I had a brief QS issue yesterday. First issue in 6000 miles. 3 times in 2hr tide the QS failed to work on up shifts from 2 to 3. I put it down to possible loose connections and vowed to check everything when I got home. A new issue - possibly the cause of yesterday’s quick shifter incident. Skip to the end for my actual question. I think my battery is on the way out. Washed the bike for the first time in ages last night - as a prelude for checking the QS and also clutch switches etc. After washing the bike I always run her till the fan comes on - to assist drying her out. Wheeled her into the garage as the fan came on and hit the kill switch. Fan was on a for a few mins as was the headlight (without engine running). I plugged her into the optimate when I put her away (as I always do). This afternoon took her for a test ride - switched on and “low battery” warning on dash. Fired her up and took her for a 20mile ride (she started fine). Quick shifter is now all fine btw. Stopped after 20 miles and in the info part of the settings voltage was going between 13V and 15v and HIGH while engine running. Stopped the engine briefly (I was visiting someone). Low battery alert then arrived from my tracking device. On restart same warning Low Battery - now accompanied by a CEL. On the way home the running lights were visibly flickering and random lights coming on on the dash. Get her home and get out the DVM. Attached to the optimate she’s reading 13.7V which drops to 10V when I power her up. So yeah, the battery is really flat. TL;DR How good are the stock batteries? I am used to replacing batteries after 5 yrs or so but not so much after 18months. But if the stock battery is really crappy quality then yeah-I’m happy to pay for a new battery (I see them as service items tbh) but want to be sure that this isn’t a sign of a charging issue.
Don’t know the answer but the batteries these days seem easy to kill. Bet if you had a chat with your dealer they would replace foc or with a massive discount.
IMO it’s likely to be water ingress in the loom rather than a battery. I mean the battery might be draining from bad earth cause by water in the loom… I had issues with mine caused by how the bike trac had been fitted, issues with indicators coming on etc when the bike was washed, then had a failed headlight unit where it filled with water. Appreciate you’ve done 6k miles but the amount of ‘glitches’ sound a lot like water ingress. if you do replace the battery, make sure you leave the battery disconnected for several minutes to allow the ECU’s to all drain completely, I was told this or you can lock them and it has to go to the dealer (technically there is something like 5 on the bike)
Thanks for the replies. Re water ingress-the bike hadn’t seen water / been washed in 1000 miles. Maybe it was the bike throwing a Ducati Queen hissy fit. I’ve got her on charge , as always, overnight. I’ll check the voltage tomorrow and if the battery is borked I’ll replace and report back. I CBA chasing the dealer for a £50 part - my time is worth more than that. If I chase them it’ll be weeks as opposed to Tuesday.
Don’t know the answer to your problem, but regarding the original battery quality, Yuasa fitted on my 899 did over 6 years which I thought was very good, have replaced it with the same. I do think alarms and trackers kill batteries off quickly though, nothing like that fitted on my bike.
Running an engine till the coolant water is hot will not necessarily put the same amount of charge into the battery as the starting of the engine took out of it. You would be better taking it for a 5 mile ride. Worst thing that you could do to a bike anyway as the oil will not be up to temperature. Your 13.7 volts that you saw was the optimate voltage and has nothing to do with the battery. The 10 volts of the battery, I assume with ignition off, means the battery is toast. You can only check a battery voltage with nothing running, otherwise you see the alternator voltage, or as above, the optimate voltage.
I don’t think it’s a Yuasa in the V2, my V2 could be left 3-4 weeks with the tracker on it without issues, I used to try and put it on charge though every few weeks anyway
