My battery was flat deadlast night. (Volt meter was reading 5.0) After recharging my battery over night I was able to get the bike to start. Will this make my battery weak from now on or is it just as good as before? I hate to get stuck some where with a dead battery.



07 road king
Thunder max
Big sucker a/c
Rush slip ons 2.0

 

Have let mine before get down on the '01 RKC - just put it on a SLOW CHARGE and it came back to life - started using a tender - changed it out after 5 years as a PM before a extended trip..

 

What caused the discharge? Keep in mind a battery can only be deep-cycled a limited number of times before it is indeed dead.

 

...exactly....what made it go dead?..you have an 07 right?...u leave the switch on?....

 

I have been rolling that question around in my mind for the last 24 hours. I think I left the run switch on, but I do not know if this will drain my battery. I got an idea, disconnect my ground and use a meter in between the ground cable and the battery ground. If current then I will pull one fuse at a time until no current exist. This will point me in the right direction. It did sit for one week but I have done this before many times.

 

Leaving the kill switch on wouldn't drain the battery as long as the ignition was off.

 

A deep cycle battery will tolerate a complete discharge.A standard battery is harmed when completely discharged.Once fully charged keep a Tender hooked when not riding.

 

I have done it three times so I hope not. I am bad about leaving ign. on if I don't have the radio playing when I stop. Tryed to push start it the first time. I don't recommend it!

 

Just slow chargethe battery back up to a full charge.Good idea to have a voltmeter and a good automatic charger.
Make sure you turn ignition off when done riding.If the battery keeps discharging then there is a problem.
What will make the battery weak is frequent discharges.

 

I have heard that a car battery that was run down quickly should be recharged quickly while one that was run down slowly should be recharged slowly. The small 18 AH batteries in Harleys probably wouldn't like a quick recharge so a battery tender might be the best way to go. Allowing a run down lead cell battery to stay that way for any period of time leaves lead sulfate on the plates that won't all go back to lead and sulfuric acid after a charge leading to a weaker or dead battery.I don't know what happens in some of the newer style batteries but I sure would find out what is causing the depletion. You will probably be OK if your battery just ran down once unless it is several years old.