Battery Life

[gazoo]

Was just wondering what you all have seen for average battery life on your Tigers.

I've been keeping mine on a battery tender.  Went out for a few hours yesterday and it started fine each time I stopped.  Didn't hook it up to the tender last night and went out again today.  A couple of times later in the day it was kind of sluggish when turning it over, almost to the point of not being able to start.

Bike is an 05 with the original battery in it.  Wonder if its time for a replacement, if I may have other issues, or if I'm just putting too much load on it (Hella ff50 lights, Sirius radio, GPS) and not turning them off long enough before I stop for the battery to get a good charge.

-gaz

[JasonS]

As I recently learned, before mounting any lights, is that Yes, the Hella's are likely draining your battery.. I ran 350 miles with heated grips and an electric vest running today, visiting Mustang, and if I didn't keep it above 4000 rpms I could feel the vest get less warm, and when it was over 5000 I could feel it really put out the heat.....  do a search here and you will find a plethora of info on the electricals...

Was just wondering what you all have seen for average battery life on your Tigers.

I've been keeping mine on a battery tender.  Went out for a few hours yesterday and it started fine each time I stopped.  Didn't hook it up to the tender last night and went out again today.  A couple of times later in the day it was kind of sluggish when turning it over, almost to the point of not being able to start.

Bike is an 05 with the original battery in it.  Wonder if its time for a replacement, if I may have other issues, or if I'm just putting too much load on it (Hella ff50 lights, Sirius radio, GPS) and not turning them off long enough before I stop for the battery to get a good charge.

-gaz

[gazoo]

Thanks for the input, Jason.

I'm planning on doing Sasquatch's upgrade, as well as adding a voltmeter and a fuseblock (most likely Fuzeblock FZ-1) in the near future.

Maybe I just shouldn't run the extra lights until that's all done (at least if I'm not keeping the RPMs up)...   :lol:  I knew they were adding extra load, but didn't think it was that bad.

Beyond that, is there a "best practices" time when you should replace the factory battery?

[JasonS]

Thanks for the input, Jason.

I'm planning on doing Sasquatch's upgrade, as well as adding a voltmeter and a fuseblock (most likely Fuzeblock FZ-1) in the near future.

Maybe I just shouldn't run the extra lights until that's all done (at least if I'm not keeping the RPMs up)...   :lol:  I knew they were adding extra load, but didn't think it was that bad.

Beyond that, is there a "best practices" time when you should replace the factory battery?

I dont; have enough experience myself.. but from all that I read, here and on ADVrider etc etc.. avg seems to be 3/4 years but it also seems to depend on blind friggen luck or, those that care for their battery well get a long life...

[gatorwesty]

my 2001 has an original battery and 34000 miles. I think I will change it this summer just for the hell of it so I dont get stranded somewhere. It has no issues though so maybe I wont........ The last year or so I have kept it on a battery tender but not before that. I dont run any accessories and I live in Florida so that makes a difference.