History:
Early December - Bike failed to start when stopped for gas. I attributed this to starting the bike 4 times and only driving about 3 miles. Jump started, rode home with 2 stops over 150 miles with no incident.
Week or 2 later - Had some warranty work done (heated grips and primary stuff). Service manager called me and asked if I had a problem with the radio, as it was working but the display was blank. He actually called before they started the work, tech noticed when he brought the bike in. Display was working when I dropped it off. Picked up the bike a few days later, went on a HOG lunch ride. Display was sporadic, might or might not come on with boot-up, and would eventually go off. On the way home, battery light came on and voltage was down. Turned all accessories off to get home. Put on charger.
Next day, called dealer and rode bike there. Voltage was low, then VM pegged for about a minute, moved to normal, then slowly dropped until I got to dealer (about 30 miles). Dealer replaced stator, said all was well. Bike sat for about a week or so, as I was traveling. When I picked up the bike, the battery was dead. Battery replaced under warranty - 2 year warranty had expired, but I dropped the bike off before that date, so it was covered.
All was well except for the radio for the next month or so - not a lot of riding due to weather and the holidays. (side note - I added a rear auxiliary to the radio, drilling a hole for the cable - thus voiding the warranty). Also, one of my aftermarket HID bulbs got the blinkies, then went dark entirely. It was the always burning low beam with 45K miles, so maybe it was time.
Went to start the bike after sitting for a week, and battery was DEAD. Charger would not charge, faulting out after a few minutes with a shorted cell fault. Jumped started the bike, as I really needed to ride to a memorial service (for the dealer service manager - that's another story). Charged OK, started several times without incident on the 100 mile ride. This was Thursday night.
Saturday, started the bike when I was moving stuff and bikes around in the garage, rode around the block for a quick recharge.
Monday morning, bike wouldn't start - battery shows 10 volts. Wouldn't charge for the same reason, according to my cheapo computerized charger.
Wednesday evening, got out finally to the garage. Battery shows 6 volts. Thought that problem could be drain in bike system, so pulled the battery to see if it would charge on it's own - no deal, same fault.
I'm taking the battery back to the dealer tomorrow.
What's the chance that the problem is only a defective battery? The Controls Engineer in my says that the problems with the radio, Battery, and HID are all related.
Opinions?
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Topic: Battery Failure? (Read 1356 times)