Battery on 2011 RT won't hold a charge

[RGVSpyderGirl]

Have had to jump start my battery three times in the last month. Took it in to dealer yesterday. Battery was only at 48%. Not enough to start engine. They put it on charger until it was fully charged. I drove 6 miles home. Less that 24 hours later, I put a Battery Tender on it. According to lights on tender, it had gone from fully charged to less than 80% charged just sitting in the garage overnight. Took 2 hours to get to over 80% and another hour to get to fully charged again. This is a brand new bike -- 395 miles. Just got my license yesterday so have been limited in how much I could ride. But jeez! What is draining my battery? The manual says to put it on a trickle charger if it sits for more than a month. Mine has never sit more than a week. Do I need to insist on a new battery or is something else wrong?

[boborgera]

Have had to jump start my battery three times in the last month. Took it in to dealer yesterday. Battery was only at 48%. Not enough to start engine. They put it on charger until it was fully charged. I drove 6 miles home. Less that 24 hours later, I put a Battery Tender on it. According to lights on tender, it had gone from fully charged to less than 80% charged just sitting in the garage overnight. Took 2 hours to get to over 80% and another hour to get to fully charged again. This is a brand new bike -- 395 miles. Just got my license yesterday so have been limited in how much I could ride. But jeez! What is draining my battery? The manual says to put it on a trickle charger if it sits for more than a month. Mine has never sit more than a week. Do I need to insist on a new battery or is something else wrong?

You need a new battery. I'm going to bet that if the battery terminals are tight you have a bad cell.
Ask them for a new one under warranty.

[AMTJIM]

Did they bother to check if the charging funtion is working? I'm suprised they dismissed you so quickly, there is a probem beyond a charge at the shop. I take it you rode it to the shop, the battery should have been near 100% coming in off a ride. If you are familiar with a volt meter and the battery location, compare the voltage before and after you have it running. Should obviously be about 12V before it's running and 14~16 while it's running to prove the charging system is reaching the battery.

[Dudley]

Too many times I have read where a dealer seems to brush off a Spyder owner. My guess here:

1. As was posted, bad cell.
2. Possible malfunctioning charging system (highly unlikely, but still probable)
3. Something is draining your battery when the Spyder is turned off (most likely cause). That will take some investigative work on the dealer's part.
4. Loose battery cables are always a probable. Many times what seems tight is not tight enough for a battery connection. The cables need to be TIGHT!

Another thought...I don't know of any dealer that charges the battery to full charge before turning over a new Spyder to a new owner. So, with the few miles you have over the month you have owned it, the Spyder probably never has been ridden for a long period of time, thereby never reaching full charge. Couple that with loose battery cables and the charge will never complete. The dealer charging the battery will not be affected by the loose cables, only when you try and charge it as you ride. After the dealer charged the battery and you rode it, the lights, etc., drained it again and if the cables are loose, it never charged up. So, my final guess, loose battery cables.

[clueless]

I would vote for lose battery connections

[boborgera]

Another thought...I don't know of any dealer that charges the battery to full charge before turning over a new Spyder to a new owner. .

Also, Anyone Dealer, Mechanic, or Owner that puts a new battery in any Vehicle should make Sure it's Fully charged.
With out doing that the battery will never last as long as one that has been fully charged before it's first use.

[RGVSpyderGirl]

Printed out your comments and went back to talk to service people this afternoon. Said they did test it with a load, checked for a bad cell, and checked cable connections. Need me to bring it in and leave it to test what is bringing battery down when it's just sitting. Thank you for helping to make me sound like I know what I'm talking about so they will not just brush me off. Will let you know the outcome.

[JoanJenn]

I have the same problem and they tell me to use a battery tender--- I cannot understand that a new bike of this price and reputation can;;t even hold a charge????? I have had it to place and did have a loose wire once but not now and rode 2000 mi then stopped a week and it would barely turn and still is not charging and holding.

I have written dealer on EM and they haven;t time to reply I guess- maybe they will.

Very annoying!!!!! Joan new RT rider 2011

[boborgera]

I have the same problem and they tell me to use a battery tender--- I cannot understand that a new bike of this price and reputation can;;t even hold a charge????? I have had it to place and did have a loose wire once but not now and rode 2000 mi then stopped a week and it would barely turn and still is not charging and holding.

I have written dealer on EM and they haven;t time to reply I guess- maybe they will.

Very annoying!!!!! Joan new RT rider 2011

It's beginning to look like quite a few dealers don't know how to tighten battery terminals or Brp's got a batch of bad batteries.
You should be able to leave your Spyder sitting for weeks [months] with out starting and not have a problem with a new battery.
It's too easy for them to say put it on a tender instead of fixing it .
My battery is 3 years old and never been on a tender. If you need to use a tender on a relatively new battery something is wrong.

[AMTJIM]

I hope they do find it, whether it's a quirky Gel Cell or just a loose connection.

[Bootie]

I agree, you need a new battery. One or two cells are bad.

[Bob Denman]

Maybe I'm just too new to these Spyders; Are any other bike manufacturers having such awful troubles with bad cells in their batteries? It seems that BRP is buying an awful lot of replacements for folks with "long faces"...

[johnnyg]

Another thing you might want to try is charge the battery over night with out being hooked up to the see if holds a charge. If it doesn't you have a bad cell. I had a battery in my semi drain all four batteries because of a bad cell. I found out which battery it was and replaced it and now it works fine. When companies like BRP or Ford, ect, ect buy batteries by bulk, so its possible to get a bad one every now and then. This is just away you can check it yourself so you know what it is before you take it to them. If it holds the charge the battery is good. Something else is draining it from the. The dealer will have to find it. It should be under warrenty. Good luck

[Mr. White]

Okay, here is my .02. I watched the techs uncrate my RT. As I recall, the battery was already installed in the Spyder. I know they tightened and checked "things" as they put it together. I did not see them tighten the battery cables, but I have had no "battery problems" since getting BR1. I have 3,100 on BR1 and will be taking him in next week for his 3k oil/filter change and will ask them what their battery procedure is.

When I got home with BR1, as I do with any new battery, I charged it @ 1.5 amps for 24 hours to bring it up to 100%. I understand that the Spyder electrical system will not bring a battery up to 100% by riding alone.

For whatever reason, I have found m/c battery connections vibrate loose and require tightening (checking) about every six months or so. My Gold Wing is bad about this and always needs a little tightening when I check it.

[ARtraveler]

Sounds like the posts above have you covered. Let us know when they solve your problem.

[ufoman]

I have a 2011 RTS SES and I was having exactly the same sort of problem that you were having with your trike. When I picked up my bike and they put on all the accessories they had to jumpstarted so I could take it home with me. And then when I went back to have some more accessories put on the bike the same thing happen. Then it would start to be very difficult for me to start even at home and finally it just wouldn't start anymore. I put a charger on the battery and it read 80% but yet it still would not start the bike. Took it back to the dealer and they did a complete check out and it turned out that it was the battery's problem it just wanted put out the amps even though it said it had an 80% charge in it. So they replaced the battery and everything has been going along good. No more trouble starting my spider.

[spyderrock]

on my 2011 rt limited it was stalling in traffic 6 times in one day, the roadster had about 500km on it. Brought it in to Martin Motor Sports here in Edmonton and no questions asked they replaced the battery. It is of no cost to the dealer, it is a warranty problem and can result in serious consequences as mine stalled in traffic in a 80km or 50m per hour zone I was nearly rear ended. The bike has been running fine ever since the replacement. You should demand a new battery....remember squeaky wheel gets the grease good luck

[wukka]

Okay, here is my .02. I watched the techs uncrate my RT. As I recall, the battery was already installed in the Spyder. I know they tightened and checked "things" as they put it together. I did not see them tighten the battery cables, but I have had no "battery problems" since getting BR1. I have 3,100 on BR1 and will be taking him in next week for his 3k oil/filter change and will ask them what their battery procedure is.

When I got home with BR1, as I do with any new battery, I charged it @ 1.5 amps for 24 hours to bring it up to 100%. I understand that the Spyder electrical system will not bring a battery up to 100% by riding alone.

For whatever reason, I have found m/c battery connections vibrate loose and require tightening (checking) about every six months or so. My Gold Wing is bad about this and always needs a little tightening when I check it.

+1

The battery terminals do become loose and require regular tightening unless you add a lockwasher or apply threadlock.

[RGVSpyderGirl]

Dealer has had my Spyder since Monday doing all kinds of tests to see why battery wouldn't hold a charge. Finally determined the battery was in fact bad and they gave me a new battery. Even though I thought there was a 6 month warranty on the battery, BRP said no but dealer warranteed it himself since my Spyder is brand new even though I didn't buy my Spyder from this dealer. Glad to know they will take care of me since I will be getting all my service there. I'm happy now. Have to put 200 more miles on it so I can take it in for the 600 mile check. Thank you all for helping me hold my own and not let them convince me a brand new bike needed to be hooked up to a battery tender every night. NOT!

[NancysToy]

Dealer has had my Spyder since Monday doing all kinds of tests to see why battery wouldn't hold a charge. Finally determined the battery was in fact bad and they gave me a new battery. Even though I thought there was a 6 month warranty on the battery, BRP said no but dealer warranteed it himself since my Spyder is brand new even though I didn't buy my Spyder from this dealer. Glad to know they will take care of me since I will be getting all my service there. I'm happy now. Have to put 200 more miles on it so I can take it in for the 600 mile check. Thank you all for helping me hold my own and not let them convince me a brand new bike needed to be hooked up to a battery tender every night. NOT!

The battery is, indeed, warrantied for six months. Kudos to the dealer for stepping up to the plate. I hope they can appeal and get BRP to pay the costs. Good dealers need to be taken good care of.

[GeoffCee]

I understand that the Spyder electrical system will not bring a battery up to 100% by riding alone.

As a matter of routine I use my C-Tech battery charger/monitor whenever I've been out on the RT. I have great faith in the C-Tech, it kept a gel battery alive on my BeeEmm R1150RT for 9 years before I sold it. As I plug it into the Spyder it shows a green light almost immediately, (battery fully charged). I'd be worried if it didn't, except for my sat-nav and Autocom I have nothing additional using my RT's electrical system.

I've always assumed a vehicle's charging system would keep its battery fully charged. Lamonster will know, he has described installing two batteries on one of his machines, (an RT I think), so the Spyder's generator in that case will be required to do double the work.

[SpyderFun]

According to the Maintenance Manual (pg392 - Midwest Manuals), the charging system should deliver 13.0-14 Vdc @ 4,000rpm. Static check of battery voltage should be around 12.6 Vdc.

This means we should be riding @ or above 4,000rpm to ensure the battery receives an ongoing charge. Remember, magneto charging systems work more efficiently @ higher rpms (think lawn mower engine which runs @ full-throttle). Alternator systems use a regulator to vary this voltage for different rpms. The Rotax engine is used in light aircraft which means it is usually operated above 4,000 rpms. We are likely use to riding well below the 4k rpm range. Something to think about.....

[AMTJIM]

Gel cell problem stories have been popping up besides Spyder use, their intermittent behavior have lead techs to hair pulling. They have been passing load tests and getting re-installed. I was wondering if they get charged and tested vertically, then the failure occurs once installed horizontally, something is loose or shifts internally or actual use as opposed to test bench is the quirk of a gel cell.

[NancysToy]

I can't really say as I'm not well acquainted with any technology developed after 1970.

Story of my life!

[Trickie Dick]

You could be on to something.
GelCells are supposed to be position independent but who really knows how the Chinese are making them.

I can't really say as I'm not well acquainted with any technology developed after 1970.

The age of Aquarius. Great year No wonder you don't remember anything after that