The CB1100 Community Forum

Batteries are also covered under the bike manufactures and their own (Yuasa's) warranties. Check your manual it's either one or two years on batteries.

Mine went down after sitting for about 3 weeks so I took the advice from this forum,

bought a HONDA OPTIMATE 3+ BATTERY OPTIMIZER, installed a pig tail and plug it in every time I get off of it.

I did install a 5V USB and 12V outlet on the handle bars that could be causing the trouble, but now I don't have to worry about it, it's ready every time I get on it!

Thanks guys,
My first reaction was that it would be the battery itself first rather than stator or rectifier or bad connections. And, pulling the battery out and putting it back in the terminals were totally fine.
I guess the rest of the metal on the bike should be grounded so I can test the minus lead with anything else metal, but I dunno about the plus. But since the console comes on and the lights come on I am inclined to think that the connections are just fine, too. And if a fuse was blown then the circuit would be open and nothing should come on at all and the starter motor wouldn't have made that little bit of noise on first try.

After charging on the tender it does show 12.74V on my cheapo multimeter with no load, I will take it to PepBoys or the dealership in the morning on the way to work and have them do a load test for me.

The Yuasa batteries online say one year warranty (I'm a little past a year and a half with the bike) but I'll see if I can figure out if it's covered under Honda's warranty (or maybe the extended warranty, I was a sucker and bought that.. but if it covers a battery that otherwise goes for 140 bucks then that's a good chunk of it right there).

No previous owner to speak of and I haven't made any mods to the bike, though I was considering putting in a splice to the battery so I could eventually use a heated vest next winter.. Haven't gotten around to it or had enough time to ride this winter to care.

Put the multi-meter on the terminals and hit the start button and see what happens. I think you have other issues going on.

Im betting it's the battery. I had a similar problem in the last two years with both my Harley and my KLR. A new battery solved the problem. I'd recommend putting a tender lead on the bike when you install the new battery and plugging it in every time it's parked. A battery 'should' last more than 18 months. Good luck.

Thanks! I am suspecting the battery was not very great to begin with.
Unfortunately I don't have a place to plug in while the bike is parked, but from here on out I will either be riding more, or if I continue my habit of not riding to work for the time being, I can maybe pull the battery and keep it on the tender during the week and then install it on the weekend when I'm going to go out for a ride.. or just go for a couple evening rides throughout the week for the sake of firing it up.

Thanks for the responses, guys.
I took the battery into a dealer and had them do a load test, which showed that the battery was toast.
Bought a new one, popped it in, and she started right up. I think we can call it case closed.

I'll just have to not let it sit for too long from here on out!

Good deal!

(12-22-2014, 11:21 AM)Randy B_imp Wrote: [ -> ]Good deal!

Yes! The battery was pretty darn expensive (I got the same one that came stock) but I guess it's better than having to deal with some other possible repair.

Good deal. These darn maintenance free batteries are really good in that you never have to check fluid level, or add distilled water, but it seems to me when they give it up they give it up quickly and in a weird way compared to their slowly dying lead acid cousins.