How often to charge up the ol' battery?

I launch with a 12v motorcycle battery. When I bought it, I described to the guy (at Rural King) what I was using it for, and asked what kind of charger I should get.

He had no idea what I was talking about, but suggested a float charger sounded right, since it's for vehicles (like motorcycles) which sit a lot over winter and don't get used much.

Now, I've only used this battery for one launch, for about four rockets. That was about a month and a half ago. Since then, it's been sitting inside, and kept warm (don't know if that matters).

My questions are: Is this an appropriate charger for this use? And, how often should I charge my battery? I'm just wondering if I should plug it in before my launch tomorrow.

Thanks!

It might be better if we knew exactly what battery and charger you have.

I'm guessing a standard motorcycle battery - the kind that comes with an "acid" kit used to fill/activate the new battery.

With that type of battery and a "float" charger, it's usually safe to leave it on the charger all the time when not in use.

Alternatively, you could charge it for one day every-other week.

The idea is to keep it charged, and not to let it get weak/dead.

Charged up=good dead=bad

With a good float charger you usually can't "Over-charge" the battery.

I have one of the Stanley Jumper battery packs (light, USB charger, air pump, jumper cables) that came from Sam's Club and carry it with me at all times. No longer to I have open my hood to give a stranded motorist a jump. Just open THEIR hood, hook the cables up to THEIR battery, and they start right up. I have jumped full size pickup trucks with it. Diesel trucks are own their own, tho.

The instructions say to charge the battery pack up about once a month. I recharge it about that often during launch season.

UPDATE:

Well, it is a lead acid battery, but I forgot to plug it in and charge it overnight.

Turned out to be absolutely fine, though. I launched everything successfully, and on the way home realized I'd forgotten to even plug in the external battery, yet everything launched just fine with the internals.

Of course, I didn't try my clusters - it was too windy, and we kept landing on an ice-covered pond! Only way we got the rockets back was that the wind ended up catching the chutes and pushing the rockets all the way across - maybe a great new recovery system? In any case, I decided not to risk the bigger, higher flying rockets.

A friend gave me a motorcycle battery with a bad cell. It wouldn't start his bike. I charged it up and used it for LPR launches a whole summer without recharging. It was about 3 years before the bad cell finally caught up to me and it wouldn't work any more.

As an owner of a motorcycle that sits over winter in an unheated, uninsulated garage, you can do no better than a "Battery Tender" charger.

But for any float charger of good make, you can (and should) leave the battery plugged into the charger whenever its not being used (or at least regularly).

There are plenty of quick disconnect cables out there just for 12 V batteries, especially if you are using a MC battery with screw terminals.

zanfar said:

As an owner of a motorcycle that sits over winter in an unheated, uninsulated garage, you can do no better than a "Battery Tender" charger.

But for any float charger of good make, you can (and should) leave the battery plugged into the charger whenever its not being used (or at least regularly).

There are plenty of quick disconnect cables out there just for 12 V batteries, especially if you are using a MC battery with screw terminals.

Click to expand...

As a rider, racer and rocketeer....Thumbs up on the Battery Tender is the one.