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Dead battery? Or worse?

4K views 9 replies 5 participants last post by  JJ Spectre 
#1 ·
So, I thought that the garage would be warm enough that the battery wouldn't discharge over the unseasonably short winter, but I was wrong. At least I hope I was. When I went to start the bike it was dead, no lights on the dash. Just nothing. I jumped it off my truck, and ran it at idle for about 20 mins, then went for a short ride. I managed to get a battery tender during different errands, so when I got home I shut down the bike and tried to restart it right away. It hesitated, but caught. So I plugged it into the charger and left it for 24 hrs. It was still showing solid red on the led, so I knew it wasn't charged, so I flicked the key on to see if it had enough juice to start at all. Nope. It ran up the aftermarket gear indicator, but not the dash. What was weird was the clicking/buzzing sound from under the seat. (Solenoid?). So I've taken the battery out completely and will take it to the shop to have it checked/charged/replaced.
So what's the consensus or experience around here. Is it just the battery, or am I having starter problems too, or something more nefarious?
Luckily I'm not really missing any riding time so far as the forecast is calling for rain and cold temps for at least the next week.
Thanks in advance for any info or advice.
JJ
 
#2 ·
It's probably time to replace the battery. Read up on battery sulfation to learn about the most common cause of failure in lead acid batteries and what you can do to help prevent it. Hint: it's one of the reasons most everyone will tell you to use a battery tender.

Anyway, once a lead acid battery dies the easiest and fastest and most reliable thing to do is replace it and get battery tender.
 
#4 ·
The solenoid noise ... my car has done that when there wasn't enough juice for the starter motor to engage the flywheel. It just would sit there and make clicking noises ... which caused me to make swearing noises.

My guess is that's what your experiencing here. The battery might have enough juice to run something that needs milliamps but your out of luck on the things that need more current. Hopefully it is the battery since that's a really simple fix.
 
#8 ·
I bought the Battery Tender Jr which does the charge and float voltages. All the reviews seem positive. Either way, I can't see it being necessary until the winter. But that kind of thinking got me a dead battery this year! LOL
 
#9 ·
So, assuming you got a new battery, next time you are going to leave it sit for more than a 2 weeks, disconnect the single wire (red wire? maybe) that runs from the gear indicator to the battery. The healtech gi that i got, said it was supposed to run to switched power, I connected it direct and forgot about it.

I'm pretty sure that's your problem, my 300 has been connected all winter and fires right up, no issues
 
#10 ·
The dead battery was replaced and the bike fired right up. Back on the battery tender since it looks like another two weeks before there will be another day for riding. I was pretty sure I knew what the problem was, but thanks for the advice anyway. It's always good to hear from those who've got the experience.
Cheers!
 
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