My battery was dead this morning when I went to start my ride. So I rode the other bike. No biggee, but I am going to Vegas Bike Fest on Thursday and I need to make sure this is sorted out before I leave.

This battery has been in the bike for about 3 weeks, just since I got it back from having the tranny fixed. Right when I got the bike back my 6 month old battery died as I was about to leave the shop. Initially the power wire for my speakers was not connected properly so when I got home I had to fix it. I figured that was the issue.

So it is possible that I left the rebound switch for my shotgun shock in the up position as it does not make any noise in that position and this could have drained the bike. I don't remember where the switch was when I went out to the bike this morning. No idea. I had charged my other battery which I got in February this year and popped it in thsi afternoon. 12.48-12.5 volts. Not brand new but not dead at all. I started the bike and revved while checking the voltage and it was in spec telling me my charging system is working. I took apart my dash and went over all of my wires that connect my various add on's such as phone charger, air ride, speakers, etc. Everything looked fine but if there was something that made me scratch my head the slightest bit I rewired it, electrical taped it, or altered it in some other way to ensure it was right.

I am going to wait until the morning and see what the voltage is on the battery and take it from there. I figured a bad ground or a chafed wire somewhere. the last thing I installed was the phone charger before the air ride. It has a very low draw.

Has anyone else had this issue, and if so what was the problem and solution?

The last battery in my bike lasted 5 years as I ride my bike at the very least 1 time a week. I don't use a tender as it has never been necessary.

Thanks!

Drew

 

Drew, what was the voltage of the battery you removed this afternoon?

 

11. something. Completely dead. It figures the first response is from the first person I talked to about this problem. LOL.

Drew

 

Sometimes thats the way things turn out.

I was pondering the idea your starter might be telling you its getting ready to puke, but with that low of voltage, I'll worry about that on a later date.

 

I'll have to just tell myself I left the switch on the shotgun on all night. That would do it too.

 

Suggest you get an AMP meter, and verify if and where the "leak" is. You can check individual leads for current.

What also may be the case is that your charger system can not keep up with the drain even with the engine running.

 

Shouldn't that go through the ignition switch,so that when you turn off the bike there is no possibility of power drain...that's how I would wire it.

 

This is what I would probably lean toward too. Speakers, air ride, phone charger, I am betting it just can't keep up....

 

Yeah, that was my thought too. I can wire the air ride through the ignition quite easily. We'll see if I have time to do that before I leave on the trip.

I'm going to check the battery charge in a few minutes here and see what the voltage is and that will tell me if I need to do more searching or not.

 

hey maybe a defective battery. it can happen