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Last September while on a road trip from Tampa to Niagara Fall and on to Maine my battery failed unexpectingly in Saragota Springs at 7pm. Luckily my wife was with me and I could use her bike to get to a store and pick up a replacement.
On Sunday just gone I was riding across the mountains in Maryland on my way to a car show when my boom gts started flashing and went blank and my motor died, I thought WTF and then my bike came back to life and performed as normal.
I got to the car show at Camp Richie near Camp David and enjoyed the show but was concerned about if my bike was gonna start..... guess what.. it didn't, dead battery!
Luckily I carry a battery power pack (so far helped out 5 others bikers stranded with a dead battery) so hooked it up and fired my bike up, now I had the challenge of finding a store open on a Sunday afternoon where I could get a battery, I was on my own so no one to help out if I got stranded.
I pulled into a gas station and asked a guy where the nearest advance auto store was, he said I gotta go over the mountain and through the forest, said its a way away. So off I set trying to keep my revs high so the motor didn't die, to say I was worried is an understatement as I didn't know the area! Anyway after about 20 miles I managed to find the store and buy n fit a new battery ($180).
To say I wasn't happy is an understatement, I mean this battery was only 9 months old!
I ride my bike most days and if not then its on a tender, now Im thinking about getting a Lithium battery as I have heard they have better cranking power and longer lasting.
Has anyone fitted one, if so what one and your thoughts.
I know they are not recommended if you live/ride in a cold climate
I agree with checking all your battery cables and connections to make sure they are tight and have no corrosion, especially since your bike died and came back to life. This wouldn't happen if the battery was dead.
No mention of what type of battery was used first time and second time.
No mention of charging system test with digital voltage meter..voltage at rest, while cranking and then at high idle.
No mention if you have tested battery for a parasitic drain with a simple and cheap digital voltage meter.
No mention if you used the required spacers if your battery terminal is a side mount...spacers are brass colored and go between battery cable and terminal.
The spacers let cables rest flat on side of battery.....unfortunately they are often thrown away...cable gets loose and you get minimal charge or a no start situation due to bad contact.
Without the spacer use on aftermarket batteries the cables do not sit flat and become loose at terminals.
Batteries plus bulbs is a good source of batteries and their warranty is most times better but in an emergency the closest store with a battery wins.
AGM is generally the goto type of battery.
Lithium may not be your answer if you have a parasitic drain and bike is not ridden for periods of time.
Batteries do fail. Last year my buddies 1 year old harley battery failed, harley gave him another. I also had a truck battery about year old fail last year, they gave me another too. First ever in my life, I have been luck to get long life from most batteries.
As for lithium, for me, I don't think the price is worth it yet. I get 7 years out my battery, I am not in a hot area. So I just don't see the point of paying extra.
Some people say they start big engines or built engines better, that may be a reason.
I'd be curious how lithium is in hot weather, good or bad. That may help your choice
No mention of what type of battery was used first time and second time.
No mention of charging system test with digital voltage meter..voltage at rest, while cranking and then at high idle.
No mention if you have tested battery for a parasitic drain with a simple and cheap digital voltage meter.
No mention if you used the required spacers if your battery terminal is a side mount...spacers are brass colored and go between battery cable and terminal.
The spacers let cables rest flat on side of battery.....unfortunately they are often thrown away...cable gets loose and you get minimal charge or a no start situation due to bad contact.
Without the spacer use on aftermarket batteries the cables do not sit flat and become loose at terminals.
Batteries plus bulbs is a good source of batteries and their warranty is most times better but in an emergency the closest store with a battery wins.
AGM is generally the goto type of battery.
Lithium may not be your answer if you have a parasitic drain and bike is not ridden for periods of time.
Original battery lasted 4 years and replaced with a DIEHARD from an Advance Auto Store (I was stranded and desparate)
I had not tested the battery but bike was showing 14.3 volts all the time of riding
Cables was top mounted and tight, did not have any spacers.
I ride my literally every day and put serious miles on it, its 2019 RGS and I have over 52,000 miles on it and I was out of the country for 2 years so couldn't ride it
I will talk to a dealer today about doing a test of my charging system and for any unexpected drain.
I will talk to a dealer today about doing a test of my charging system and for any unexpected drain.
Not sure i would bother. Sometime when busy, don't tender, doesn't sound like you need to anyways. If it starts after being parked for few days or week, I would call it good.
You can buy DC clamp on. These new bikes are getting hard to get at battery to clamp, even before they went to BCM.
If bike starts after sitting, if you have a draw, not worth worrying about.
Maybe you just got a bad battery, very rare, but it happens. Plus the florida heat is hard on batteries.
This the battery I got, wished I had read the reviews on the Advance Auto Store website
, so many saying it lasted less than a year, guess I have wasted my money
Gonna see if I can return it.... fingers crossed!
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Bad Battery
