Battery Woes

[WildeKurt]

Well, I did it again.  Drained another battery.  First time I left the key in the park position by mistake (I don't know why that even exists) and this last time, I left the GPS on.  In both cases, when I tried to charge the battery, the 'Trouble' light comes on which I suppose indicates a bad battery.  This seems pretty incredible that a battery can only take one discharge before becoming useless.  This second time, it wasn't even fully discharged!  'Course, maybe it's my charger but I have charged a full size car battery with it without problems.  It's a 1.5a trickle charger.  Think I should put a larger charger on it?  I hava a 5/10 amp one somewhere.



I was able to get enough of a charge on it yesterday to start the bike.  The engine warning light sayed on.  Do you suppose this is just reflective of the low battery?  The owners manual is a little vague.



Anyone try an AGV battery?  I believe Westo makes one that fits the Tiger.  Apparently AGV types don't discharge as rapidly as standard or gel type batteries and don't require a special charging regime like gel types.  I saw the Westco battery advertised on the internet for the same price as the stock Yuasa.



Kurt

[abell]

>The engine warning light sayed on



After a problem has lit it up, it will take 3 heat cycles to go out - or so I believe and my experiences have verified same.

[Dick Boyer]

Once a battery has gone flat, it is pretty well finished or so I've seen on TV. It will sometimes come back a little but never to its original glory. You may need to spring for a new one.

[ArizonaKid]

Yuosa (or however you  spell it) makes excellent batteries and the one that fits the Tiger is the same as the the one for the Honda ST1100 and the Valkarie (probably others as well). They should be common enough that you can find one at just about any MC dealer. One of the local Triumph dealers sells them here as well.

[WildeKurt]

The last one I bought from the dealer 'cuz I was desperate.  This time I guess I'll try another source.  May go with one of these Wesco AVG types.



Kurt

[newmanr19]

Well, I did it again.  Drained another battery.  First time I left the key in the park position by mistake (I don't know why that even exists) and this last time, I left the GPS on.  In both cases, when I tried to charge the battery, the 'Trouble' light comes on which I suppose indicates a bad battery.  This seems pretty incredible that a battery can only take one discharge before becoming useless.  This second time, it wasn't even fully discharged!  'Course, maybe it's my charger but I have charged a full size car battery with it without problems.  It's a 1.5a trickle charger.  Think I should put a larger charger on it?  I hava a 5/10 amp one somewhere.



I was able to get enough of a charge on it yesterday to start the bike.  The engine warning light sayed on.  Do you suppose this is just reflective of the low battery?  The owners manual is a little vague.



Anyone try an AGV battery?  I believe Westo makes one that fits the Tiger.  Apparently AGV types don't discharge as rapidly as standard or gel type batteries and don't require a special charging regime like gel types.  I saw the Westco battery advertised on the internet for the same price as the stock Yuasa.



Kurt

I put in a relay for my GPS as it has a built in charger and it continues to suck juice from the battery even when the GPS is off. With a relay you can plug in to a switched power source and the GPS power will only be hot when the bike is on.