Can a new battery go out if I just wear it down and down?

[pnedac]

Hi.

Just wondering about something on my build. I have just completed my first build. The bike rocks! One thing I am noticing though is that I have a baterry that is not holding a good charge. Well, either it is that or the charging system is not working right. The thing is though that the bike only has 5900 original miles which leads me to beleive that the charging system would be fine (I have done nothing to it). The battery on the other hand I bought new about 4 months ago and throughout the process of getting the bike to FINALLY work, I have unsuccessfully started the bike about 500 times. Now I have already had to charge the battery a few times just to keep it chugging along, but my question is whether I could have just murdered the battery by wearing on it so many times without having the bike ever going to charge it.

Thoughts?

Any help is appreciated greatly.

Cheers
Pnedac

 

[beaver]

does the battery have water in it?

 

[pnedac]

The bayttery does have distilled water in it and is filled.

I understand that this could be a cause. I guess I wonder if I could have prematurely taken the life out of a relatively new battery by wearing on it as I have.

Thanks!

 

[beaver]

hmmm. i had the same problem but i just jumped it with my car and then went on a long ride and it was fine. its been good since.

 

[weekendrider]

These AREN'T deep cycle batteries. It is hard on them to discharge to a low point and then recharge.
Have you ruined it? Have someone put a load test on it to tell.

 

[Travis]

Just because the bike has low miles doesn't mean the charging system is working correctly. They wear out from age just as much as from use. Now that you have the bike running, check the charging system too.

 

[littlebill31]

A battery I bought a while back had to be filled, let sit for 30 minutes and then slow charged, at 3ah. Or something, until it was at 13V. Worked fine. However, I bought another battery that was exactly the same, but did not slow charge it, but quick charged it. Sucker never worked right. Might have been me, might have been the battery.
I would test your charging systems first.

 

[gggGary]

Always always check the brushes when you get an XS650, they tend to wear out about every 5000 miles or so. Could be that simple. Get your multimeter out and see if the voltage goes up to about 14 volts when you rev it. As long as you did not beat the battery down to nothing and leave it flat for a while it should still be OK.

 

[Max Midnight]

It sounds like you have discharged the battery with all of the starting. It will take a while for it to regain lost charge, especially if the motor is a) shut off quickly after starting or b) The revs are low (i.e. tick-over).

Suggest that you charge it overnight and then measure the voltage. Note: Before testing make sure that you remove the surface charge or you will get a spurious reading. You should expect around 12.6 volts.

If you suspect (or just want to check your charging system) work your way through this.

 

[jedi_]

I use a battery tender that charges the battery at 1.5 amps and leave it on when im not riding. Do some research and look into getting one. Ive used the tender on my gf's bike for 5 years and she's still on the same battery from when we bought her bike brand new.

 

[hotrdd]

I had this problem with my truck batteries, the answer is YES if you decharge these batteries almost completely dead a few times you can ruin them. I woulod charge them over night and they appeared to be fine but if I let them sit for a few hours they would have no charge. A load test confirmed that the batteries were now dead. I spent weeks trying to track an electrical short that didn't exist. Just pull the battery and get it load tested, it's usually free.