What caused the battery drain on my RT?

[Pennyrick]

Went to start the RT this morning and all I got was a 'Chug' from the starting motor as the battery obviously didn't have enough juice to turn it more than once.

As I hooked up the trickle charger I began to run through my mind what may have caused the drain as it ran fine when I pulled it into the garage the night before.

Then I recalled the problem I had at Pet Smart. We were almost out of dog food and my wife asked me to pick up a bag. I bought a 40 pound bag and thought I could wiggle it into the frunk on my RT. I managed to get the bag in but enough of it stuck out that I could not secure the lid of the frunk. I pulled it out and bungeed it on the passenger seat and rode home.

After hooking up the charger I tried to release the frunk lid with the electric switch and it would not open. I knew there was enough juice left in the system to trigger that switch so something else was going on.

I opened it manually and found the rubber gasket was off all around and had become twisted (likely happened when I pulled out the dog food and closed the lid the night before). I put the gasket in its proper place and closed up the frunk.

Once the battery was fully charged this afternoon, I checked the frunk switch and it released with no problem. Took the Spyder on a run and everything runs okay.

My thought is that somehow the switch stayed engaged overnight due to my messing with the frunk lid and that flattened the battery.

Does that make sense or does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[NancysToy]

Anything is possible, but the trunk switch does nothing once the 15 second or so shut-down is completed (display goes blank). It does operate the LED in the RTS and LTD trunk, but that shuts off when the display times out.

More likely it is a radio issue. Some have too much parasitic load. There is a service bulletin on this, and a fix for the water intrusion at the antenna that causes the problem on some 2011 & 2012 RTs. See your dealer for this one.

 

[Huntindawg1962]

not sure what the issue is but if your battery is really low a trickle charger will not be enough to charge you back very quickly. That only works to maintain it really.

 

[Pennyrick]

not sure what the issue is but if your battery is really low a trickle charger will not be enough to charge you back very quickly. That only works to maintain it really.

We have enough vehicles around our place to use as back ups so I have no need to charge a battery quickly.

I would rather use a trickle charger over a time span of five or six hours to get a battery back to full charge than to push full power into the battery. I have a trickle setting on my main charger and it appears that it puts out about the same current as a battery tender.

 

[Huntindawg1962]

not arguing with your thought process on the slow charge but most trickle chargers and "battery tenders" are about 1amp - and that could take a lot more than 5-6 hours to get back to full charge - like days - and that is provided that your "drain" is not at that same 1amp loss pace. Most "charging" units process more like in the 10-15amp range. Finding the issue that is causing the drain is the answer though (and I dont have any suggestions for that other than possibly the radio leakage and there is a thread on here telling how to look for that).

 

[Pennyrick]

not arguing with your thought process on the slow charge but most trickle chargers and "battery tenders" are about 1amp - and that could take a lot more than 5-6 hours to get back to full charge - like days - and that is provided that your "drain" is not at that same 1amp loss pace. Most "charging" units process more like in the 10-15amp range. Finding the issue that is causing the drain is the answer though (and I dont have any suggestions for that other than possibly the radio leakage and there is a thread on here telling how to look for that).

Huntin' Dawg: Thanks for the information. I tried to search for 'Radio Leakage' or 'Radio power loss' but came up with no hits. If you can point me to that thread, I would appreciate it.

My trickle charger is tradmarked 'Battery Tender' and it brought the battery on the RT up to full charge in six hours. It wasn't completely flat as it could run lights and radio but just couldn't turn the starter. The tender has a code on it (see photo) that indicates four conditions: Not charging; Charging Mode; Overcharged and Monitor Mode. After six hours it moved from solid red to solid green so my assumption was that the battery was fully charged. Am I interpreting the indicators incorrectly?

 

[boborgera]

Huntin' Dawg: Thanks for the information. I tried to search for 'Radio Leakage' or 'Radio power loss' but came up with no hits. If you can point me to that thread, I would appreciate it.

Search ; Radio Module.

 

[eddieshep999]

This maybe the thread you need

http://www.spyderlovers.com/forums/...e-Battery-drain-issue&highlight=battery+drain

 

[StanProff]

I'd check the battery connections. My ground was loose and it was sparatic at charging etc. It is suprising at how many of these can work loose after a few thousand miles. Check at the battery, not the remote post.

 

[dave01]

This has been the mystery on my RT for well over a year now. Battery # 4 and counting.

 

[NancysToy]

not arguing with your thought process on the slow charge but most trickle chargers and "battery tenders" are about 1amp - and that could take a lot more than 5-6 hours to get back to full charge - like days - and that is provided that your "drain" is not at that same 1amp loss pace. Most "charging" units process more like in the 10-15amp range. Finding the issue that is causing the drain is the answer though (and I dont have any suggestions for that other than possibly the radio leakage and there is a thread on here telling how to look for that).

An 18 amp hour battery, fully discharged (they seldom are), would take 18 hours to charge with a 1 amp charger. Most battery maintainers will charge even a badly dischraged battery withing 12 hours or less.

 

[Schnauzer]

A proper battery maintainer ain't a trickle charger.
1 amp isn't a trickle anyway for a motorcycle battery, it's a healthy dose of electrons to slam into the plates.

A battery maintainer adjusts for different charging modes depending on what condition or state of the battery is sensed by the device.

Bulk Charge, Absorption Charge, Equalization Charge (optional, depends on battery type) and Float Charge are cycled through in a typical connect to a good battery maintainer.
These states help control plate crud or battery gingivitis.

Battery Chargers only manage Bulk Charge and a poor substitute for a Float Charge.

":agree:Yippee-Kiyyaa"...

 

[Pennyrick]

Wow! Thanks for the input folks.

I was confused.... then enlightened..... then confused again...... and now I am really confused.

Don't know whether I own a battery tender or a maintainer, or what.

On my large charger, I have settings for hourly charging, fast charging and one that says "trickle". I'm guessing that the manufacturer didn't know the meaning of the word either.

 

[dave01]

My spyder came out early in 2010 and is a pre-production model.
But recently, I think I have a pre-production hybrid spyder.
My reason: I have to plug it in after riding to charge the battery, much like a hybrid, and when i do ride mine, I average 34-40 mpg, which is higher than most.:joke::joke:

 

[exwinger]

Radio vs battery

If you're having battery problems and haven't had the amp draw measured across the radio circuit , do it post haste. I finally got them to check my reading and was there to view it. The reading was way off scale........ .5 and above . It was fluctuating all over the place. New radio was ordered . Evidently the circuitry was starting to draw more amperage because it was taking less time for the battery to die. I was using a tender but quit using it to see what would happen , this is how I found the time shortening. Don't let the tech tell you it's normal...It isn't . As stated above , there is a bulletin out about the problem and a fix for it.

 

[dave01]

Radio was replaced already. That didnt fix the issue on mine. I think I have .

 

[Pennyrick]

Battery replaced.. Do I need a Battey Bug

Well, the tech checked everything on the Spyder last week and the charging system is fine, the radio module is drawing less than .01 but the battery is once more dead. So the battery got replaced. This was a surprise as the Spyder has only been in service since March, 2012. Interestingly, my 2011 Spyder also had to have the battery replaced after just five month's of service.

I drive the Spyder every day so it would seem to me that hooking up the battery tender each night is not necessary but I am now wondering about doing that.

Another thought I had was installing the Battery Bug. Here is the video on that device. Anyone using it?

 

[Jeriatric]

Well, the tech checked everything on the Spyder last week and the charging system is fine, the radio module is drawing less than .01 but the battery is once more dead. So the battery got replaced. This was a surprise as the Spyder has only been in service since March, 2012. Interestingly, my 2011 Spyder also had to have the battery replaced after just five month's of service.

I drive the Spyder every day so it would seem to me that hooking up the battery tender each night is not necessary but I am now wondering about doing that.

Another thought I had was installing the Battery Bug. Here is the video on that device. Anyone using it?

I like it. :thumbup:

http://www.amazon.com/Argus-Analyzers-Battery-Bug-BB-SBM12PS/dp/B005UGEDES/ref=pd_luc_sbs_02_02_t_lh