Hi all. I thought I'd throw this out to the group as I trust that you guys have much more knowledge about these things than me. I was riding this weekend and after parking and entering an auto parts store for 90 seconds I came back out and my batter was dead. When I turned the key and pressed the start button it didn't have enough juice to start the bike and my clock was off three hours. I spent some time trying to start it and finally had someone at the auto parts store bring out a portable charger and we charged the battery. As soon as the charger was connected the bike turned over normally. The clock also went back to the correct time. I drove it home, parked it and tried to start it again 15 minutes later and the battery was dead again. I've never had a problem with the bike starting before, and it appears to have come without warning. The bike is a 2002 with only 2200 miles on it. Original battery. I bought it brand new off the showroom floor in 2003. Could the battery have been affected negatively by sitting on the dealer's floor for a year? Does this sound like a battery problem? Could there be some other culprit, such as alternator, starter, etc.? Any guidance would be appreciated.
Battery problem
- Thread starter Rob'sBus
- Start date
check to make sure the terminals are clean and tight , that would be where i would start , next step would be to load test the battery , check charging system , and starter draw . hopefuly cleanin and tightening the terminalsw will do it , any auto parts store will do a load test on your battery for free . good luck also i guess you could be having a problem with the kick stand saftey switch , next time you could try pushing the kickstand down then up again ?
Its happened before, sometimes the stock batteries are just weak or defected. This assuming that you didn't accidentally decharge the battery.
I bought a high output battery from schnitz racing and haven't had a problem since.
But you might want to have the alternator checked, just to be sure.
<!--EDIT|Charlesbusa
Reason for Edit: None given...|1126039969 -->
I bought a high output battery from schnitz racing and haven't had a problem since.
But you might want to have the alternator checked, just to be sure.
<!--EDIT|Charlesbusa
Reason for Edit: None given...|1126039969 -->
IF IT HELPS? I HAVE AN 01" AND MY BATTERY DID THE SAME LAST YEAR. ON AVERAGE, A YUASA O.E.M. BATTERY WILL LAST ROUGHLY 4 YRS. IF YOU TOOK CARE OF IT i.e. KEEPING HER IN A WARM PLACE AND YOU USED A TRICKLE CHARGER. YOU ARE PROBABLY DUE FOR A NEW ONE. TAKE THIS W/ A GRAIN OF SALT, BUT I ALSO HAD A PROBLEM ONCE W/ THE WIRE THAT RUNS INTO THE SIGNAL/HORN HOUSING ON THE HANDLE BAR. I MUST OF PULLED ON THAT WIRE ONE TO MANY TIMES MESSING W/ MY "HOT GRIPS" TO GET THE CORRECT CLEARANCE. IF IT IS THE CASE, SOLDER THE SUCKER ON TO THE CONNECTER. GOOD LUCK!
Battery basics: Yes, having a battery sit for a long time without fully charging it will cause sulfates to cover the plates in the battery and weaken the battery. The battery will also have a slight drain on it from the clock and other electrics that will lower battery life span over time. A typical battery can self drain by approximately 1% a day if just left to sit on a shelf. Here's the math: for example, if you had a 29AH (AH = AmpHour) battery it can deliver 29 Amps for one hour before it is dead. If your bikes electrics draw 10mA (.01Amps) while parked, then 29AH/.01A = 2900 hours before zero power is left. That's 120 days not counting the 1% of self drain. Adding in the self drain a typical battery will be flat in 45 days. Trouble is that calculation gives you the time to zero power. At 50% charge you probably won't be able to start your bike. So that means in a couple of weeks of sitting in your garage, without a battery tender, you're screwed. What happens when you do a lot of short trips is you are draining the battery everytime you hit the starter without riding long enough to recharge the battery sufficiently. Typically a battery won't last you more than 3-4 years if you're lucky. I happen to be an electrical engineer that designs electronic products for motorcycles, so I have to know these things... The responses above are correct, get a battery tender...
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