Four Hours at a Shell Station Today

[papanorm]

My better half and I packed a lunch and were on our way to one of our favorite picnics spots today. Stopped at 50 mile mark for fuel and we were ready to head out and her 2015 RTL was completely dead, not even a click or a light. I had a battery jump box on my bike that allowed the starter to make a feeble attempt but no go. I think the battery shorted itself out. I did get it to unlock the parking brake though . I called Can Am Roadside Assistance who were no help at all. Then I called AMA Roadside, extremely helpful, but it took 4 hours for a tow to finally arrive; they're obligated to the police to attend to wrecks first. Thankfully we rode home on my bike as they dropped her RT off in our driveway. AMA will send another tow on Tuesday when the dealer reopens. This is the 3rd OEM battery (3 different bikes) having this catastrophic failure. Oh yeah, I have always kept her battery on the maintainer after every ride. Quite a day!
P.S. We enjoyed our picnic lunch at the gas pump

[Air Force PAO]

I am glad to hear you made somewhat of a good recovery. Here's to better rydes ahead.

John

[trikermutha]

HAve the charging system checked out. I am on my same battery for 3 years now.

[WA5VHU]

Oh yeah, I have always kept her battery on the maintainer after every ride. Quite a day!

What kind of "maintainer" have you been using? Some are better than others.

http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/s...Battery-Tender

[SpyderAnn01]

At least you had your lunch with you. I hope you figure out what's going on with the battery.

[Chupaca]

Glad you packed a lunch...not the place of choice to have it.. I would suspect the maintainer as your issue is with three different spyders. I have work with the yuasa batteries and have never had such issues through the years and shops I worked.

[papanorm]

The maintainer is a NOCO Genius G750 which could also be the culprit I'm told by my buddy that works at the dealer. I bought a lifetime battery replacement when I bought our Spyders which included the maintainer for the price of one new battery. And the three catastrophic battery failures were YUASA brand, but this is over the past 25 years. Or it could just be good ol Texas heat! BTW that was the first time I took a passenger on my F3L and I was very impressed with the power and handling riding 2 up.

[ARtraveler]

You did not take advantage of the gas station hot dog or taco? I hope the picnic lunch was not a disappointment.

Sounds like your getting the battery situation worked out.

[Easy Rider]

Oh yeah, I have always kept her battery on the maintainer after every ride.

Actually that practice is really NOT good......as some of your experiences have shown....unless the machine will sit more than 2 weeks between rides.

Why ?

Because having the charger hooked up ALL the time will pretty much guarantee that it ALWAYS will start the first time, right there in your own garage.
Once the battery actually "wears out" however, it may not start the engine the second or subsequent times when out on the road.

It is also possible that the "maintainer" isn't working right and it is "boiling" the batteries to death.

I prefer to have mine fail while still in the garage.

Actually I don't remember the last time I had a battery fail on the road, mostly because I will notice it "straining" to get the starter going in the morning and that's a sign that it might be on it's last legs.

[Wrongway]

Just curious to know if you ever found out the reason for your battery failure.

Personally, I ruined a brand new battery years ago by overcharging it.

thanks
Greg

[classicvw]

I too, have a genius 750 and it's great. I've kept every bike and scooter I've owned for the past 17 years on either this Genius or two BatteryDocs mostly all the time. Sometimes I'll unplug it for a week if it's a bike in storage, and then reconnect it. I've never had a sudden battery failure or one that wasn't due to plain old age that I couldn't see coming.

My guess is it's the Texas heat you mention. Heat kills far more batteries than winter cold does.

[Buckeye Chuck 54]

My '14 RT-S had that same issue, but everything would shut down, while riding. I would coast to the side of the road and after a few minutes it would start right back up. Very scary. I stopped for gas fill up and it died at the pump, with the parking brake still stuck on. Finally took it to the dealer and they found the ground cable was loose and rusted. Haven't had that same problem again.
Chuck

[papanorm]

The next day AMA sent another tow truck to take the Spyder to the dealer. They charged the battery overnight and did a load test next morning, yup, bad battery. It was replaced under the the battery for life program which now I'm glad i bought. The tech does recommend keeping it on the maintainer when not ryding. They offered to test the battery on my F3 the next time I'm up there. Great people to do business with!

[Wrongway]

The next day AMA sent another tow truck to take the Spyder to the dealer. They charged the battery overnight and did a load test next morning, yup, bad battery. It was replaced under the the battery for life program which now I'm glad i bought. The tech does recommend keeping it on the maintainer when not ryding. They offered to test the battery on my F3 the next time I'm up there. Great people to do business with!

Thanks for the update. It's always good to know the end of the story.
I've always had a battery tender and always plug in if I know that I won't be riding for a couple of days. Since getting the Spyder, that doesn't happen very often.

[papanorm]

Just curious, has anyone experienced Can Am Roadside Assistance?

[hypurone]

I called Can Am Roadside Assistance who were no help at all.

This is very disconcerting...

[Easy Rider]

The tech does recommend keeping it on the maintainer when not ryding.

And you plan to ignore the hard evidence that you have which indicates that IS NOT A GOOD ROUTINE PRACTICE TO FOLLOW ????

That is BAD advice IF the machine is ridden for a significant distance at least once a week.......and you have not added accessories that are powered all the time.

Having it on a charger all the time pretty much guarantees that when the battery does fail it will happen AWAY FROM HOME.
Do you really want to repeat your towing story a few years down the road ??

I give up.

[papanorm]

Obviously there are different schools of thought here. Batteries have a mind of their own and will fail sometimes without warning. I have driven different cars that have started at home just fine but when I got to my destination and attempted to start the battery was dead. This can happen to a newer battery as well as an old one as I’ve experienced both ways. BTW I had a battery tender on a Goldwing battery and it was still good after 5 years. I didn’t need to change it but I did anyway for piece of mind. Have a great day!

[Deanna777]

HAve the charging system checked out. I am on my same battery for 3 years now.

I also got the OEM battery in my 2014RTS-SE6, which i have i have put 21,500 miles on. Deanna

[classicvw]

I give up.

I wish I had a quarter for every time I read that on the internet.