Yesterday we were out all day and stopped at a place out in the country and i let the radio play for an hour. When i went to leave the battery was drained, not dead by not enough to crank it over. Gal came along in a jeep and i jumped it off a non-running jeep. Rode it home about 40 miles and it was fine. Put it on the tender all night and fires right up today. Battery is 31/2 years old.
I put my multimeter on it and when cranking it never went below 10.7 volts and is showing 12.7 when off and bike is charging fine. What is your opinion ? Good , bad, stay home ? and i know i will be replacing shortly but i'm going on a pretty long ride tomorrow and don't want to stay home.

 

It should be fine. I drained mine to the point the blinkers wouldn't work when my stator went, was amazed it still ran. Charged for 1 1/2 hour went back got bike started on trailer. Then when home charged a bit more it's doing fine still and I'm out of my country with. Might replace next spring mostly because me rider needs a battery and I'll put the interstate in it.

 

Just a few thoughts.
A trickle charger is not the best choice for a depleted battery. A real battery charger set to around a 2A charge rate for a few hours would be my choice.

Your voltage numbers sound fine.

If the bike is not starting hard then I wouldn't worry about it too much. Batteries tend to give a bit of advanced notice that they are getting weak. Having it not turn the bike over after an hour of radio play could be an indication of that but if your stereo system is modified, maybe not.

If you're really concerned get a LiIon booster pack, they're small and light and not real expensive, for the saddlebag so you won't be stranded waiting for a jump start.

 

I would have thought the bike could run the radio for an hour or so I'm taking this as an early warning sign of a failing battery, but i'm riding tomorrow. Deka big crank is in my future.

It took about 2 hours for the tender to go green when i got home and that's a good thing.

New big crank on the way as of 7pm tonight.

 

 

Sounds like a loose connection - battery to starter? That said, be mindful of over torqueing the connections, they strip easy!

 

How many amps is the sound system drawing?
simple math.

 

At 3 1/2 years You are close enough to a new battery that either putting a new one in now or at beginning of riding season for 2019 would be a good decision. It would be better to just get it done before you are out somewhere again and you get stranded again....just a thought.

 

Hopefully new battery will be here by Wednesday this week. I despise the idea of being broke down, but i'm riding it today with a set of cables in the tourpack.