Battery Woes!

[summerdawn]

After 20,700 miles my battery failed this morning. I have a 2012 RT. Is that a usual life span for the battery? I keep it on a tender in the winter. Never had any problems before. I used the lawn mower to boost it off and rode it the rest of the day without problem BUT I will replace the battery.

 

[AbNormy]

Have it tested before you replace it. I've a 12RT 29k miles still going strong

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[bruiser]

Batteries are all different. My wife's 2010 RT still has the original battery @ 18,000 miles. No problems. My 2012 RT has 12,000 and my battery is having issues. Three things that need to be checked: battery connections, charging status and load test. Make sure the connections at the battery are clean and tight. Make sure the battery is charging when the engine is above 4,000 RPM. Load test gives the status of the battery's ability to hold a charge. Remember that a tender does not charge a battery, it only maintains the charge that the battery has. Hope this helps.

 

[Bob Denman]

:agree: There's no guarantee about their longevity... :gaah:

 

[ARtraveler]

I have never replaced a battery in any of the :ani29:'s I have owned. My 2010 with 36K miles was traded off with the original battery. Our 2011 has 13K miles and the original battery is in place.

My batteries go on a tender from Oct - Mar so they are sleeping for 6 months of the year.

That said, there is no guarantee on the longevity of the battery. Some last longer than others. Had I kept the 2010, I was going to change the battery out just for peace of mind reasons. When they go, they usually do not give a lot of warning.

 

[jerpinoy]

Just get a new battery and worry less :agreen all batteries are not created equally.:roflblack::roflblack::roflblack::roflblack::roflblack::roflblack:

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Remember that a tender does not charge a battery, it only maintains the charge that the battery has.

If the battery is not down close to dead a maintainer will charge it, but very slowly. I use my NAPA 2 amp battery maintainer to recharge my deep cycle batteries, as well as the Spyder battery. There have been times it's taken days to recharge the deep cycles. Could well be a difference in the brands of maintainers. I have no experience with the Battery Tender brand.

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

After 20,700 miles my battery failed this morning. I have a 2012 RT. Is that a usual life span for the battery? I keep it on a tender in the winter. Never had any problems before. I used the lawn mower to boost it off and rode it the rest of the day without problem BUT I will replace the battery.

Battery life is more dependent on time and the number of starts than mileage. In fact mileage means almost nothing for battery life. And as has been said some last a long time, others die early. Also, you can have a one time death glitch and the battery will last months after. I had that once with my Goldwing. Battery was dead so I jumped it to start. Drove 30 miles and stopped for breakfast. Battery wouldn't start the bike after. Went to buy a new battery and shut off the bike. Decided to see if it would start, and it did. The battery went for another year. I changed it out before starting out on a 5000 mile trip, but it was still working.

If you can still find one, the Argus Analyzers Battery Bug battery monitor is a great little device for monitoring a battery. It checks the battery health while starting and gives a readout indicating how healthy the battery is. The company lost a patent lawsuit and closed down which is too bad. I don't know if anyone has picked up the product line or not.

 

[Chupaca]

Have to agree..!!

with all the above. Make sure you did not leave anything hooked up or on that could have drained the battery. Mileage is not the death of a battery but years of service and loads put on it. Some folks can rack up 20,000 miles in 6 months while others it will take 6 years. In years have seen from 3 on up. When switching make sure to remove the black cable first (-, ground, black) then the red cable (+, positive, red). When installing connect the + red cable first then the - black cable...:thumbup:

 

[summerdawn]

Thank you all for the advice. The battery connections are secure but the rest I will have to test!

 

[Bob Denman]

Good Luck!

 

[MikeinGA]

Thank you all for the advice. The battery connections are secure but the rest I will have to test!

I have a 2011 RS-S SE5 and when I am not riding it's on the battery tender. If you use the Spyder daily and ride 60 miles a day. A battery lasts 3 to 4 yrs. and If it's on a battery tender every night it will last 5 or 6 yrs. It's due to the size of the battery and Spyders charging system. The charging system in a car is more powerful then the Spyders abd the battery is much larger. That's IMHO.


Mike