Hi Superduke fans! need some advice! About once every two weeks I need to charge my battery. Can you trickle feed the battery while its still connected? Reason i ask is, the book say's to disconnect if charging at high voltage otherwise you might! damage the electrical system, however, when i charge the battery it's only on trickle feed at low! The battery is only about 4 months old; however, if the bike dosn't start the first or second time (because it's so friggin cold down here) i need to put the battery on charge just to up the power to start it! Sooooo is it say to trickle feed while still connected?

OR! is the other cause for it not starting first time, could it be because of the frost light. It comes on every time (cold down here) until the bike has been sitting in the sun for an hour and when the day warms up abit then it will start first time! Thanks... hope this all makes sense or do i have a possessed bike!

If it is in the garage it is on a trickle charger. So yes, all the time I leave the trickle charger on it.

While the battery may only be 4 months old, how old and what type of "tickle charger" are we talking about? Sorry, but my read on this is that you might have some ancient thing that has both high current ("fast charge") and trickle modes, typically with a crude regulation circuit. Cheap(ly produced = profitable), yes. Good for continuous use - not really.

If you don't have one, I highly recommend a contemporary "smart" charger, as it will have battery state detection circuitry as well as very good voltage and current regulation such that the vehicle's electrical system components won't be damaged. Charge will only occur as is appropriate. They are also available in "waterproof" versions such that the charger itself can be left outside.

That said, most "smart" chargers come with pigtails to connect to the battery, so it can be easily connected to be used whenever you aren't riding it. Hopefully obvious, no battery removal or disconnection required with this type "smart" charger. There are many of the older type chargers where the manufacturer recommends battery disconnection from the vehicle before use. These often have poorly regulated voltage and high current capability that can easily damage bike electrics.

Lastly, many people whine and complain about what smart chargers cost. They cost less than any bike battery I've purchased in the last decade (no small number), and arguably they've at least doubled the life of batteries on my lesser used bikes (and all my bikes have the pigtails for periods of non-use). While it doesn't get very cold here, nor terribly hot (both will shorten battery life) its those deep discharges that can really result in premature battery death. That extra battery life by using a "smart" charger easily pays for itself.

What he said.
I have a number of 'Smart' chargers and they maintain the life of your battery out of all proportion to the cost.

I run my SD on a battery out of an RVF400: whenever its in the garage its on the maintenance cycle - so far has lasted 4 years on the same 2nd hand lump.
My GTR1400 is now almost 5years and 50,000miles and is still on the original battery. When I roll the bike into the garage it gets hooked up immediately.

So the answer to the original question is, yes: you can hook your smart charger up to your battery even with it still connected. All my bikes have 'tails' so I just plug them in.
At the risk of stating the mind-buggeringly obvious though: don't start the bike with the charger connected. At best this would result in a blown fuse; at worst it could be quite costly!

Thanks for that guy's. Appreciate the Advice. I to run a tail from the battery as to save me taking off my belly pan. As to answer your questions SDNerd, the battery thats in her is a new one (6 months old) from the KTM shop. (Its one they recommended) and the Trickle Feeder is from OZ CHARGE. Its a 2000 mA battery Charger with reconditioning function. It's Model num is- OC-SW121020. www.ozcharge.com.au, like i said i was worried about the charge screwing with my electrics but as tripodave pointed out, you don't disconnect the battery to trickle feed it!

Get an Optimate and connect the tail to you battery permanently, roll the bike in the garage and just plug it in, I leave mine connected up for months at a time no problems

hi all
i use a optimate ,and use a datatool .
both as good as one another . leave them plugged in 24/7
unless i am using bike .