Wing Battery suddenly extremely dead

Interesting forum, thank you.
I’d really appreciate your experience and advice.
I bought a 3 year old Wing which was perfect in the English winter and it ran perfectly. I transported it in a van to the south of France, but on arrival the battery was flat and could not be revived by Optimate. The right handbrake was tied “on” during transit, but no keys in ignition, lights/warmers on. I bought a new battery and immediate start up. The battery was on Optimate for 2 weeks and Wing started fine. However 2 weeks parked and off Optimate, and new battery cannot be revived by Optimate. A brief kick from a car charger might get it up to being trickle charged, but what’s the problem? It surely can’t be complicated, but I can’t think what it might be, or what to do.
Anyone had similar experiences.
All the best
Chris

EEEERRRRRRR take the globe out of the underseat light. Replace it with a LED Globe and get a switch for the light . Soon very very soon all the gurus will be here giving sheeetloads of advice as well.

Welcome

It sounds like the bike is not charging your battery. You need to check the regulator and the output from the generator. Try a search on the forum for such details as I'm sure you will find some.

Kurt ,

I thought the Australian term was "sheeploads"

Yes it could be as simple as the underseat lamp staying and draining the battery

but you should check the charging circuit to make sure. I've had a voltage regular fail

on my CB500T in years past .

Sometimes people don't close the seat "all the way" which keeps the light under the seat on.
First thing I would do is pull the bulb, and then check to see if there is a draw higher than 4ma on the battery.  This tells you whether there is a drain.
If not, you either didn't close the seat properly, or its a charging problem.
If there is a higher draw, then you have something else drawing power.

The first mod I made to the bike is to completely remove the bulb from the under the seat:lol: . I find the odds of the lamp draining your battery overweighs stopping in the middle of knowhere in pitch black darkness and needing to see whatever is under the seat.

You have the middle of nowhere on a small island like Malta?  

KurtPerthWA wrote:

EEEERRRRRRR take the globe out of the underseat light. Replace it with a LED Globe and get a switch for the light . Soon very very soon all the gurus will be here giving sheeetloads of advice as well.

Welcome

Thanks everyone.  I'll give em a go and see if it errrr goes! Good advice guys, thanks

I took my light bulb under the seat out. I have a phone. If I need something I turn the phone on and tadaaa I have light.

When my battery was not charging anymore ... it was the "alternator" or whatever they call it. I changed it in about 30 min with no previous skills. Bunch of screws then seal it properly.

I think this thread just saved me $100 on a new battery.

I went into the garage and was going to give my 5 year old her first scooter ride, just around the neighborhood. As she sat on the passenger seat, I heard it click locked, but didn't give it a second though.

I pushed it down off of the stand, pushed it out into the driveway and was going to let her start it up. One crank, then relays clicking rapidly. "Damn, dead battery!" thought I. I came in and started shopping online for batteries. The local auto parts store wants $110. Seems kind of steep for such mature technology...

Then I thought I'd search up a battery thread here and maybe find a quality option for cheaper. Happened upon this thread, then remembered my previous Silver Wing (an '04) was missing the bulb under the seat. I presumed it had burned out, and the previous owner didn't bother to fix it. Now, it all makes sense.

The battery's in the charger now. I hope it's still savable.

When I put it back in, I'm going to check how much current that dumb incandescent bulb* draws, make sure there's no other drain when it's off, and make sure it charges when revved.

* With LEDs being all the rage these days, this under seat light would be the right spot to put it, wouldn't you think? Or better yet, design the seat/lamp switch so that it only has to be closed, not latched, to turn the light off.

It's far simpler to remove that underseat bulb altogether, or maybe tape the bulb terminals and leave in place. Then for underseat illumination buy a cheapo multi LED lamp or torch and store under the seat. You now have yourself a multi purpose under seat light, a work light, emergency light source etc. You can even wave it around at music concerts instead of doing the usual cigarette lighter/ iPhone trick!

As Meldrew said. it was my first mod also, a small LED flashlight serves way better than the OEM light.

Ditto; I have a very handy LED torch/festoon light which lives under the seat.

It's far more use than the easily-obstructed under-seat light.

It's one of these; as it's magnetic I considered sticking a metal plate on the underside of the seat but haven't got round to it yet, not least because I avoid riding at night if at all possible.

http://www.autobitsuk.com/product/24-3-led-inspection-garage-shed-magnetic-work-lamp-torch-light-with-hook/

It depends on the need, I also have a head lamp that I've learned to like, frees up a hand.

Galvanised into buying a set of these: enough for underseat and inside topbox lid plus a spare or two.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Replacement-Adhesive-Magnetic-Cellphone-Rectangular/dp/B01DKEXMVG/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1505308053&sr=8-6&keywords=metal+plate+with+3m+adhesive+back

ChrisGilbert wrote:

Interesting forum, thank you.
I’d really appreciate your experience and advice.
I bought a 3 year old Wing which was perfect in the English winter and it ran perfectly. I transported it in a van to the south of France, but on arrival the battery was flat and could not be revived by Optimate. The right handbrake was tied “on” during transit, but no keys in ignition, lights/warmers on. I bought a new battery and immediate start up. The battery was on Optimate for 2 weeks and Wing started fine. However 2 weeks parked and off Optimate, and new battery cannot be revived by Optimate. A brief kick from a car charger might get it up to being trickle charged, but what’s the problem? It surely can’t be complicated, but I can’t think what it might be, or what to do.
Anyone had similar experiences.
All the best
Chris

Hi Chris, Having experienced a dead battery for one reason or another over my many years of Bike riding, I decided that I needed to carry a set of Jumper cables with me.

I make my cables from a 14 foot household extension cord by removing both ends of the 14 Gauge cord and replacing them with 20 AMP color coded alligator clips, I buy these at any auto parts store.

Be certain that you identify the polarity correctly, Usually one of the wires has a raised rib which I use for positive.

Once assembled these cables fit in a Quart size zip lock bag which I carry in the left pocket on the Silverwings.

A one or two Minute jump from an auto battery will put enough current in the bike battery to start the engine.

I learned that situations arise where shorter cables simply are not long enough, That is why I recommend the 14 foot length.

Happy Motoring lloyd 193.

Lloyd, great idea, but I'm not so sure about 14 ga. cables. If your Silver Wing battery is flat and you hook up to a car battery, it could be hundreds of amps flowing for the first few seconds, and dozens afterwards. That's why jumper cables are usually so thick. The battery with the higher charge immediately tries to dump enough current into the flat one to equalize.

When I first got my 08 SWing the battery was 2 years old and totally shot. I hooked my pickup up the the battery cables without starting the pickup. The SWing turned over about 3 times then started right off smooth. If the jumping vehicle isn't running the SWing will only see  one HUGE battery. In my opinion...

Also, one of the first things I did was to throw away the under seat bulb and carry an LED flashlight/torch.

Dale N. wrote:

 I hooked my pickup up the the battery cables without starting the pickup.  

Yep, same method used here

Somewhere here on the forum is a listed replacement lamp fixture from Acura. Identical to ours but with a switch! Since I bought my scoot new, I hesitated to take bulb out totally so purchased the new fixture and installed it. It has worked flawlessly for 5 + years. BUT that said the fixture doesn't really place light out in a usable format (new one or the OEM). In other words the light doesn't really shine under the seat where needed DOH. I keep a small flashlight (torch) under the seat, next to the owners manual so easy to get to even if dark.

The new fixture was only 20 bucks or so but, I would probably just REMOVE the bulb...

Just last week, I left my seat up over night, killed the battery.

Welcome to the "remove the bulb club".

Most people travel with their phones, which have flashlights, etc...youre fine. I will be.