New battery required

[v8guy]

Today I took her out for a quick spin, after again having to jump start in the drive... This is after a period of only two weeks since I last had to do the same, which was only three weeks after ceasing to use her every day for a 50 mile round trip. Couldn't help but notice that this time the battery was totally flat, and when up and running all the lights were flickering like crazy. I figured a spin would help get some juice back in...

... 3 miles later, I find myself on the hard shoulder of the M3 waiting for a RAC dude. (Let's not go there about the lunacy of putting the effing hazards right next to the kill switch! ) After he'd had the multimeter on it, he declared my reg/rec fine but the battery totally hosed.

Bike's 2.5 years old, and has approx 11,000 miles on it. To me, this seems like a premature failure. Does that sound fair, or am I just too used to my indestructible TDM?

[Skids]

That does sound a little early.

[Notgotone]

Get this a lot with modern batteries once down gone forever

[stubax]

I always hook battery up to an Optimate when not using bike for a week or more, doing this I have had battery's last 8 years with no probs.

[v8guy]

Originally Posted by Notgotone

Get this a lot with modern batteries once down gone forever

Good to know, cheers! 

Originally Posted by stubax

I always hook battery up to an Optimate when not using bike for a week or more, doing this I have had battery's last 8 years with no probs.

Ahh, the luxury of being able to park in a dry place with power!

I think I'm going to have to get into the habit of disconnecting the battery as my usage will be irregular, for the time being. Meh.

[v8guy]

New battery acquired.. christ, these ones aren't cheap!

I'm looking into fitting a battery cut-off switch like the one I fitted to my MGB years ago.. but I'd like it to live under the pillion seat, for tool-free access, so it'll need some longer cabling and I'll have to find somewhere to mount it. Any recommendations for one suitably tiny for under-seat placement welcome!

[Notgotone]

mmm not sure about that one, would it not mean resetting the dash everytime you isolate the battery can't see that it would be worth it as in theory once all the ecu's have gone to sleep there would be hardly any current draw. Just to give you a sense of balance my battery also went 2.5 years old and 7k they did have to jump it a the dealers when I test rode it then slowly over a period of weeks it would not start sometimes when hot then recover a bit later on in the day and start ok so I put a new battery on it no problems since.

[SFC1000]

I have a Ctek battery monitor (green, yellow red indicator lights) on my bike and if I use my Optimate charger, until it says the battery is fully charged, I can leave the bike for about a week before the indicator starts to flash yellow.
If I use my Ctek charger, until it says the battery is fully charged, I can leave the bike for about two weeks before the indicator starts to flash yellow.
The bike is fitted with a alarm and always starts first time, with the yellow light flashing (I have not tried it with the red light flashing).
It seems that the Ctek charger is charging the battery to a higher level than the Optimate.
It is only since obtaining a Ctek that I have noticed a difference. The Optimate always seemed to work perfectly well.
Has anyone experienced anything similar?
Is my Optimate not doing its job properly or is it just that the Ctek is a better charger?

[v8guy]

Originally Posted by Notgotone

mmm not sure about that one, would it not mean resetting the dash everytime you isolate the battery can't see that it would be worth it as in theory once all the ecu's have gone to sleep there would be hardly any current draw.

Hmm, yeah.. I had thought along similar lines. The HISS system surely cannot draw much current.

Originally Posted by Notgotone

Just to give you a sense of balance my battery also went 2.5 years old and 7k they did have to jump it a the dealers when I test rode it then slowly over a period of weeks it would not start sometimes when hot then recover a bit later on in the day and start ok so I put a new battery on it no problems since.

Touch wood! So maybe my battery was just half-knackered, and the irregular usage finished it off? How often are you using it now?

ATM, I have no regular usage in mind as I'll be primarily working at home for the foreseeable future, so I'm kinda wary of leaving it for potentially weeks on end again. Whilst I do use it to occasionally go to the shops, mostly I prefer to use my bicycle.. and I rarely use it at the weekend. Maybe it's best to disconnect at the terminal each time, and when that becomes a pain in the ass I'll look into a cut-off switch. 

[Notgotone]

As this years tour is done and dusted its now only my weekly commute a lowly 6 mls a day with the odd extended run home to fully warm up the engine and charge the battery, two oil changes a year and filter every second change to look after the internals, keep an eye on the battery voltage anything under 12.5 consider a run to top it up or remove and trickle charge there are some very clever chargers out there these days but expensive my new battery was £43.00. Do you have secure parking could a solar trickle charger work for you, I have also recently seen small battery packs that can be used for jump starting cars and charging phones etc perhaps one of those under the saddle and connected to boost the battery overnight once a month would help.