[Iron1967]

Went out to the garage tonight, feeling giddy as I took my bike cover off, and smiling in anticipation of the ride I was about to enjoy. Pushed the starter switch..and nothing. Huh? Tried a couple more times, then checked the voltage reading on the display and 9 volts is all that was showing. I have 1500 miles on my bike, purchased less than 2 months ago, so quite the surprise. It has only been 10-12 days since I last rode, so very surprised a battery cannot make it that long without dropping that much voltage. Pulled the battery out and slow charging, so will see what happens. I previously rode a 2016 Dark Horse before buying this Challenger and always had my battery tender plugged in when not riding. For some reason, I have not used the tender on the new bike, but apparently I need to go back to my old maintenance habits. YUASA is a good battery, so don't think I can blame them. Just thought I would share, as I have seen a few posts about Challenger batteries going dead!

UPDATE: The battery charged completely, and after 24 hours off the tender, the resting voltage was holding above 12.7v. Reinstalled and checked voltage again after 12 hours in the bike and it was holding at 12.4v (gauge display reads 12.2). Bike ran no problem and after checking voltage again the next morning, battery was reading at 12.4v again. The gauge display seems to normally read 12.2 when initially activating the electronics. Bottom line, batter tender is connected and will be a normal part of my preventive maintenance again.

 

[Baron58]

Usually when a battery drops below 10 volts its toast.

 

[hsierra59]

Tinjunjn had to replace his battery, he got his bike back in November. His post
Update. Service manager called today and said the battery was defective. They had charged it up more than once but it tested bad after sitting over the weekend. New battery installed(no charge). All diagnostics done. No parasitic draw. The bike is unpowered after 20 seconds. Battery voltage stable. The bike does pull about 1 volt on power up. This appears normal for these bikes. Example: 13.3v to 12.4v.
Looks like two bad batteries in 7 months of ownership. Real pleased with how my dealer responded. I have two great dealers within 2 hours. One is less than an hour away. Dealers are swamped with service right now. Thankful that they moved me to the front of the list to fix my problem.

One day went to start my bike and got this code "C2369" Data Valid but Below Normal Operating Range. I googled it and found on a Victory forum to put bike on the battery tender. I did it for a couple of hours and she started right up. Went to the dealer and he couldn't find anything other than headlight fault. I put in an Eagle headlight. So far so good no problems, dealer also said errors we get they don't always show on their end

 

[Bird Dog]

Went out to the garage tonight, feeling giddy as I took my bike cover off, and smiling in anticipation of the ride I was about to enjoy. Pushed the starter switch..and nothing. Huh? Tried a couple more times, then checked the voltage reading on the display and 9 volts is all that was showing. I have 1500 miles on my bike, purchased less than 2 months ago, so quite the surprise. It has only been 10-12 days since I last rode, so very surprised a battery cannot make it that long without dropping that much voltage. Pulled the battery out and slow charging, so will see what happens. I previously rode a 2016 Dark Horse before buying this Challenger and always had my battery tender plugged in when not riding. For some reason, I have not used the tender on the new bike, but apparently I need to go back to my old maintenance habits. YUASA is a good battery, so don't think I can blame them. Just thought I would share, as I have seen a few posts about Challenger batteries going dead! View attachment 601187


UPDATE: The battery charged completely, and after 24 hours off the tender, the resting voltage was holding above 12.7v. Reinstalled and checked voltage again after 12 hours in the bike and it was holding at 12.4v (gauge display reads 12.2). Bike ran no problem and after checking voltage again the next morning, battery was reading at 12.4v again. The gauge display seems to normally read 12.2 when initially activating the electronics. Bottom line, batter tender is connected and will be a normal part of my preventive maintenance again.

I have found that it is best to follow this course of action with my 2020 Challenger as well, last fall my battery completely died on me going 12 days without riding the motorcycle, it would not take a charge. If I know I will not be riding my motorcycle for more than a couple of days I plug the battery tender in. I had my new battery go down this summer with just 5 days of not riding the motorcycle enough that I had to recharge it.

 

[Dave H]

I may have posted this before. In the old days, batteries were shipped without acid. The acid was added and a small charge applied when the battery was purchased. Thus, the new battery was actually new. Now, batteries ship with the acid loaded. Thus they begin to get old immediately. Add to that the world is filthy with unsold batteries, and this is what happens.

 

[camoto]

I may have posted this before. In the old days, batteries were shipped without acid. The acid was added and a small charge applied when the battery was purchased. Thus, the new battery was actually new. Now, batteries ship with the acid loaded. Thus they begin to get old immediately. Add to that the world is filthy with unsold batteries, and this is what happens.

The last (at least 5) Yuasa batteries I have purchased in the last decade have shipped with a separate container for acid that you add to the battery, let it stand for 30 minutes or so and then top off the charge. I prefer LiFePO4's like Antigravity or Shorai and they don't have that problem because, well way different chemistry but there's the cold weather drawback of them.

 

[Dave H]

The last (at least 5) Yuasa batteries I have purchased in the last decade have shipped with a separate container for acid that you add to the battery, let it stand for 30 minutes or so and then top off the charge. I prefer LiFePO4's like Antigravity or Shorai and they don't have that problem because, well way different chemistry but there's the cold weather drawback of them.

Excellent. I didn't think you could get them unloaded anymore.

 

[TNINJUN]

If my bike sits for 3-4 weeks with no tender the battery will be dead. I’ve been through this three times now.

 

[TNINJUN]

Just updated the other thread. My bike will now receive its FOURTH battery. Little over 2 years of ownership and 5k miles and FOUR batteries. The bike does not have an issue per the dealer. This Polaris batteries are junk. This will be my last battery from Polaris/Indian. Dealer was great and took good care of me and the bike. Still love riding the bike. Don't like baby sitting the battery. Major turn off. May be time to sell or trade for spring.

 

[mxaaron0392]

I run battery tenders on both of mine year round, even when I ride them every day.

 

[Justriding]

Just updated the other thread. My bike will now receive its FOURTH battery. Little over 2 years of ownership and 5k miles and FOUR batteries. The bike does not have an issue per the dealer. This Polaris batteries are junk. This will be my last battery from Polaris/Indian. Dealer was great and took good care of me and the bike. Still love riding the bike. Don't like baby sitting the battery. Major turn off. May be time to sell or trade for spring.

It's not the battery ....lol

 

[TNINJUN]

It's not the battery ....lol

Any ideas on what to check?

 

[KYJoe]

I run battery tenders on both of mine year round, even when I ride them every day.

Same here. Can't hurt. When I get home and pull in the garage I have the tender cord laying right beside where I park. Now, if I ride early in the day and when I get home if there is a pretty good chance I will be riding again later that same day I may not plug up the tender but, otherwise the tender gets plugged in.

 

[mxaaron0392]

None of my dirt bikes, which sometime sit for a couple weeks between rides, has ever needed a tender. Battery voltage rarely drops. I've just always assumed that these Indian bikes have a lot of parasitic draw, with all of the electronics.

 

[Bird Dog]

My Challenger is very woke, it identifies as a EV. So I have to plug it in whenever I'm not riding it.

 

[DanJ]

Any ideas on what to check?

I've ran into stuff like this before with older cars and some older bikes. I just attach an amp clamp around the positive battery cable to see if there is an amp draw, if there is I just start pulling fuses one at a time til the amp draw drops or goes away. That will at least get you to the correct circuit.

 

[Hoseman]

Maximum parasitic drain is .2ma - service man.

 

[Liverok4now]

Hoseman I’m thinking you may have the decimal in the wrong place. My Challenger service manual states 2.0 mA after 12 minutes with power off.
After I had let my Challenger battery (two actually I managed to kill) be drained too far several times I checked the draw on mine and it was well below 2.0 mA. However, I had added a lighting isolator for pulling a trailer and found that it seemed to be increasing the draw, even without trailer lights plugged in. I had run the power supply and ground to the isolator directly from the battery. It appears that diode “leakage” may have been adding load. Testing parasitic load with the isolator attached brought the reading well above 3 mA. I have since changed the power supply to the isolator to be from the rear accessory plug which is a switched power supply.
Way too long story to say that since then, I went to one of the new no.co lithium batteries and one of their lithium battery maintenance chargers. You can keep the charger always hooked up when not riding. The battery has plenty of reserve for several days without charge. And if I do manage to draw it down to less than 10.5V, I don’t have to worry about sulfating and killing the battery. Just recharge and go. No I’m not a salesman!
Kind of a PITA I know, but there’s peace of mind in there…
I hope this helps someone!

 

[Hoseman]

Hoseman I’m thinking you may have the decimal in the wrong place. My Challenger service manual states 2.0 mA after 12 minutes with power off.
After I had let my Challenger battery (two actually I managed to kill) be drained too far several times I checked the draw on mine and it was well below 2.0 mA. However, I had added a lighting isolator for pulling a trailer and found that it seemed to be increasing the draw, even without trailer lights plugged in. I had run the power supply and ground to the isolator directly from the battery. It appears that diode “leakage” may have been adding load. Testing parasitic load with the isolator attached brought the reading well above 3 mA. I have since changed the power supply to the isolator to be from the rear accessory plug which is a switched power supply.
Way too long story to say that since then, I went to one of the new no.co lithium batteries and one of their lithium battery maintenance chargers. You can keep the charger always hooked up when not riding. The battery has plenty of reserve for several days without charge. And if I do manage to draw it down to less than 10.5V, I don’t have to worry about sulfating and killing the battery. Just recharge and go. No I’m not a salesman!
Kind of a PITA I know, but there’s peace of mind in there…
I hope this helps someone!

This is what I found on page 10.145 of the shop manual. Does your's read the same? It's been awhile since I had read it so I guess I was off a little.

7. Wait 10 minutes before checking the value. Vehicles will vary, but electronic components will take time to fully go to sleep after switched power is removed.
8. Maximum allowable is 10 milliamps. If your meter is ranged to the 10 Amp scale, this will appear as 0.010 Amps.
9. If over 10 milliamps, go to the fuse block and start 10 systematically removing one fuse at a time until the value drops, indicating the circuit that requires
attention.

 

[Liverok4now]

Yes mine does as well except we must have different revisions of the Challenger service manual. The part number for my manual is 9850038 rev. 01. The testing procedure is on page 10.151 in mine. It also list max current draw of .01 DCA (10 mA) with key off. Good luck and I hope you find a smoking gun! Please let us know.