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Author Topic: BATTERY - to disconnect or not?  (Read 5165 times)

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Indenial

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Re: BATTERY - to disconnect or not?
« Reply #15 on: July 23, 2011, 03:33:45 PM »

Have an 09 and this spring after several rides the battery went dead. had to replace it for $185.00. Dealer said that even though the battery tender was hooked up all winter, the CVO security system will drain the battery. He said to disconnect the battery in the winter, take it out, and then hook it to a BT.  Anyone else heard of this?
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Fired00d

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Re: BATTERY - to disconnect or not?
« Reply #16 on: July 23, 2011, 03:38:28 PM »

Have an 09 and this spring after several rides the battery went dead. had to replace it for $185.00. Dealer said that even though the battery tender was hooked up all winter, the CVO security system will drain the battery. He said to disconnect the battery in the winter, take it out, and then hook it to a BT.  Anyone else heard of this?
I call BS on that. The battery tender is designed to maintain the battery at full charge... when it drops naturally or from items/systems on the bike discharging the battery the battery tender will come on and charge it back up... I see no difference in this happening when the battery is on the bike or whether it's off the bike... either way over time the same thing is going to happen... battery will loose some of it's charge... BT comes on and charges it back. :nixweiss:

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spydglide

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Re: BATTERY - to disconnect or not?
« Reply #17 on: July 23, 2011, 03:39:21 PM »

No.  If that were truly the case, the owners manual that came with your bike should clearly give you that 'warning'.  spyder
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Chains

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Re: BATTERY - to disconnect or not?
« Reply #18 on: July 23, 2011, 03:39:58 PM »

Both bikes hooked to battery tender 100% when not in use.  Batteries over 2 years old and have never failed to start.  I would leave it hooked up.
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Re: BATTERY - to disconnect or not?
« Reply #19 on: July 23, 2011, 04:49:17 PM »

Have an 09 and this spring after several rides the battery went dead. had to replace it for $185.00. Dealer said that even though the battery tender was hooked up all winter, the CVO security system will drain the battery. He said to disconnect the battery in the winter, take it out, and then hook it to a BT.  Anyone else heard of this?

I assume when you say the dealer, you mean the doofus behind the parts counter.  Please be aware that many dealership parts guys are just as clueless as the sales people and the service writer's.  Brains are not required to work there, much less a technical degree.

If you buy the service manuals for your bike you will find a chart that lists all the various current draws for the "always on" items like the radio memory, security system, etc.  Add them all up (they are in milliamps), and you will find that the draw is much less than the output of a Battery Tender.  What he told you is pure BS, meant to try to make you think the early failure of your battery was somehow your fault and not the fault of the part.  Assuming your bike was purchased early in the 2009 model year, it can't be quite 3 years old yet.  That is definitely on the low side of normal for an AGM battery, but it's not unheard of for them to fail at 3 years.  Hopefully the replacement will go a lot longer and everything will average out.

When you park it for the winter, make sure the connections are all clean and tight and just hook up the BT.  I've been doing it that way for more years than I care to remember, with an unheated garage, and my AGM batteries have lasted 6 years on average.  Btw, if the bike was pulling more power than the BT could supply, the light would never turn green.


Jerry
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Indenial

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Re: BATTERY - to disconnect or not?
« Reply #20 on: August 19, 2011, 02:43:01 PM »

Btw, if the bike was pulling more power than the BT could supply, the light would never turn green.

Good point. The service manager is an idiot.
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Cosmic Charlie

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Re: BATTERY - to disconnect or not?
« Reply #21 on: August 19, 2011, 03:40:04 PM »

Using a GFCI ... plugging the BT into a GFCI is just one more level of protection, though not 100 %

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