Battery Dead!

[AriGold]

I had my bike on a tender all winter and it won't start today.  The LED on the tender was a solid green.  Battery definitely does not have juice bc I can only hear the starter clicking faintly. The battery is about 2 years old.  I had no problems last year but our winter was short and I rode a few times. Tender works, tested on a friend's battery.  After one starting attempt the LED on the tender became red again and did not become a solid green for about 30 minutes. Friend of mine has the same bike (620ie) and doesn't use a tender all winter and just jump starts his bike once a year and is good to go. 

Another bit of detail - 2 years ago I bought the battery because I had my bike sitting for about 2 weeks without running and came back to a totally dead battery that wouldn't hold a charge.

-Do you think that there's something wrong with the electrical system on my bike that's draining the batteries while not in use?
-Did I get sold a defective battery?  They should last more than 2 years, I hope.  It is a Yuasa battery.

Thanks

[Düb Lüv]

well.
-do you have a way to fully charge your battery then have a load test done on it? i know its beating a dead horse

-do you have the tools to check your charging system? voltmeter to read the A/C charging volts from the stator and to test the voltage regulators diodes

this sounds like what i just dealt with on my father-in-laws atv. battery would hold a charge but couldn't hold the amps to crank the engine over. his battery was only 8 months old. bad voltage regulator that wasted the battery. don't let this distract you from your problem.

testing the charging system is very easy if your a do-it-yourselfer.

[Bishamon]

I had the same thing happen with my TT-R230 battery a couple of years back.  It was on a tender all winter, the battery tender was working and the light would indicate it was charging and would turn green, behaving as I would expect, but after the winter the battery needed to be replaced despite the green light.

[Howie]

The green light does not tell you battery health, it only tells you state of charge.  The battery needs to be charged and load tested.  If found bad, replace.  Then check the charging system on the bike.  Simple first.  Place volt meter across battery, start bike and raise speed to about 3000 RPM.  You should read 13.5 - 14.5 volts.  If not, further diagnosis is needed.

Leaving a battery on a battery tender all winter without monitoring it all winter is not a good idea.  The tender can go bonkers and overcharge, killing your battery.  Over night every couple of weeks is more than enough, even less frequent with an AGM battery

[CDawg]

It you are going to replace the battery, I've been using Li-Ion for two seasons and have been really happy with it.  My S4RS use to hesitate when starting; now it fires up like a champ!

[AriGold]

I charged the battery for a few minutes, then started the bike and took it for a 20 minute ride.  Turned off bike and it started right back up.

Came home and charged the battery again.  Multimeter read 13.10 Volts that the evening.  The next day I put it on the bike and checked the reading again, this time 12.5.  Turned the bike to ON position and reading dropped to 9.95V.  Click...click...click... bike won't start.  After I turned to OFF position battery slowly crept back to 11.85. 

- Battery is obviously bad, but what other tests can I perform with the multimeter?
- Should I be worrying about a parasitic draw?
- What could have caused this battery to only last 2 years even thought I keep it on a tender?

Will be buying a new battery and testing my charging system. 

[rule62]

FWIW - Any AGM battery I have ever gotten lasts about 2 years (with or without a tender) on my 620 and my 748. Check your ground wires to the frame and to the case. Most likely nothing wrong at all. I've never used a Li-Ion so I cannot comment on them. I just expect to pony up for a new battery every once in a while. I did get a little more life out of a YUASA once, but I just go fot the good ol' Batteries Plus 12B-BS nowadays.

[Howie]

I charged the battery for a few minutes, then started the bike and took it for a 20 minute ride.  Turned off bike and it started right back up.

Came home and charged the battery again.  Multimeter read 13.10 Volts that the evening.  The next day I put it on the bike and checked the reading again, this time 12.5.  Turned the bike to ON position and reading dropped to 9.95V.  Click...click...click... bike won't start.  After I turned to OFF position battery slowly crept back to 11.85. 

- Battery is obviously bad, but what other tests can I perform with the multimeter?
- Should I be worrying about a parasitic draw?
- What could have caused this battery to only last 2 years even thought I keep it on a tender?

Will be buying a new battery and testing my charging system. 

Parasitic draw test:
Disconnect negative battery cable.  Connect an ammeter with milliamp scale between the cable and terminal.  I have never seen a Ducati spec, but the general spec is less than 50 milliamps.  If you have carbie monster without an alarm, easier.  Place a test light between negative battey cable and the negative terminal.  Test light lights you have a draw.  Buy a new battery before future testing.  Charging system diagnosis with a bad battery is like pissing up a rope.

FWIW - Any AGM battery I have ever gotten lasts about 2 years (with or without a tender) on my 620 and my 748. Check your ground wires to the frame and to the case. Most likely nothing wrong at all. I've never used a Li-Ion so I cannot comment on them. I just expect to pony up for a new battery every once in a while. I did get a little more life out of a YUASA once, but I just go fot the good ol' Batteries Plus 12B-BS nowadays.

I just replaced the 8 year old Yuasa AGM in my bike.  It still started the bike well enough to fool many into thinking it was still good.

[CDawg]

- What could have caused this battery to only last 2 years even thought I keep it on a tender?

I had to replace batteries every two-ish years for the S4RS.  
I don't think it is actually the battery's fault.  With not data....I think my bike requires a lot of juice to start particularly as the bike is no longer fresh and new.  My guess is all the rotating parts thru normal wear and tear is just a bit less slippery and the S4RS needs the high voltage that you get from a brand new battery...Can you borrow a Li-Ion battery to try before buying a new battery?  Li-Ion hold more voltage than lead-acid and I think my bike like that.  Downside is excess voltage is dissipated as heat...

Like I said...no data backing my thought...just a guess.

BTW, what kind of Monster do you have?