[ST] Battery/Charging Question.......

[george <gkeslin@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

I had something pretty weird happen with the ST yesterday and was wondering 
if anybody else has experienced this or something similar.

I have a 2002 ST, purchased new 09/02, I've put on ~6600 miles.

I went out for a ride on Friday roughly 80 miles, some stop & go but mostly 
go.  Temp was around 85 and pretty humidity.  I made 3 stops during the 
ride, each stop was no longer than 30 minutes. Parked the bike in the 
garage when I got home around 1:30.  Moved it to it's normal parking spot 
(so the wife would back over it) around 7:00.  Went out about 9:00 to 
attach my GPS in preparation for a long ride on Saturday.

I have it set up to use the power outlet as its power source.  I turned on 
the GPS to make sure it worked and it showed that it was using the internal 
batteries not the bike. Hmmm!  That shouldn't be seeing that the outlet is 
always hot.  Grabbed the keys and turned it on...  Gee, the headlight was 
extremely dim and the dash didn't light up.   The battery appeared to be 
pretty close to dead. What's up with that?

Put my Yuasa charger on it at ~9:30 (battery still in the bike) and the 
test period lasted quite a while (at least 1/2 hour).  Left it connected 
overnight and in the morning it showed it was still charging.  Left for my 
ride at 6am (took the Hawk instead) leaving the battery still connected to 
the charger.  Got home around 6pm to find the battery fully charged.  I 
disconnected the charger and let the bike sit overnight.  This morning 
everything seemed alright.  Turned the key and everything lights up 
fully.  Reconnected the charger, test period lasted a minute, went into 
charging mode for a couple of minutes and then switched into float 
mode.  All normal.

I haven't had a chance to take the bike for a spin yet.  But what I'm 
thinking is, the bike is no longer charging the battery.  Does anybody know 
of a way to test this or do I need to take it back to the dealer?

I never lock the forks in the garage so I know I didn't leave the parking 
lights on.  The heated grips only work when the ignition is on.  I don't 
leave the keys in the ignition so I know I didn't leave it on.  I'm confused!

Thanks!

George


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