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It regularly gets into the low teens around here so I bring my sealed batteries into the house and leave them both on battery tenders 24/7. One is 750 mA the other is
1 1/2 amps. Good idea or leave them in the garage?

Hi Desco,
Check the AHr of your batteries (it’s written in their number).
In all likelihood they’ll be something close to 9AHr.

Say it’s 10AHr, the max charging rate is one tenth of the AHr = 1A

That would only be used for a few hours recharging from a discharged situation.
You should not leave it on such a charger long term.

There are milliamp maintenance chargers available, but I’ve not used them.

I’ve just used a low amp charger periodically for short times when the bike is off the road. I have been used to getting about 4 years or so life from a battery.

I don’t know if the temperature makes much odds, obviously the conductivity is lower at lower temps, but if this makes any difference to battery health I don’t know.
A battery won’t freeze until many degrees below zero Celcius.

There is no need to bring the batteries inside, but it doesn't really hurt anything either. Using a battery maintainer all winter doesn't hurt either. A good maintainer will help the battery live a reasonable length life but the battery doesn't necessarily have to be plugged into the maintainer all winter to do that. I usually just put a maintainer on each of my batteries for 24-48 hours each month and cycle one charger through the group. Using this simple process hasn't cost me a battery yet and I've got some that have outlived the average lifespan by a large margin.

I use battery Tenders on all my batteries year round.
So I know when I take a bike out for a ride the battery is fully charged.
Does it shorten battery life?
Don't know but the battery on my Ural sidecar outfit (electric start) lasted for 12 years and I have not seen any problems on other bikes ---so I guess I am sold on year round tenders.
Just my two cents worth of course.
HTH

A tender is different from a 0.75A or 1.5A charger.

My 2p.

What I have is tenders and they are both 1.25 A. I kind of remember my .75 giving up the ghost. I used to feel lucky to get two years out a battery. Now five is the norm. And they are hooked up year round. With out that greasy breather hose they are a breeze to remove so I think I'll bring them inside. Thanks.

It depends on the "charger." Regardless, the initial post was fairly clear.

You’ll get a fair idea of whether being hooked up long term is good or bad by measuring the voltage occasionally, with the charger/tender still doing its funky stuff.
A simple charger will still be exposing the battery to 14-15V even after the battery is fully charged.
This will not do the battery any favours in the long run.
An intelligent tender will only be showing 13 or so volts, if its to be connected for months at a time.

Just checked voltage with tenders hooked up for months;
13.24 on an older battery with no fuse.
13.05 on a new battery with the fuse left in, forgot to take it out when I parked it.
So I guess all is well. I used to have the tenders on a timer but I guess they take care of that stuff by them selves. That's why they are tenders not chargers?

I have a 12 volt 150ma wall wart plugged into my Aprilia RSVR battery. It keeps it at 14.5 volts. It does not get as cold here as Bishop, lows of 44F. You only need to overcome the self discharge of the battery, not actually charge it.

I use a 12v solar panel with a directional diode and an AT1210 regulator. In some of my bikes the battery just sitting would be buggered in 12 months, but when hooked up to the solar panel the same type of battery lasts for up to 5 years.

I also charge the batteries occasionally.....A discharged battery supposedly will freeze more easily...It's quite messy...

An AGM battery is supposedly less susceptible to freezing but I'd rather not find out how much less.

This is a good question. In my humble opinion, if you're not going to ride the bike, bring the batteries in charge them up and keep them warm. 20 years ago when I started buying tenders, I thought those tenders would be the end all to be all and would leave them hooked up 24/7. They just cooked the batteries. Later technology with "smart" tenders with a float, they are supposedly not going to do that. All said, anything not used regularly, gets hooked to a charger once a month until full charged and then "unhooked" regardless of 6V, AGM etc... I use Genius tenders with a repair function that "supposedly" repair or rid sulfates in a battery as a function. A discharged battery, left in the cold is death. By the way, I don't believe that all batteries are created equal, but that is another discussion.

In the winter here in southern England I take the battery off the bike but leave it in the garage. Once a fortnight I charge it with a tender until the tender switches off. i don't like to leave the tender on all the time in case I burn down the garage. After a fortnight of sitting the battery only needs a very short time on the tender. It seems to stay very well charged (agm type).

I also free the bike's clutch at the same time and kick the engine over a few times.

Dave