Battery issues

[gasdude69]

Hello all . . . recently got my 2003 VTX 1800 via Ebay . . . very happy with it, except I got it in October, so haven't had a hell of a lot of decent weather to ride it in yet! I've been keeping it inside all winter, but whenever I go to try and start it and let it run for a while, the battery is dead. I've been jumping it with a battery charger and letting it run, or biting the bullet and going for a ride in the cold to try and charge it up again. I let it sit for only 3-4 days last time and went to try and start it again . . . no dice. Think my battery has died already? Only 1600 miles on the bike, but it probably sat a lot at the dealership I bought it from . . . does this sound reasonable? Or is there something on an 1800C that is constantly on and draining the battery? Any help appreciated . . . as well as suggestions for the best place to purchase a new battery? Thanks!!!! Looking forward to spring!!!!!!

[Blue]

The battery is junk. They can go anytime, I had to replace mine 2 weeks after I took it off the showroom floor. A lot of these batteries can have internal shorts or bad cells. They actually will check good on a volt meter, but a load meter will show there's a problem. Sadly most mechanics I've encountered have no idea what a load meter is, and those that do don't have one. ... Short story is get a new battery.

[resiurcdnal]

At an idle, your bike is actually draining the battery. You may as well just turn the key on and let the bike set there with the lights and fuel pump on. It does about the same amount of good. The only way to know if the batery is junk or not is to completely charge it and put it on a load tester. As a side note, a partially charged batery will go bad quickly due to corosion. A batery tender is the only way to go when storing a bike due to the weak charging system. By the way, I've had my bike since 2002 and the original batery is still good (so far). JMHO

[Lupus Yonderboy]

I'm about to replace my original in the '03 Retro, 28k miles. I recently let it sit for two weeks (rare) and for the first time in its life it took two hits on the button to get it to fire up. I ride mine all year here in FL, as well. I'd buy a Sears model 200.71220 charger/maintainer or the equivalent is available at Wal Mart for about $10 less. $30 at Sears.

Bob

[VTXnVa]

Battery life varies wildly, as you may have seen already. If you are not going to ride it thru the winter, then I suggest the following; put Stabil or Sea Foam in the fuel and run it until you are sure it's all the way thru the fuel system, park it on a lift, let some air out of the tires, put a battery tender on it, cover it, and dont start it till spring. You are doing more harm than good by starting it occasionally, if you dont ride it, you wont get it hot enough to evaporate the condensation that builds in the headers. Not good. And yes the odo, etc, is a parasitic drain on the battery, though not much, but could be enough to drain a marginal battery.

[VTX Candy Red]

Its still going strong. I forgot and left the speakers on for about two weeks and killed it DEAD. Pulled it and charged and its going good. So far. I think I'll replace it this season though. Nothing like having a dead battery to "start" your day. :icon_tett

[RDaneel]

Its still going strong. I forgot and left the speakers on for about two weeks and killed it DEAD. Pulled it and charged and its going good. So far. I think I'll replace it this season though. Nothing like having a dead battery to "start" your day. :icon_tett

It's been my experience that when you discharge a battery to that level, it seldom comes back to full charge or capacity. There are batteries that can take that kind of discharge (golf cart batteries for example) but you're on the down side of battery life and as we all know

you can't kickstart/pushstart a VTX

While you're looking for a battery at a good price you might want to consider wiring your sound system to either turn off when the key's off (bad choice) or have some kind of indicator to remind you that it's still on.

Just my 0.02 worth