gsx s 125 battery

[flea.rider]

so 3 times last week i've had to bump start my bike .. (at my age it's not good ) it's been cold .. but i did ride it round for hr each time to charge it .. today i've had to put it on charge .. was down to 10v ..
do you think is knackered ? it's only just over a yr old .. £40 gets me a Motobatt MBTZ7S AGM Gel Motorcycle Battery ..

 

[IC3]

Get a voltmeter (£5 cheapo will do, unless you've one) check the voltage when the bike is running/charging the battery to determine if the alternator is ok. Even if the bike is 1 year old, you don't know how long that battery was sitting in the warehouse and in what conditions. If it keeps loosing charge quickly, its very likely the battery is bad or you've battery drain/bad earth somewhere or an accessory like an usb charging port that was fit incorrectly.

 

[Noakesy85]

It could well be the battery at fault, or you could have a bad earth somewhere that's causing a drain on the battery. I doubt its the rectifier (bike version of an alternator) as you say you ride for an hour at a time. If the rectifier was at fault the bike would most likely die on you whilst you were out riding it. A friend of mine had almost the exact same issue with his CBR600RR except his bike would die after about 20 minutes of riding after charging the battery. Turned out his rectifier was fubar'd.

The only way to 100% sure though would be to do as IC3 says, buy a cheap voltmeter and check the battery whilst the bike is running. You'd be looking for around 13/14v

 

[Diddums]

Did you buy the bike used? If so, does it have a tracker fitted? I had a tracker on my last bike and the battery in it died over winter, meaning that it drew all its power from the bike's battery instead. It killed three batteries costing me £lol, eventually had the tracker replaced FOC and that sorted it once and for all. Also also, when I sold the bike I cancelled the tracker sub meaning that it was technically dead, but the tracker company (Biketrac) told me that they could reinstate it at any time if wanted, which to me means that it would likely still draw power even if inactive. I told the kid who bought it about it and he simply paid for the sub again.

As @Noakesy85 says if the bike charges the battery then it's probably not the rectifier. If the battery drains too quickly again then something is killing it. Find out what it is before spending money on a new battery as it'll simply die again.

 

[flea.rider]

Get a voltmeter (£5 cheapo will do, unless you've one) check the voltage when the bike is running/charging the battery to determine if the alternator is ok. Even if the bike is 1 year old, you don't know how long that battery was sitting in the warehouse and in what conditions. If it keeps loosing charge quickly, its very likely the battery is bad or you've battery drain/bad earth somewhere or an accessory like an usb charging port that was fit incorrectly.

did the multi meter thing .. 14.4v when running .. 11.8 when not .. new battery will be here tom .. thx

 

[IC3]

did the multi meter thing .. 14.4v when running .. 11.8 when not .. new battery will be here tom .. thx

Are there any additional wires attached to the battery that don't look stock? A lot of time it'll be a wire with an inline fuse, might be some kind of an accessory. Those numbers look healthy, but some batteries that are dodgy can't always be ruled out purely by checking the volts. If you don't ride over winter, I would take out the battery and store it in house.

Another thing it might be a dodgy ground/earth somewhere, the lower CC bikes are assembled in 3rd world countries, the QC is pretty much non-existent.

 

[Nomisf]

Did you buy the bike used? If so, does it have a tracker fitted? I had a tracker on my last bike and the battery in it died over winter, meaning that it drew all its power from the bike's battery instead. It killed three batteries costing me £lol, eventually had the tracker replaced FOC and that sorted it once and for all. Also also, when I sold the bike I cancelled the tracker sub meaning that it was technically dead, but the tracker company (Biketrac) told me that they could reinstate it at any time if wanted, which to me means that it would likely still draw power even if inactive. I told the kid who bought it about it and he simply paid for the sub again.

As @Noakesy85 says if the bike charges the battery then it's probably not the rectifier. If the battery drains too quickly again then something is killing it. Find out what it is before spending money on a new battery as it'll simply die again.

I might be inclined to try leaving it with the regulator/rectifier uplugged though - and see if it still drains. My RE Himalayan has a perfectly functional reg/rec but it drains the battery if left - apparently a common issue on certain reg/recs.

 

[Terminal_Boy]

Set the multimeter to DC Current and see if there’s any current draw with the lights off and ignition key removed.

Between 25-30 milliamperes is okay. Anything above 75 milliamperes needs investigation.