Dead Battery???

G

Garetty

New member
Have had the 109 parked for 2 weeks and went to fire her up yesterday and the battery is dead.......

My Shadow last year was parked most of the winter and we rode it about once a month and I never had any problems with that battery.

Weird
 
Would suggest putting the battery on gharge and trying again.
I have one question, How old is the battery, I have been told in the past that batteries only have an average life span of 2 years. How true this is I can not vouch for but i have noticed after about 18months all the batteries i have had start to lose there staying power especialy in cold weather.
 
Just charge the battery up.

Do you have an alarm fitted as they can drain a battery in a couple of weeks if the bike is not used daily.
 
I've got underglow lights which are run to a toggle switch off the aux battery connection so they're not directly run from the battery.
Same with a communicator - not constant draw either.......

Yeah, guess I'll boost the battery, take her out for a spin or something and let it charge up.
I don't have a battery charger tho. Never needed one yet
 
Normal riding may not give it a full charge; that might take a couple of hundred miles on the highway.

Every bike rider needs some kind of battery charger; some just don't know it yet !! :mrgreen:

With a bike that new, I would SERIOUSLY consider a visit to the dealer........just incase there really IS something wrong.
 
does it have a clock on it that would make a constant draw? My c50 does. Although it would not drain enough not to start after two weeks. Maybe if you run your lights a lot while riding you're not fully charging the battery.
 
Something is wrong- the battery should not go dead from just sitting for 2 weeks. 2-3 months, maybe, but not two weeks. Something is using power when the key is off, or the battery is low on water, or the battery was not properly charged, or you are taking too many very short trips around town that do not keep the battery charged- the stator puts out very little power at low RPM.
 
My avg trip is 400-500km.
No short trips.

I'm gonna get a charger and try that and still make a call to the dealer.
The fact that the communicators and lighting are not wired directly to the battery and instead wired to the aux should not drain anything.
Unless the communicators are drawing via the aux.
 
Don,
I would look and see if that aux. is on all the time or if it is off with the key.
Alot of electronic add-ons will still have a small draw on the battery even when they are turned off. Even the bikes own Fuel injection controller probably has a small parisitic draw. You may need to invest in some kind of battery charger to keep it charged up when you won't be riding within a few days.
The easiest way to check for a draw in to unhook the ground cable and check between the cable and the neg post on the battery with a test light. If it glows there is a draw. Some will glow for a second and then go dim and this is common with computers and that is ok. If it stays lit then disconnet accessories and see if it goes out to find the culprit.
J.D.
 
I think I know what you mean but you have said this twice now........and the WAY you said it makes me think there might be some confusion somewhere.

The above is true IF the aux. connection is switched; that is, OFF when the ignition is OFF; it won't draw anything......when OFF. It will draw power from the battery, as needed, when ON........or maybe when the ignition is off if the aux. is not switched like you think it is.

As for parasitic power drains: If the device is REALLY off, that is, disconnected from the battery, then there can not be any power drain.
Fuel pumps, for instance, don't have a phantom partly-off state. :cool:
 
Picked up a trickle charger and charged for 2 hrs.
Bike started, let it idle in driveway for 45 mins and then took it out for a scoot to test out the new TRE and get fuel
Everything IS working, battery is back to a full charge, but I think I'll keep the bike hooked to the trickle charger every couple of weeks.
Thankfully the charger came with a hookup to keep wired to the battery with a quick connect, so it's an easier hookup than having to take the seat off every time.
The charger has an auto cycle that turns the unit off once the battery's charged.

I'm thinking you're right, that since the aux unit does not have a switch, there will still be a steady draw from the communicator - so better to keep the battery charged than taking chances - especially as it gets colder.

Thanks all for the help.
 
Hi Loki, was it possible that you might have accidentally left the park light on?

I'm not sure how how ignition works on the C, but on my brothers M109 it's possible to turn the key too far back when taking out the key from the ignition. This will leave your rear light on thus drain your battery. Just a thought.
 
+1..I've done that a couple of times with this new bike..Never drained the battery thankfully..Now I'm paranoid enough to go out and check it if I don't remember turning the key forward :)..
 
OK, so you have an easy "fix" by using a battery tender but........
I think the real long term solution is to find the OFF switch for the comm. or add one. Not really good to leave it HOT all the time anyway.

Think camping in the woods; several days with only short rides; DEAD BATTERY!!
 
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