Can Motorcycle Batteries Freeze

Motorcycle Batteries can freeze

Although we have had a mild winter this year (2013 -2014) I have still gone ahead and decided to write this post for future winters and also for my readers from other sides of the World, especially for the bikers in North America who have experienced an horrific cold and snowy winter.

Although this post is primarily about 12v motorbike batteries it also includes motor bike chargers and intelligent chargers that can also apply to car batteries and car battery chargers.

Most sensible bikers keep their bikes hidden away all winter and then when the spring arrives it is time to get their bikes out clean them up and give them a service, but what about the old battery and more important did the battery freeze if you were unlucky enough to have been in those -40 temperatures. Here in the UK we have watched this on TV and witnessed the problems that such low temperatures can bring, when the big

Weather like this could freeze your motor bike battery

thaw comes.

The coldest I have ever known the temperature to fall to was -19c in France, it was a nightmare all the water pipes were bursting the diesel in cars and trucks was freezing and also some car batteries froze up. As a guy who has being selling batteries for practically all his working life I was interested in which types of batteries had frozen. I found that the batteries were on older cars that still had their original batteries fitted say in-between five to seven years old. The battery acid (electrolyte) had in fact been watered down over the years without any noticeable effect, until the really cold winter came along. The batteries were diluted down and contained more water than acid and I came to the conclusion that this is what had happened.

So a 12v motorbike battery could freeze?

The secret lies in the state of charge of the battery. It would take a severely cold night to freeze a battery that was fully charged. But if a battery is discharged because of damage to cells, poor connections or a charging system that isn't doing its job, the battery could start freezing at the same temperature as water. A fully charged bike battery should take temperatures of down to -24.C, whereas a discharged battery will freeze at 0.c the freezing point of water.

How can you protect your motor bike battery in winter?

The 12v motorbike battery consists of 6x2.5v cells to make for a fully charged battery reading 13.5v when fully charged. If one of these cells is damaged for whatever reason then the rest of the battery will suffer, because the cells are joined in series. So in my opinion the first thing to do before the onset of winter is to charge your battery and check the voltage if it is bellow say 12 volts then the battery has a problem and should be replaced next spring. If the battery reads a full 13.5v, then the battery is good and should be removed from the bike into a frost free place, even perhaps in a safe area of the house.

You can check the voltage with a cheap voltmeter. You should then be prepared to keep your battery in a fully charged state throughout the winter months. You can do this with a motorbike charger, the regular type or better still in my opinion to use an intelligent charger. The intelligent charger will read the state of the battery all through the winter   and when the state of the battery falls the charger will automatically top the battery up to the full charge level, it will then go back to standby mode and repeat this all through the winter cold.

Another good piece of advice is that if you have to replace your motor bike battery then try to go for a good make. Here in the UK I would recommend a Varta motorcycle battery; these batteries are made by the Johnson Controls, who’s reputation for quality is second to none.

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Eric Roberts

Hi I would like to introduce myself. I have worked in the Garage and tyre and Battery business now for 40 years. I have worked for a couple for national tyre companies in my younger days, before starting my first business. I now own a company here in the UK called Pellon Tyre and Auto-centre, and I am a keen blogger about anything to do with cars and their related products that will help my business. We are members of Point-S and Motor-Codes and are also a Unipart Car Care Centre and of course Tyre-safe.