I had a successful trip to Austin. Only got rained on in NB. Austin was sunny and warm......maybe I oughta move there !

I got the Extreme #24HLBS. It's an AGM battery. Has a 1 year warrenty with 21Ah. It ws $82.68 including tax at Discount Batteries on Burnet. He recommended I charge the battery once a week since I ride everyday (when not raining ) because the charging system on most bikes isn't enough to keep'em up to snuff. WhadoIknow!

I had Westco that still registered good but wouldn't hol a charge, go figure. He could have ordered a Westco battery (I didn't understand that) but I got the Exteme. I hope it's as good as the Westco (it had 22Ah).

Just thought y'all would like to know.

If you're keeping it above 3000 rpms most of the time, you shouldn't need a charger unles it sits for a couple of weeks. I think the only time I used a charger in 17 years of Voyager ownership was to charge a new battery.

I still think mine is going south. The bike sat for about three weeks (without putting the tender on it at all). When I did get it out last Saturday, it wouldn't crank fast enough to ignite. I charged it on the tender for about ten or fifteen minutes. It cranked right up after that. I took two short rides on it that afternoon of about 80 miles total. When I was about two miles from home, the battery light came on.

It took the tender overnight to bring the battery back to full charge. Tonight, I went on three rides totalling just over 50 miles, probably an hour and a half of riding as it was mainly in town. When I got back, the tender was placed back on it (around 8:00). It is now 11:00 and it is still not fully charged. I checked my battery connections and both seem clean and tight. The battery installed is a Magna Power. I think that it's either a Wal-Mart brand or it comes from a place like AutoZone. The bike is an '01 with around 16,000 mi. It shouldn't be the alternator/stator yet, should it?

Tomorrow will be the test. I leading a group from my church on about a 200 mile ride. I'm tempted to ride my little CB250. It isn't battery dependent.

The battery light on the Voyager is for battery fluid level. Check that all the cells in the battery are at the proper level and add water if necessary. Relying on the battery level indicator is not a good idea. I've seen cases where the level of the cell with the indicator probe was OK but other cells were way below the lower limit. Unfortunately, running a battery at very low water levels can shorten its life.

Regardless, I'm gonna put the tender on the battery once a week to see if I can get it to last more than 2 years! I figure an AGM battery should last longer.

I now have had my battery on a 2amp charge for over 3 hours. I put my battery tender on and the light is red (charging), not green (charged or storage) as expected.

Is this normal? Or, is the lumination of a red or green light "vague" as far as the status of the battery?

Who knows?

Hey, MM;
Have you checked the voltage of the battery with a VOM? Some batteries are bad right out of the box.
If the voltage is below 8 or 9, an automatic charger (like the Battery Tender) will not charge it. This doesn't mean the battery is bad, it just means the voltage is low. Use a manual charger (an old-style one that has some sort of timer on it that you set), and charge it for a couple of hours, then check the voltage. If it's over 10 or 11 volts, put the battery tender on it to finish the charge. If it isn't, put the manual charger back on it for a couple of more hours. HINT: put your meter across the battery poles before you shut off the manual charger, and watch what your meter does when you shut off the manual charger. If you get a rapid voltage drop of more than 2-2.5 volts, then chances are there is a shorted cell and the battery is bad. Even partially charged, a good battery will drop less than 1.5 volts when you shut off the charger (this is called 'surface charge' , and a 1 volt or less drop is normal) If it checks good, just connect the battery tender, and let it finish the job. (NOTE: an 'automotive style' battery checker will not work accurately on a small motorcycle battery.)
Good Luck!!

Ride Safe & Sane;
Hank & 'Rusty'

Let me give that a try tomorrow. Thanks

Yeah, what Hank said- I had a glass mat sealed batty bad out of the box; that is it didn't last 6 weeks. Wish I'd kept the paper work on it