Battery getting drained..

[Cagleicious]

So my battery is getting drained by something I think.
Ive got a LED kit, but I've had it for 8+ months & the battery never went dead. I installed a HID light about 2 months ago & everything was good, I went out of town & didn't ride because of the weather, & the battery was dead.
I charged it up & got it running, then came back today (prolly 2 weeks later) & the battery is close to dead again.
We've had some crazy cold weather here lately, & I'm not sure if that's the cause or if it might be the HID kit? Is there any way to test this or should I just leave a tender on it? The bike stays in a detached garage, but it's right by the door so really not much cold protection.

Thoughts or how to test if it's something drawing power?

 

[FZ6R_Blue]

Do you have a Voltmeter? If you do you can check to see if your battery has the juice its supposed to 12.XX and then start your bike let it warm up a bit and test the battery again while holding the throttle at about 3k to see if your charging system(regulator/stator) is good and if all that checks out, it may be just your lack of riding and cold weather. batteries do not like cold or sitting for any length of time


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dB7CFqVlhtI"]Motorcycle Repair : How to Check a Motorcycle Battery - YouTube[/ame]

 

[Fizzer6R]

how old is the battery?...maybe it's just at the end of it's life

 

[Nastybutler]

Also, you can take your voltmeter and once the battery is fully charged, with the ignition off, see what the voltage is, and look to see if you can watch it slowly droping voltage. Give it a minute or so and if the voltage holds steady, there's probably nothing draining it.

If you do notice it slowly dropping, you can start removeing fuses one at a time to isolate which system is causing the drop.

 

[KeysRider3]

So my battery is getting drained by something I think.
Ive got a LED kit, but I've had it for 8+ months & the battery never went dead. I installed a HID light about 2 months ago & everything was good, I went out of town & didn't ride because of the weather, & the battery was dead.
I charged it up & got it running, then came back today (prolly 2 weeks later) & the battery is close to dead again.
We've had some crazy cold weather here lately, & I'm not sure if that's the cause or if it might be the HID kit? Is there any way to test this or should I just leave a tender on it? The bike stays in a detached garage, but it's right by the door so really not much cold protection.

Thoughts or how to test if it's something drawing power?

Is it a sealed battery? If not it's a little more prone to cold/heat sensitivity especially if the electrolyte is weak, and you're not riding every couple of days. You'll need a hydrometer to test the specific gravity of the electrolyte. If you don't have a hydrometer, or a volt or multimeter you can pull your battery and have it load tested at a parts store like Advance, or Autozone. If the electrolyte is down, or the specific gravity is out-of-whack (that's the technical term) they can add the required acid or distilled water so the battery can be properly charged. If it tests okay but you're not riding it for weeks at a time then put a Tender on the battery.

 

[FitZ6R]

To diagnose whether there's a parasitic drain on the battery, disconnect one of the battery cables next time you park the bike and see if the isolated battery holds its charge.

Of course, you really should have battery tender in any case.

 

[Cagleicious]

Turns out it was an old battery.. Bike is an 09' but just bought new in March of last year.
They must have charged the battery up that was in it and it fortunately worked fine all summer..

Thanks for the help dudes!