere, thus polluting our environment too much as well as at least one other thing.
- A faulty stator
The terminals on your motorcycle battery are the first thing to check when it seems like your bike isn’t starting. A faulty stator means that you’re actually running off of battery power alone, which will quickly drain any new or old batteries alike. Motorcycles were never meant for continuous use, so if yours is functioning as such, there could be some other problems going on with its internal components (like corrosion).
- Regulator/Rectifier gone bad?
The regulator/rectifier is a vital component of the motorcycle’s alternator system. When it fails, that can lead to your battery draining while out for a ride because you’re not getting any power from the wires at all!
There are excellent parts of the motorcycle’s alternator system, one being a regulator/rectifier that converts AC current to DC so it can be stored in batteries. If this component fails, your Harley will continue running but may lose power quickly or drain after only short rides on sunny days due to a lack of charge storage capacity caused by low voltage output from a bad regulator.
Batteries don’t store enough energy over time because they don’t have many volts under load, like when you’re sitting still with RPMs going up while turning backward, which needs higher amp-hours before any decent performance happens.
- Wrong aftermarket modifications
The wiring of your motorcycle could be incorrect if you have installed aftermarket modifications or additional electrical add-ons.
These tweaks might include LED lights, phone chargers, and other devices that utilize a lot of power from batteries over time which would drain them out even faster than normal without proper care in installation techniques for these pieces.
Incorrectly installing accessories like this can lead to premature wear and accidents because riders may accidentally accelerate on an erroneously set speed limiter setting, causing loss of control and leading directly to severe injury.
How Long Does a Motorcycle Battery Last Without Starting?
The average lifespan of a motorcycle battery is 3-4 months without being used, but newer models have been reported to go up to 3-5. Turn over your engine to keep it charged, and you will be able to ride longer!
Battery life decays with age, dying in a few weeks on older bikes that haven’t been used recently or powered off for long periods of time, such as when you’re parked outside your house all day every single workday like my friend John because he’s a postal worker who spends his days sitting around doing nothing productive!
When to Replace the Motorcycle Battery?
Motorcycle batteries should be replaced after 3-5 years, depending on the charge and discharge cycles. Replacing a battery is a good safety prudent step, but a weak or dead motorcycle battery doesn’t usually necessitate it. The most common issue that causes a motorcycle battery to go bad is corrosion from neglecting to clean off corrosive materials that have been collected at the terminals of the battery.
A neglected terminal starts collecting substances such as salt, which inevitably corrode the plates inside, reducing the power and safety of lithium-ion cells by reducing the run time between charge cycles. Aside from prevention with regular cleaning, there are indicators for when it’s time to replace your battery, with indications being a lack of full power output.
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Start by looking at the date your current battery was manufactured and then determining how many charge cycles it has gone through since then. This is not easy if you don’t have the original owner’s paperwork with that information. Still, it’s possible to calculate an approximation based on other factors like how often you use your bike.
Conclusion
When we think of motorcycles, the first thing that usually comes to mind is a two-wheeled engine with upright handlebars and a black leather seat. The sound created by its growl as you twist your throttle down may conjure up images from long ago when people had simpler needs than today’s technology demands. For many, this type of transportation provides them freedom in both work commute or leisure pursuits like traveling around town without worrying about range anxiety (the fear of running out on battery).
We have discussed “how long do motorcycle batteries last.” The answer is a few years with the proper care and maintenance. It used to be common for motorcycles running on AC power from an additional coil in their flywheel magneto and having brake lights that were lit by battery charge instead of being independently powered like today’s bikes which can lead you down some interesting roads if not appropriately handled.
Thanks for reading us. Be blessed.