Bonneville America Forums Forums Technical Forums General Tech Battery woes

In May, I bought an 09 America w/ a number of accessories, incl the fog lights. Once the weather got cold in Nov., the battery started dying. I could take it out, ride around town, no fog lights, no high beams, leave it for a day, and the battery would be dead.

Maybe it is a bad battery, maybe I have a short somewhere.

Can anyone gimme a battery suggestion?

I do not mind shelling out for a battery, but plan to take it to the dealer if that does not clear it up.

My original battery lasted at least 6 years, the last 3-4 on a battery tender during the winter. The second battery, a factory replacement (YUASA?), lasted 9 months. I bought one from Batteries Plus after that and it's still going strong as long as I keep it on the battery tender during the winter. Don't remember what brand.

some batteries are just dodgy. Mine was good until recently 05 - 10 not bad really but my brothers bike the battery is strong as ever we bought our bikes on the same day. Auto zone has them for $60.00. yours could be still under warranty though. You could hook a multimeter up to it while running and see what kind of voltage the alternator is putting out.
Its probablyu the battery though. It happens

So far the original battery is still going strong in both our 04s and no battery tenders used at all.

Don't rush out and buy a new battery - chances are your battery is fine.

Your bike is an EFI. The computer requires 11.6 volts minimum before it will let the bike start (unlike carbed models which will start of the battery regardless of the charge - as long as there is enough charge to turn over the engine).

So if you only do short trips or irregular trips then your battery is not getting much charge. I work very close to home so my '09 does a lot of starting and not much charging. My solution is to use a trickle charger (battery tender) one night a week.

On the other hand - if your battery gets a lot of charging time but is still unreliable you might want to check your earth connections and if they are fine then maybe you do need a new battery.

It's still a warranty issue so have your dealer check it out.

With the bike off the battery voltage should be over 12 volts. With the bike running at a fast idle the battery voltage should be over 14 volts. If both of those are good, then take the battery out of the bike and, put it on a charger for a couple of hours, then take it to a auto parts store and have them check it with a battery load tester. If it fails you need a new battery.

If you take it to the dealer the above checks is pretty much all they can do to test your battery.

Tom

From our Tech Vault:

Submitted by Mikemm03:
With props to Fishercat and Dinqua I want to recommend
the Napa 740-1866, Napa part # 12BS, 209 CCA $54.95.

I have this NAPA battery, works great, easy on the wallet.

I don't know if Triumph decided to improve the wiring from my 05 model to the 09 model, but we would hope so. The wiring I'm talking about is what determines how much charge ends up from thre alternator (generator) to the battery.

In my case I broke down twice in 6 months because of a certain amount of load I was drawing with accessories and the poor charging capacity due to too much resistance. The resistance I'm referring to is twofold. One, the gauge or thickness of the wiring from the alternator through the regulator was too small and two, from the path between the Alternator to end at the battery was way to long. Hence the charge was too low if you were running anything more than a headlight.

It would be a good idea as has been suggested to check the amount of volts being delivered to your battery when above idle. I don't know if Triumph sorted out the wiring issues I just mentioned but if they haven't, I suggest you either check the voltage yourself (it really isn't hard) or get your dealer to do it for free (better idea) to ascertain if your battery is being charged with other accessories drawing power.

I'd suggest you originally get your dealer to check the charge to see what they do and if they find a dead batter and just replace it, then ask us again how to easilly fix the problem yourself as this issue has been discussed many times before, or again, put it in the hands of the dealer to sort it.

Good luck

If ever a battery dies, be it on the boat on the way over or on a vendor's shelf, they're never the same after that. Some chalk it up to sulfates on the plates.

Then again, there are the batteries that fairly defy the laws of physics. The one on my lawnmower is a case in point. Last Spring it would not take a charge from an AC powered charger, and has acid leaking out the side case. I figured just for the heck of it, I'll try it one time just to get the mower moved for a battery swap. It's still working fine months later, and has to be over 6 years old. I still have the shiny new Walmart replacement battery sitting here on the work bench getting lonely. I can't explain it, and that's OK - such is the way with battery voo doo.

The EFI bikes have a constant draw on the battery. The batteries in EFI bikes will draw down just sitting there. If the bike isn't going to be used for a while or used repeatedly on short trips, put it on a battery tender to keep the charge up.

The battery in EFI bikes is also smaller than the carb bikes. The EFI computer sits in the back of the battery tray, and the battery is about an inch shorter in depth than in earlier models to accomodate this.

H.

To blurt the obvious - these batteries we talk of are barely enough on their very best days.
Reserve capacity? puh puh - puh puh puh - what?

Imagine a 2 banger industrial engine of 55 or 70 HP, and a factory engineer comes out with one of our lantern batteries to fire it off.
The laughter would be enough to pierce a purty proper purple pocket protector, slide rule & all...

test

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The laughter would be enough to pierce a purty proper purple pocket protector, slide rule & all...

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Good alliteration!

You using the key or the kill switch to shut it off? This issue came up before.

The short version is that I just got a new one for my 2009 America off eBay. Remember, the 09 is not the same size as the 08.

So far, so good, 95$ incl. shipping.

So my battery problem has returned. I thought I had it isolated to the power switch for the auxilary light (light bar). When I left the light off, no problem, for MONTHS.

Last week, I started getting the dead battery again, depsite leaving the switch in the off position all the while. In imagining what else might be going on, I wonder if the relay is bad, or the dealer did a very poor job wiring aor protecting the wiring.

The relay should be easy enough, although I have not heard any regular large scale problems w/ the OEM relays.

So now for my dumb q: Where are these damn relays on a 2009 America anyway?

Do you own a DMM (digital multi meter)? Even if you don't you can get one cheap at Harbor Freight.
Check out this video. Its got a couple ore steps that we would have (its for a car) but the idea and methods are the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdIKNnwEjIs

Well you had the new battery for nearly 3 years. Many lead acid batteries are designed to only last 2 years. You got a cheap one off ebay. It may be dead.

This was a very helpful video, for me, thanks for posting. my oem battery lasted 10 years.....

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Do you own a DMM (digital multi meter)? Even if you don't you can get one cheap at Harbor Freight.
Check out this video. Its got a couple ore steps that we would have (its for a car) but the idea and methods are the same.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zdIKNnwEjIs

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