OEM Battery just flat dead.

M

meowguy_imp

Been there
Thread starter
I was out on nice long charity ride yesterday. This morning I went out to check the mileage on the trip odometer and the bike was just dead. Maybe I left the key on? Hard to do with the head lights on in the garage. I checked the voltage in the battery. It says 2.1volts. I tried to charge the battery and the charger behaves as though it is not connected to the battery.

So, here is my plan.
1. Get a new battery.
2. Charge the replacement.
3. Read the voltage on the battery.
4. Instal the battery.
5. Start the bike, read the voltage at the battery to make sure it indicates the battery is charging (higher than step 3 voltage). If I don't a get a warm fuzzy feeling about the alternator, take it to the dealer and have them test it.

6. Chalk it up to crappy original equipment part.
 
Wow oem Yuasas are usually the best batteries you can but. Even replacement Yuasas are not as good in my experience. When I order replacement batteries for my bike I insist they order by oem part number from mfg and not get them from an outside supplier.

Anyhow these new gel batteries have a distressing habit of just giving up totally without warning. Happened to me on my ST 1300 and to my son on his Fz-1. One day they are good, one day they got nothing. Fortunately both batteries died in our garages too instead of out on the road. many these days that tour just replace their batts every two years to avoid a battery break down on the road. Not me ( too frugal) and it will probably bite me in the butt someday. I tender mine whenever I am not riding and generally get 5 years out of a oem battery.
Btw I believe the oem battery has a one year ( maybe a 2 year) warranty. Check with your dealer.
 
Probably has a bad cell or two. Just a bad battery. I'm sure your charging system is fine, just check the output with the new battery should be above 14 at 5000RPM's.

Tendering a battery all winter will also dry up (fry) cells and cause this problem.
 
oops.. ignore this post, I just read more carefully that your external charger can't charge the battery. (I can't delete my post for some reason).

Another possibility is that the reg/rectifier has stopped working.. Check or have checked the voltage at the battery terminal when the engine is running and rev-ed. (My blackbird is sitting in the garage with a bad reg/rectifier.. ran the battery nearly flat before I caught it, luckily I found out at home and not on the road)
 
CIP57_imp said:
Probably has a bad cell or two. Just a bad battery. I'm sure your charging system is fine, just check the output with the new battery should be above 14 at 5000RPM's.

Tendering a battery all winter will also dry up (fry) cells and cause this problem.
Click to expand...

Not trying to start anything, but I disagree with this statement. My bikes are tendered not only all winter, but all year round. Every single day. When I climb off my bike after a ride, I plug it in before I even take my helmet off. Our 09 Majesty still has the original battery it's over 6 years old. My ST battery that died was over 5 years old when it died, had been tendered it's whole life. It's replacement has been tendered every day since new. My son's FZ-1 battery was 7 years old when it died and had been tendered every day. Both of my brothers bikes and his Miata are on tenders every day.

I think on the old juice batteries, the lead acid kind, if someone didn't watch the fluid levels in the cells and let one dry up, they would sulfate and that cell would die ruining the battery.
 
The ferret_imp said:
CIP57_imp said:
Probably has a bad cell or two. Just a bad battery. I'm sure your charging system is fine, just check the output with the new battery should be above 14 at 5000RPM's.

Tendering a battery all winter will also dry up (fry) cells and cause this problem.
Click to expand...

Not trying to start anything, but I disagree with this statement. My bikes are tendered not only all winter, but all year round. Every single day. When I climb off my bike after a ride, I plug it in before I even take my helmet off. Our 09 Majesty still has the original battery it's over 6 years old. My ST battery that died was over 5 years old when it died, had been tendered it's whole life. It's replacement has been tendered every day since new. My son's FZ-1 battery was 7 years old when it died and had been tendered every day. Both of my brothers bikes and his Miata are on tenders every day.

I think on the old juice batteries, the lead acid kind, if someone didn't watch the fluid levels in the cells and let one dry up, they would sulfate and that cell would die ruining the battery.
Click to expand...

Not trying to start anything, but I disagree with this statement. My bikes are tendered not only all winter, but all year round. Every single day. When I climb off my bike after a ride, I plug it in before I even take my helmet off. Our 09 Majesty still has the original battery it's over 6 years old. My ST battery that died was over 5 years old when it died, had been tendered it's whole life. It's replacement has been tendered every day since new. My son's FZ-1 battery was 7 years old when it died and had been tendered every day. Both of my brothers bikes and his Miata are on tenders every day.

I think on the old juice batteries, the lead acid kind, if someone didn't watch the fluid levels in the cells and let one dry up, they would sulfate and that cell would die ruining the battery.
Thats OK Mickey, i everyone though the same it would be a boring world:thumbsup:
 
The latest technology battery tenders are made to keep a battery charged without cooking them dry - for months at a time.

With all the electronic gadgetry, clocks, computer, etc, on a bike these days, plugging in if it's going to sit for a number of days or weeks is never a bad idea.

Longest (so far) that I've had a battery last has been eight years in my Goldwing and it was still good when I sold the bike.

:cool:
 
OK, you got my curiosity up ferret....what leads do you leave permanently attached to your battery to allow you to connect so easily and what charger do you use? Do you have the leads discretely tucked away somewhere and is it specially made for your charger or do you use alligator clips?
 
One of these comes with the tender and it makes plugging in the tender a 2 second operation.

 
Thread starter
As a follow up....I was able to get a small charge into the battery using a 12v wall wart charger. I got it up to 6 Volts. When I connected the Honda Optimate Charger, it kicked into charge mode. So the battery is charging now. If it goes into "complete" mode, then I guess I must have just left the key ON, but I would be surprised if that was the cause.

Stay tuned....
 
The ferret_imp said:
CIP57_imp said:
Probably has a bad cell or two. Just a bad battery. I'm sure your charging system is fine, just check the output with the new battery should be above 14 at 5000RPM's.

Tendering a battery all winter will also dry up (fry) cells and cause this problem.
Click to expand...

Not trying to start anything, but I disagree with this statement. My bikes are tendered not only all winter, but all year round. Every single day. When I climb off my bike after a ride, I plug it in before I even take my helmet off. Our 09 Majesty still has the original battery it's over 6 years old. My ST battery that died was over 5 years old when it died, had been tendered it's whole life. It's replacement has been tendered every day since new. My son's FZ-1 battery was 7 years old when it died and had been tendered every day. Both of my brothers bikes and his Miata are on tenders every day.

I think on the old juice batteries, the lead acid kind, if someone didn't watch the fluid levels in the cells and let one dry up, they would sulfate and that cell would die ruining the battery.
Click to expand...

Not trying to start anything, but I disagree with this statement. My bikes are tendered not only all winter, but all year round. Every single day. When I climb off my bike after a ride, I plug it in before I even take my helmet off. Our 09 Majesty still has the original battery it's over 6 years old. My ST battery that died was over 5 years old when it died, had been tendered it's whole life. It's replacement has been tendered every day since new. My son's FZ-1 battery was 7 years old when it died and had been tendered every day. Both of my brothers bikes and his Miata are on tenders every day.

I think on the old juice batteries, the lead acid kind, if someone didn't watch the fluid levels in the cells and let one dry up, they would sulfate and that cell would die ruining the battery.
I agree with Ferret,

I have five bikes including my wife’s, sometimes they sit for a while between rides. Most current production motorcycles draw a small amount of current even when completely shut off. So I keep all of them on a Battery Tender Plus year round. A battery tender is designed to be connected all the time and will not overcharge or cook a battery. Living in Northern Illinois my bikes usually sit idle at least four months a year but I still manage to get 5 -6 years out of a battery.

This may sound like a stupid suggestion but make sure the engine and pipes are cool enough before connecting the tender. Yes the insulation on the tender wires melt easily!

Also you can do everything right and still have a battery fail prematurely.
 
offroadfx4_imp said:
OK, you got my curiosity up ferret....what leads do you leave permanently attached to your battery to allow you to connect so easily and what charger do you use? Do you have the leads discretely tucked away somewhere and is it specially made for your charger or do you use alligator clips?
Click to expand...

Offroad..the plug that RandyB posted affixed to the battery posts and threaded out a hole in front of the right shock absorber as shown below on the CB1100. I use battery tender jrs.




Btw thats also a 12v power supply that runs either my electric vest or my gps as needed
 
Old trickle chargers would fry the battery as constant charge, but the newer tenders monitor the batter Ns shut off. Hanging when not required. Been using one for 24 years and am firm believer they extended battery life. My 3 bikes are on them when not being ridden.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk
 
Thanks! I'll have to get that set up before winter for sure. Speaking of winter...is there a thread about winterizing? Anything special that needs to be done?
 
meowguy_imp said:
As a follow up....I was able to get a small charge into the battery using a 12v wall wart charger. I got it up to 6 Volts. When I connected the Honda Optimate Charger, it kicked into charge mode. So the battery is charging now. If it goes into "complete" mode, then I guess I must have just left the key ON, but I would be surprised if that was the cause.

Stay tuned....
Click to expand...
Glad you were able to get some charge into the battery as one of the characteristics of the modern "smart" chargers is there needs to be sufficient voltage for the charger to detect connection and condition. There are 2 ways to go about this if your battery is that discharged, and the first one is what you've done:- initially use an old school charger that pumps out a consistent voltage / current , irrespective of battery voltage or condition to raise the voltage in the discharged battery sufficiently for the smart charger to operate (then disconnect the old charger and re-connect your smart charger), the other is to connect your smart charger and a slave battery to trick the smart charger into detecting the higher voltage (of the slave battery), and start the charging process. Then about 30 minutes later disconnect the slave battery and continue charging the discharged battery. (But make sure you turn the power off before disconnecting / re-connecting chargers / batteries). I'm not sure about the minimum voltage threshold that a smart charger needs to function but I think its around 5 Volts.
 
Thread starter
Who'd have thought a battery thread could be as much fun as an oil thread?
 
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