Mikeybikey57
Member
Went to start my S10 yesterday and scrub in the new front tyre, turned the key and……….nothing. The bike was totally dead. Took off the quick release panel and the upper fairing to look at all the fuses and electrics but everything was intact, including the big 50A main fuse. After checking that all the leads to and from the battery were tight and unbroken, I took the battery out and gave it a visual once over and it all appeared sound. Used my trusty home made test light across the contacts and nothing, not even a faint glimmer from the bulb.
I put my Optimate charger onto the battery and the the display firstly indicated that it was charging……... for about two seconds. Then it flipped onto 'Absorb' for a few more seconds before switching straight into 'Maintain' mode. I left it for a few hours before coming back to it and re-checking it, to find it still in 'Maintain' mode but still unable to illuminate my test light when disconnected from the optimiser. Hmmmmmmm. I think we'll take that as "the battery is knackered" and go get a new one. Off to my local bike emporium for a (genuine Yuasa) replacement, which they had in stock but wanted £154.00 ($258.75) for. ??? After picking myself off the floor, they did say they had a non-genuine OE equivalent for one third of the price, which is now on the bike.
All seems well now but I was just wondering. In my 40 years of riding bikes i've never had a battery go dead on me like this. Is this sort of thing that happens a lot on S10's and what could have made what appeared to be a perfectly good, well maintained battery just give up like that?
I put my Optimate charger onto the battery and the the display firstly indicated that it was charging……... for about two seconds. Then it flipped onto 'Absorb' for a few more seconds before switching straight into 'Maintain' mode. I left it for a few hours before coming back to it and re-checking it, to find it still in 'Maintain' mode but still unable to illuminate my test light when disconnected from the optimiser. Hmmmmmmm. I think we'll take that as "the battery is knackered" and go get a new one. Off to my local bike emporium for a (genuine Yuasa) replacement, which they had in stock but wanted £154.00 ($258.75) for. ??? After picking myself off the floor, they did say they had a non-genuine OE equivalent for one third of the price, which is now on the bike.
All seems well now but I was just wondering. In my 40 years of riding bikes i've never had a battery go dead on me like this. Is this sort of thing that happens a lot on S10's and what could have made what appeared to be a perfectly good, well maintained battery just give up like that?