Timing of this thread is ominous as my bike's battery must have read it before me. This morning not enough juice to crank the bike. The bike is an '08 with just over 21,000mi. It is ridden four to six times a week year 'round. Never plug in the tender because the bike is used so regularly and the battery has always started the bike well. It is on the tender today and I'll see how it is tonight when I get home. Here is my question: given that the battery is about 5yrs old and died so abruptly do you think a new one is in order? I know, I know I read the post about batteries lasting a decade and many miles and want to believe it. On the other hand I do not want to charge'n go only to get stuck away from home because I stubbornly believed it should last longer. Tried to determine if there had been some sort of drain on it when the key is off but could not see anything. No time this morning the investigate that any futher though.
Ass gas?! Wouldn't that require a custom saddle to be usable?
The big problem with poor motorcycle batteries is if they leave you stranded it really sucks. If you don't trust a battery it's a no brainer to replace it, but I would still try the due diligence stuff like cleaning connections etc.
I'm starting to think that some of these bikes might have a slow draw and that's stressing the batteries or some batteries aren't quite right from square one.
If you shut absolutely everything off and pull one lead off the battery, put a meter in between and see if there is any current being drawn.
There should be a little pull from the security system but whether that's enough to make difference I would doubt. The security system should shut off when you break the battery connection though so maybe any current draw would be stray. (just musing out loud) Maybe someone a little more electrically schooled could chime in.
Pulled the battery this morning and found corrosion (white powdery deposits) on the negitive terminal. The faces of the connection, ground wire to battery post, were clean though. There are numbers stamped on the battery that show it was manufactured in over five years ago. Given that the wife's car left us stranded when the six year old battery kicked the bucket and within a month the nine year old battery on my car did the same and both recently I am a bit battery shy. A new battery for the bike will offer piece of mind. There is a weekend long trip on the Connie planned for next weekend and piece of mind away from home will be good.
The batteries on my '95 Ford were constantly corroding like that. A friend gave me some battery terminal protectant and it works like a charm. It's in a rattle can, made by some obscure company but I'm sure there are many makes.+1. I use the CRC
After cleaning all the connections real well, protect from over spray and give everything a thin coat, both battery and leads, then connect every thing back up. It eventually cures (dries,solidifies,congeals?) so it wont get all over everything but it takes a while.
I'm not sure exactly how it does it but it greatly reduces the corrosion on the connections.
Someone also told me that a poor connection will corrode more than a good connection. If there is any truth to that I couln't say for sure but I tend to ensure my connections are good and clean from the get-go after hearing that.
If you are out buying a new battery get a can of protectant and do it right and maybe the battery woes will dissapear.
I'm convinced my bike hates cold weather like I do. I was having a problem with a "low battery" alarm a few times this Winter. I left the bike for a month while I was overseas, and it started right up when I got back, no problem. Just a little bit warmer.
Maybe it missed you and decided that it should behave?
Very possible - I did give it a brand new rear tire before I left.