I posted awhile ago that my endless problems were coming to a end , Well .... Im not so sure , Decided to go for a quick spin this afternoon , engine struggled to spin over and did not fire , battery flat again ! , Bike has been stood under cover for exactly a week , So out with the battery charger yet again , 45 mins charge is enough to get things running again and off I eventually went for my ride 2 dealers have now had my bike in and told me that there is nothing wrong with the battery and nothing wrong with the charging system , I was asked if I kept the key near the bike as this might be drawing some charge out the battery ! , Also did I leave the steeering lock on as this might also be drawing some charge , What is going on here ??? Am I now supposed to leave the steering lock off ? I thought we were supposed to use this to stop the bike getting nicked ? Riders very kindly at no charge fitted a optimate connection to my bike after there anylisis and suggested I hook it up to one when not using the bike , Well thats all well and good but im sorry a 11 month old bike of this so called calibre should not have a flat battery after a week , or even a month or two , It was also suggested that since my first mysterious flat battery back in the summer that maybe I had not had a sufficiently long ride out to get it fully charged again , I accepted this as a possibilty however 3 weeks ago I rode 320 miles up to Cumbria and 320 back again a couple days later so thats definately not the case now While back in whinge mode ... I noticed a post on here regarding left hand switchgear buttons not working , Well mine were malfunctioning when the bike was 3 months old , only momentarily so along with other minor issues I had never mentioned it as I had more serious gripes , The button thing is getting worse though now , liberal spray of wd 40 cures it until it sees some wet weather again, While riding last weekend my engine died on me , only for a split second but looks like that issue is going to creep back again I and the bike are back in sunny Somerset now and I live at the end of a very muddy and wet country lane , this bike doesnt stand a chance , It cant take the salt of the North , It cant take wet weather or the muddy lanes of here, Its marketed as Enduro capability ! What a joke! , a absolute joke at that , A Yamaha R1 is a better enduro bike than a Multistrada .............. curiously enough I havent seen a Multi out on the road in the last month , lots of BMW S , Harleys and assorted jap bikes though !
Better sell it quick then & buy an R1, I've had my 10 reg for 18 months now & its never let me down once
OK. Electronics engineer here. Has someone measured the discharge rate when the bike is off? Remove the (-) terminal and connected back again via a sensitive ammeter. Say it's drawing 0.125Amps thats enough to discharge the battery in one week. We've got numerous vehicles and sadly all the newer ones self discharge within a week or two. Our vital workshop van has a battery protection module (£135) fitted to cut the battery off from the vehicle at 10.95Volts (2 minute timer). Reconnects when you press the brake pedel. As fitted to emergency vehicles. Another thing if the battery has ever been below 10.2 volts then it's capacity is massively reduced. Consider a new battery, Lithium cells can withstand a total flat, Lead acid and gel types cannot. Go with the optimiser. I've got them on all our bikes. And I meant to say that my 2010 Multistrada 1200S did the same thing after just five days (before the optimiser). I just accept it these days that bikes, cars or vans with CAN bus or similar just drain batteries. Thats before you consider the alarms and trackers etc.
Strange one, I have had similar though? Did 4k miles round Europe earlier this year and the bike didn't miss a beat. Parked up in garage on my return, no kill switch down etc, but didn't plug the battery conditioner in. Washed the bike 4 days later, tried to start it but failed, tried a couple of times more and the battery was flat. Overnight on the conditioner, got it going again and for the rest of this summer it didn't miss a beat again, odd? Swap the conditioner between car and bike at least twice a week over the winter, just to be safe.
I havent run my bike for a good month maybe more and started it today .....it cranked a bit slow but fired up ok , it doesnt sound right that it is struggling after just a week , yes there could be a drain dragging the battery down or like already has been said it could be the battery , a battery is a chemical device being stood in the cold will reduce its effect to crank the engine over . If you take the bike to the bike shop and they do a drop test on the battery very often it will pass that test , the conditions are not the same ......leave the battery out in the cold for a week and then do a drop test ....it may fail then . To the OP if you leave the bike stood for a week or so try taking the earth lead off the battery then you know that nothing on the bike can drag it down , connect the earth when you need to use the bike if it struggles now you know its the battery going off
Many thanks for all your comments , It was suggested to me by Riders that its not unusual for a modern machine to run a battery down in a week or two and I take on board that this may be the case , If so then its a sad state of affairs indeed for modern bikes , Furthermore when I leave my bike I dont know whether I will be jumping on it the following day or not for a week or more so I,ll have to plug a optimiser in every time just to be safe , No good to me at all , my bike is garaged 50 metres away from my house on the other side of a communal courtyard , I cant permenantly leave a live extension lead running to it , My last bike .... 08 Yamaha FZ1 sat outside the back of a hotel in southern Scotland all through the bitterly cold winter of year before last , sometimes for 3 weeks or more at a time , never failed to start once , just roared into life at the touch of the start button , Thanks again for your comments , I,ll be back into Riders with it again this week and post the outcome
848 sat dor a couple of months, 2nd press boom. Not sure if the keyless bits on the Multi have a different affect
The multistrada is a very high tech product, and the electrics never really "sleep". My dealer fitted a optimate fly lead to mine from new, his call not mine. I therefore plug it in all the time and no probs. I was told a similar story of battery drain the other day, by a BMW dealer about my 5 series. That's progress. Buy an old bike, they never let you down!!!
Same with me - came with an optimate flylead already on it - and since I always use one on all my bikes, it has never had a problem. I guess the OP needs to ask the question "Do I want to pay out (a relatively) small amount to solve the problem, or continue to argue it out with the dealer". I'm guessing that Ducati (like most others) fits a battery that will do the job, but not the best quality to avoid additional cost. My guess is that the earlier problems mean that yours won't hold a charge properly anymore, despite what the testing says, and you need a new one. Even if the dealer replaces it, it will probably be with the same one again. In your position I think I would shell out for a better battery (of the type mentioned by AirConTechnician) to just sort it out. BTW - I know you shouldn't have to, I know it's only xx months old etc etc etc, but sometimes it's better to just sort the issue and enjoy your bike...
You haven't said if you have an alarm or tracker? Washed mine (finally) at the weekend and although it hadn't been started for almost a month as I'd been on holiday it fired up OK. My Aprilia Tuono would drain the battery like a teenager with a can of Red Bull, I had three batteries in 5 years.
I work offshore, away on work for 2-3weeks at a time. My MTS have never had a problem with battery power when I come home and take her out She has never seen av battery tender.. But have got one now to keep the battery warm during the cold, Norwegian winter months :smile:
Over two years old with a Ducati alarm fitted goes out in most weathers there have been one or two niggles but it has always started, longest non use was during snowy weather but have not had to use a charger in that time, the Ducati alarm has an internal battery (i think) so should not be a drain on main battery, sounds like you have leakage somewhere. An inline ammeter would be the first check with bike in normal parked mode ( i always leave mine with the steering lock on and the kill switch up), then check charging rate.
On the test rides it was obvious that a lot of battery power was needed to crank the big engine over, even when warm. So I fitted an Optimate as soon as I got Mutley home. I've always had an Optimates fitted to my bikes and never suffered battery problems. However, I can understand Dave's problem if he isn't near an electrical supply. Don't know what he's going to do there. Solar panels?
