I'm supposed to charge the battery in a well-ventilated area because flamable gasses can build up, right? But, I obviously can't charge it outside or leave the garage door open all winter, so, what is good enough? Is a medium-sized (about 2 rooms) basement ok?

Or, should I just charge it about once a month instead of leaving the charge on the entire winter?

I put mine down in the basement, in an area that's open and has forced air heating.  I put the car charger on for about an hour once a month to restore the potential lost from the previous charge.  Haven't blown up the house yet!  

IMHO, it's practically impossible to blow yourself up with off-gasses from a motorcycle battery.  That said, there's always some idiot who'll try and win a Darwin Award.

I am not 100% on this, but it worked for me last year.

I just pulled my battery and let it drain completely dead. I stored it indoors on a piece of cardboard - I heard you are not supposed to store it on concrete for some reasons. Not sure why.

When it come time to put it back in, I had my brother charge it back up with his battery charger, stuck it in and worked perfectly.  :dunno:

From what I've read, it's not at all good to let a battery go dead and leave it that way.  Allowing a battery to sit in a discharged state will ultimately lead to severe positive grid corrosion and battery failure.  Don't know how long that will take, but I wouldn't chance it.

Once you put liquids into a battery, the best attitude is to keep it charged up.  Loosing about 1% of remaining charge per day, a battery should be recharged to "full" every 30-45 days to remain fresh.

Use of a Battery Tender is the best action is to take -- never let it discharge.  Next best is to catch it before dropping below, say, 70% charged.

Pull your battery and put it in the basement on a shelf somewhere. Don't put it on a cold floor  - the cold sucks the life out of the battery. Hey, you wouldn't want to be on a cold floor all winter, why would your battery?

Go out and buy yourself a $40.00 battery tender and put it on the battery all winter - it will shift from charge mode to float mode.

Why spend $40.00 on a battery tender? Because it will extend the life of your battery by YEARS. Get the handy leads that attach to your battery and you can just plug it in when you need it.

I have 4 Battery Tenders - one for each bike - almost  

Store it in the bike and keep it charged by riding it.

This will be my first winter with my GS500F, and I plan to keep the battery charged by riding most every day, as Jack said. However, on my '98 Kawasaki 900STX jet ski (which I bought new), I have just disconnected the ground cable each winter, then recharged the battery each spring. The OEM battery lasted five years, and the second battery is doing just fine. Even when I reconnect it in the spring, it has plenty of juice to start the engine and doesn't need much of a charge. Maybe in cold weather climes batteries need more attention, but I've never heard of anyone doing anything more than just disconnecting the ground cable.

Quote from: Phaedrus

Quote from: RedShiftit's not at all good to let a battery go dead and leave it that way.  Allowing a battery to sit in a discharged state will ultimately lead to severe positive grid corrosion and battery failure.  Don't know how long that will take, but I wouldn't chance it.

... Thanks for the heads up Redshift  

I plan on replacing my battery before it is completely gone anyway. I do too much riding far from home to be out somewhere with a questionable battery.

Don't mention it, Phaedrus.  Glad to share what I think I know.   As my cousin Red Green says, "We're all in this together."

A wise rider replaces their battery before it's time... (probably some Chineese motorcycling proverb)