Need advice for a dead battery on my RT

[RodO]

Because pulling the battery out is a bit of a chore, I put my RT away in the fall with a battery tender connected but not plugged into the 110 power as I was going to charge it monthly.

It's parked outside under a cover with the plug where I can reach it. After a month or so, I plugged in the charger but nothing happened, so off comes the cover to see if the leads had come off.

They were connected so now I'm wondering if the battery is dead or frozen. I didn't leave the power connected. It's above freezing out but I really don't want to pull all the panels off to get to the battery. If I plug in and leave it to try and charge it, could there be problems? Like the battery exploding or other messy stuff like that?

Merry Christmas!

Rod.

 

[boborgera]

If your sure it didn't freeze, Sometimes a tender will not start to charge a Completely dead battery, the circuitry will not turn on, You might have to use a regular charger for a few minutes [only] then put the tender on.

 

[NancysToy]

First, you should not leave a battery charger connected to a battery if the charger is not plugged in. Most will drain the battery if they are not powered. The Battery tender and many other of the maintainers and more sophisticated chargers, will not charge a fully discharged battery. You will need to either jump start the Spyder and run it long enough to build a charge, connect it in parallel to another battery and charge them both for a while, or connect a standard charger to the battery for a couple of hours to get a bit of a charge into it. It may be easiest to remove the battery and just have the dealer do this for you. You should then be able to disconnect the plain charger, and hook up the battery tender again, plug it in, and have it charge the battery fully. I doubt your battery is damaged or frozen, that normally takes a while, but the battery will fail for certain if you do not charge it pretty soon. You can leave the battery tender connected and plugged in with no problems, but if you prefer to charge monthly, be sure to disconnect the battery tender from the Spyder between charges.

If you need to buy a charger to get things started, be sure to read the label carefully to see if it cautions against trying to charge a fully discharged battery. Most of the chargers with diagnostic lights will not charge a completely dead battery.

 

[RodO]

Thanks very much, again, Scotty! I jump started it and she fired right up so I let it idle until up to temp, turned it off, and connected the trickle charger. All is good!

And, I'll leave the tender connected. I didn't know it would drain the battery if not plugged in.

Someday, I hope I can return the favour. All the best for a merry Christmas and for a happy and healthy 2012!

Rod.

P.S. the days are getting longer and only 4 months 'til riding season. ray:

First, you should not leave a battery charger connected to a battery if the charger is not plugged in. Most will drain the battery if they are not powered. The Battery tender and many other of the maintainers and more sophisticated chargers, will not charge a fully discharged battery. You will need to either jump start the Spyder and run it long enough to build a charge, connect it in parallel to another battery and charge them both for a while, or connect a standard charger to the battery for a couple of hours to get a bit of a charge into it. It may be easiest to remove the battery and just have the dealer do this for you. You should then be able to disconnect the plain charger, and hook up the battery tender again, plug it in, and have it charge the battery fully. I doubt your battery is damaged or frozen, that normally takes a while, but the battery will fail for certain if you do not charge it pretty soon. You can leave the battery tender connected and plugged in with no problems, but if you prefer to charge monthly, be sure to disconnect the battery tender from the Spyder between charges.

If you need to buy a charger to get things started, be sure to read the label carefully to see if it cautions against trying to charge a fully discharged battery. Most of the chargers with diagnostic lights will not charge a completely dead battery.

 

[RodO]

If your sure it didn't freeze, Sometimes a tender will not start to charge a Completely dead battery, the circuitry will not turn on, You might have to use a regular charger for a few minutes [only] then put the tender on.

Thanks too! That was the trick.

Merry Christmas,
Rod.