Bike Dead

[New GZ250]

At gas station, went to restart bike, no power, I.e. horn, lights etc. got towed home put it on battery tender, blinks green indicating full charge. Any ideas.

[mrlmd1]

First, check your battery terminal cable connections to make sure they are tight and have not vibrated loose, breaking a connection. And measure your battery voltage to see what it is. Then, check your fuses to see if you have blown the main fuse. If you have no power to anything, it has to be one of those two things.
If you have blown a fuse, then we can go from there.

[New GZ250]

After bike has been hooked up to battery tender, headlights, turn signals show some life. Must be the battery, went thru complete failure at gas station. Battery is pushing three years, strange it went 100% out after getting me to gas station. Going to get one on order, is there a gel battery out there for the GZ?
Thanks for the help.

[Fawlty]

Originally Posted by New GZ250

Battery is pushing three years, strange it went 100% out after getting me to gas station.

I was once told to think of modern day vehicle batteries as light bulbs. They can go just as quickly.

[mrlmd1]

Batteries usually don't fail suddenly, like down to zero, not even a light on. You are going out and buying a new battery on an assumption that that was the problem, and it may not be the case.
I assume you checked the battery connections like I suggested.
Do you have a voltage meter or multimeter? If not, get one, it can be had for less than $5 and you will use it constantly.
You need to measure your battery voltage. A fully charged battery should read 12.6-12.8V at rest a half hour after being charged up. And it should hold that charge if you measure it the next day. After you charge it, if you are worried about it, get it load tested at a gas station or battery place, or auto parts store (and they will do it for free because they want to sell you a new battery). If it fails the load test, (which is almost the same as starting the bike), then you need a new battery.
You also have to measure the battery voltage at the terminals, with the bike running at at least 2500-3500 rpm to see if the charging system is putting out adequate voltage. If the system is working OK, you should measure 14.5-14.5 V at mid-range to high rpm. There has to be a reason that the battery was dead other than being 3 years old. Maybe it wasn't being charged by the bike and if you get a new battery, how does that solve your problem?
I can't say this enough times -- Most of the batteries for this size bike are AGM types, and you better be forewarned - YOU must charge it up fully before first use, before the first time you use it to start the bike, otherwise it will prematurely fail very quickly, very often after only a few starts. Do not rely on a salesman in a battery store telling you the new battery is all set to go, just put it in the bike and go. You will be back there in 2 weeks or less getting another one if you don't fully charge it up yourself first.
And, I keep saying this again too - to solve any problem you have to go about it in a stepwise fashion to diagnose the cause, not just go out and buy parts shotgun style because you think that's what the problem is. If you ask a question here looking for advice, then take that advice, or, just do what you want and see what happens. If you get lucky, then, good for you, but that's not the proper way to do things.

[alantf]

Originally Posted by New GZ250

After bike has been hooked up to battery tender, headlights, turn signals show some life.

How long was it hooked up? half an hour? overnight? What was the voltage reading across the terminals, half an hour after removing the tender? These are things that we need to know, before moving along to the next step.

[New GZ250]

After about a half an hour bike/battery showed some life, dim everything, it had been sitting for two weeks on the battery tender. Battery tender after showed full charge, but head light was very dim. Got stronger the longer I keep on charger, but if I turned bike on, battery tender went red, 5 minutes later showed maintaining charge, turn bike on again, tender went red. I agree it is very strange after getting the bike running, stopping for gas, all the electrical system dead. I am assuming and hoping it is the battery not being able to hold a charge, as the bike is always on a tender. But if I got it towed back, hooked it up to tender, takes minimum charge it is the battery, I hope. Have one on order from Amazon. Load test would be turn ignition on, dim head light, tender turning red as indicating battery can not hold charge, I hope. I assumed it was not the battery, as I got it started, drove it to the gas station, then nothing. Battery's usually do not usually go completely dead after, stating and riding. The American Motorcycle Association tow service was wonderful. You can get the service thru them for free. Hope the new battery does the job, since I have minimum power on the headlights, turn signal, after two hours on tender. Bike is at second home, so could not try after two hours, as we were heading to other. As I left tender showed full charge, but...
Will keep all updated, as I hope battery arrives before next weekend.

[GZ250]

yes battery can die or start failing just like that if it is a bad or low quality battery. I had Yuasa and it lasted for 7 years. it also depend how you care for the battery. during long gaps and in winter i use battery tender a lot.

you battery will charge and show full charge on battery tender. once or twice it may start the bike but it will die instantly like it did. the battery looses its ability to hold the charge - that is the main thing. a LOAD TEST at shop or auto store will confirm that.

[Water Warrior 2]

This may or may not be too relavent but I once had a cage battery go south while I was driving. It just stopped taking and holding a charge. The cage ran off the alternator and the amp meter was showing a maximum charge rate. Drove to Sears, left it running, got a new battery and drove home. Let the new battery charge over night and all was well.
I was surprised to learn that a battery could basically die at the drop of a hat.

[mrlmd1]

Still. the charging system on the bike has to be checked. very simply with the bike running at moderate speed and measuring the voltage at the battery terminals, to see if the battery is getting enough voltage to charge. The battery will be partially depleted during starting of the bike, then will slowly die if it is not being charged during riding. If this is not checked, just replacing the battery will not solve the problem in the medium to long term.

And, also, you are not one of those owners who may make the mistake when turning off the bike of putting the key all the way over to the left in the Park position, leaving on the rear lights, instead of turning it off into the Off position?