Battery failing???

kenkeni53

Joined
Apr 19, 2011
Messages
12
Location
washington,dc
Bike
2010 ST1300
I've gotten three years out of the stock battery on my 2010ST. Lately i've had a couple of indications that my battery might be failing. Twice i've had the time and trip mileage indicators reset after a gas stop. I keep the battery on a tender while not in use, but three years may be the end of the life for this one. Should i replace the battery now or try looking for another reason for the resetting indicators???
 
Have you had any trouble starting your bike?? The starter is the single biggest load the battery will probably ever experience. If the bike is starting I would look at something other than the battery. My battery is 6 years old and only recently did I have an issue. I stopped for a photo op and left the key (lights and everything else) on for about 10 minutes. When I hit the starter the battery voltage dropped so low the dash went blank and the clock reset but not the trip odometer. I had to push start it to get running as I didn't have jumper cables. I always carry them now. At 60 I worked up a pretty good sweat on 6 attempts before it lit up. There are some real gurus on STs here that may have seen your trip odometer issue previously. Hope the will throw down and jump in on this one!
 
I would replace the battery after checking the easy stuff - clean & tight battery connections. It is doing a load test for you each time it resets the trip meters. :)
 
Charge the battery and then load test it with a multimeter you should have around 13 volts fully charged, turn the key and see how far it drops and then hit the starter button and see if the voltage drops below 10 volts, if it did buy yourself a new battery.
 
Resetting gauges clock etc happens if they see a low voltage.
That's either that battery or connections to it under the load of cranking.

Cheapest is remove clean and reinstall the battery connections, then check the voltage under cranking with a charged battery.
I've seen 10.6v or higher posted for a decent battery while cranking.

fwiw the resting voltage is an indicator of state of charge.
It isn't an indicator of capacity to start the bike, the ability to maintain voltage under load.
A battery on it's way out can show good resting voltage but drop to the point of resetting gauges under starting load.
 
Not sure if you read this post below, kind of spells out what to do to test the battery.
Also, if you have a volt meter, if it drops below 9.5 volts while you are starting you bike, it's a good indication that your battery is on its way out.
https://www.st-owners.com/forums/showthread.php?52097-Quick-test-of-Motorcycle-Battery

Not sure if you ever heard of a battery bug. I have one and it lets me know when my battery is getting old.
See below on its features
http://www.sistemievoluti.com/CN/batterybugownersmanual.pdf
 
kenkeni53 said:
I've gotten three years out of the stock battery on my 2010ST. Lately i've had a couple of indications that my battery might be failing. Twice i've had the time and trip mileage indicators reset after a gas stop. I keep the battery on a tender while not in use, but three years may be the end of the life for this one. Should i replace the battery now or try looking for another reason for the resetting indicators???
Click to expand...

Yes, cheap insurance. Check your connections too.

ST1300s come under powered as far as batteries go, IMHO. They are hard on them as well due to the all to familiar heat the batteries live in. The Power Sonic is the best replacement AGM I have found and reasonably priced too. My last one lasted over five years and never let me down. I replaced it as preventive maintaince with another. See earlier posts.

http://www.staabbattery.com/product/Power-Sonic-Motorcycle-Battery/Power-Sonic-PTZ14S-Battery.html

Stay away from Scorpion Batteries for ST1300s. You will be disappointed.
 
If the advertized specs of these batteries can be believed the Power Sonic only has 145 CCA. I found this one and a Power Source battery on Amazon. The Power Source advertized CCA is 250amps. I opted for the Power Source. It was $4 more.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom