Battery died, then came back to life

[riderguy57]

I was out in the wilds of Arkansas yesterday riding around and stopped in Kingston, AR for some water. Once it was time to go, I hit the start button and all the instrument lights and my radar detector went dark, with no associated turning of the motor. Letting off on the start button, all the lights in the instrument cluster came back. I recycled all the switches (ignition, kill switch, turned off the GPS) and tried again with no luck. Sitting there for a couple of minutes trying to figure out how I was going to get the bike back to Fayetteville, I thought "maybe" bump starting it would be possible. I turned the bike towards downhill and before trying the bumpstart I hit the start button again. The bike started, so I elected to end my ride early and hightail it back to Fayetteville.

Once I got home I started and stopped the bike numerous times with no issues. I took the battery over to the Honda dealer in Springdale and had them put it on their diagnotics machine, but it came back as showing good. The bike is an '09 that I bought new in May 2010, so the battery is at least 3.5 years in use. It is always put on a Battery Tender Jr. when not in use. I ride the bike about 3500 miles a year, as it is kept at my vacation property. I ended up buying a new battery (Yuasa YTZ 14S)and some fancy Naco Genius charger to keep the battery charged during the long times between use.

Has anyone had something like this happen before, and was it indicative of the battery starting to die? Was it an internal fault or some other malady that maybe did not require replacement of the battery?

Thanks for any info you can share.

 

[st1300r]

It's not typical of a failing battery but it's possible.
I'd be looking for bad connections. You could start be removing/check both ends of the battery leads check the crimps, clean terminals and lugs, apply a little dielectric grease and snug em up.
Maybe check the common ground point as well.

 

[scooterdoc]

I'd be looking for bad connections

You have a short/connection problem somewhere my friend. I would start with the positive and negative battery terminals/cables.

 

[T_C]

When you hear these problems on a car, usually wedging a key between the battery post and clamp takes care of the problem, in other words, you got a bad connection somewhere.

If the Honda did a full diagnostic, including a 150 amp load test, then the battery is good, save your money. If they just checked for voltage and put a small load on it, then be looking for another test. Most auto-parts stores can do it.

 

[JPrieST]

No short. I would bet the bank on a bad connection, usually at one of the battery posts. Please don't wedge a key in there! I would clean the terminals and reconnect and I bet you won't have this problem again for a very long time.

In a pinch with no tools you can usually just jiggle the clamp a bit and it will "clean" enough crud to make a connection to get you started, but the problem will recur if you don't clean it.

It could be other things, but this is where my money would be.

By the way, there is not always visible evidence of corrosion in this situation.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk 2

 

[riderguy57]

Connections were very tight, and looked clean. I did have some powerlet connections (3) on the terminals, that I have since moved to a powerlet Termin8R. I did get a new battery, as my confidence in the original one was shot. Hopefully, it doesn't happen again, as I have a new battery and all connections are very secure.

 

[dwalby]

The battery connections may look good, but that doesn't mean there isn't something else lurking further down the path of the wire. I've never seen a battery die and magically come back to life, and it tested out OK, so I doubt that replacing the battery will solve your problem. Since its an intermittent problem you may just get lucky and not have to deal with it for awhile, but its unlikely that replacing the battery fixed it for good.

 

[NorCalBusa]

Just because a dealer or any service shop "put it on their machine", you can't be sure what the heck they tested without knowing the tester and steps they took. Conductance testing machines test certain types of battery, but not all. You'd want to carbon pile load test per the battery manufacturers instructions to know the true health. A day beyond 36-40 months on most batteries- and you've won the consumer bet. Time to get a new one at the first sign of trouble. Like tires, their best day is their first day of use- and they never get better.

 

[dwalby]

J A day beyond 36-40 months on most batteries- and you've won the consumer bet. Time to get a new one at the first sign of trouble.

The stock ST1100 battery was a sealed unit and I got 7 years out of it, which IIRC was pretty typical. If the 1300 uses a similar battery I'd expect it to last closer to the 7 years than 3, which is common with unsealed lead-acid batteries. Since the OP says he doesn't ride the bike often then 7 years might be optimistic, but 3-3.5 would seem pessimistic too.

 

[hoowasat]

If the connections at the battery are OK, what about the other ends of those cables?