New AGM question

[Yammer Dan]

OK I got lucky. Grabbed a New Die Hard AGM cheap cheap.(25 Bucks) I don't need it but know I will. Its not for sale. But how do I keep it? Just plant it in box on the shelf? Or should I charge and check often? Really just want to put it up til needed and I'm in pretty good shape on bike batteries right now. May need next week or in 5 yrs??

[jet3279]

your probably up $%!# creek either way. I would charge once a month. the hardest thing for a battery to do is just sit there. I don't buy the factory activated ones ever, who knows how long they've been in the box..

[BlueSky]

The Kawasaki that I bought, a Walmart brand AGM which was made by Yuasa came with the acid separate. I had to add it just like the other bike batteries. So if that is not the case with yours, just keep it on a battery tender I suppose.

[djh3]

In the fridge? I dunno seriously. Maybe something here will hep you out.

[Snaggletooth]

I don't know what to tell ya about a new Die Hard AGM but I can tell you about my experience with the DEKA's I've been using. For the first 4 years I had mt DEKA in I never used a charger or tender. Always had a solid read on the volt meter. But I pulled the first DEKA at about 5 years to replace it with a new one due to summer trip plans.

 

Now mind you, I had it load tested before I pulled it and showed 25% battery life and dormant at 12.8 volts. Put it aside on the shelf and there it sat until a couple months ago. Been about a year on the shelf. Without charging or a tender for that time it still showed on load test at 25% battery life and 12.2 volts. Dropped it in the bike and it fired right up. I'll leave it in there for the winter storage and change back to the new battery in the spring.

 

But with that said I'd say fully charge the new battery and check it on the shelf for voltage once in awhile. I would not worry about a tender. The AGMs have an extremely low discharge rate and a tender probably won't keep it at peak anyway.

[Condor]

Put it on a Float Battery Maintainer., and walk away. It'll be good to go 10 years from now. All batteries have a duty cycle life. In the case of most AGM's it's an 80% discharge/recharge cycle. The cheaper the battery the fewer cycles. If the battery never discharges, theoretically it will never wear out.