A quick death...

[corey]

To an old battery i guess.
Only took a week for the cold to get to my battery, which I'm assuming is still the original factory one.
My quick tech question is: My bike won't start (it did try to crank once, but now it only gives me a little click with the button push), but it still has enough juice to power the headlight and instrument cluster. Is that normal? Or should i be worried that something isn't right with the starter or motor...

I'm assuming it's just the battery. Tell me I'm right, and just need to get a Tender.

[Slide Panda]

Probably the batt - how old is it?

Turning the starter puts a lot more load on the batt than just running the lights.  Even on a fresh battery, you'd be able to leave your lights on a lot longer than you could keep cranking the engine over with the starter motor.

Tender might not hack it if your battery's on it's last legs.  They will keep a weak battery going along for a while - but won't bring back the dead - Zombie attack!

[Howie]

Zakly, fully recharge the battery and have it load tested.  Checking the charging system output wouldn't be a bad idea either.  Look for 13.5 to 14.5 volts at the battery at about 3K RPM.  Got less, call us in the morning.  If the battery is 4-5 years old I would think about replacing it anyway.

[corey]

Well, i'm assuming it's the stock battery. It's a 2006 S2R 800, so assuming it was purchased some time in 2005, lookin at almost 4 years old.
Gonna grab a tender tonight, pull the battery and slap it on there. Think keeping the battery in my heated house is a good idea until i want to go start up the bike? Or should i just put the tender on the battery IN the bike, and leave it there all winter?

As far as the charging system goes, I'm pretty sure it's fine. The bike has had no electrical problems, and the only other time it has ever NOT started was that time i ignored the fuel light... But either way, how would i go about testing the charging system output to be sure?

This bout of extreme cold seems to be the culprit

[Howie]

Yes, the battery will have less power with a drop in temperature so keeping it in the house will help.  The problem is what do you do when you stop for lunch?  Take the battery into the restaurant with you?  Charge it and get it load tested or replace it.  You will know if the battery is fully charged by checking with a voltmeter, you should see 12.6-12.8 volts.  This does not mean the battery is good, that is why you need to load test it.

To do a very basic check of the charging system just take your volt meter and connect to positive and negative on the battery.  Rev the engine to about 3K RPM and look for 13.5 to 14.5 volts.  Below 13.5?  Get back to us. 

[LA]

Yea, I have a June, 2006 model and the battery is showing the first signs of checking out.  I ride like 50-60 mi. a day and it's not holding a charge well.  A couple of times lately, I've had to put the bike on a charger for a few min. to get it to start.  Bout a half a rev and the bike starts though.

Time for a new $120 battery I guess.

LA

[corey]

well. got the battery out. managed to pick up an optimate-3 battery optimizer. shes charging currently, and wasn't sulfated at all, so hopefully all is well. ill update this weekend...

[corey]

just a discharged battery... in case anyone cares...
optimate-3 battery optimiser gets a big +1 from this guy.