I have a 2002 kawasaki ninja 500R. My bike is in storage right now and when i go to start it everyonce in awhile the battery is dead. I was wondering if there would be anything drawing the power from it?

 

Hey Mini

make sure your terminals are clean and the battery has a good charge. your battery may just be on the way out too.

you can tell if you have a draw on the battery if you have a digital multimeter. you take off the negative battery cable, put the positive lead on the cable and put the negative lead on the battery where the neg cable goes. have the meter on the mV scale. most cars run about 20 mV so I would think it would be less than that.

 

Five years is about the average lifespan for a bike that is not regularly hooked up to a trickle-charger when stored.
Even if you buy a Battery Tender Junior and charge the daylights out of it now, it probably won't hold a charge very well.
You can get one of these:


But once a battery starts to go, it can take other components with it, like the regulator/rectifier, fuses or switches. Replacing the battery now and getting a battery tender can avoid such problems.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
Peace!
-CCinC

 

+1

 

Make sure the water level is up as well. If its not, use distilled water to fill it back up to its appropiate level.
-Cody

 

This is right, aside from the mV thing. You want to see it on the ampere setting, not voltage.
-Cody

 

The amperage is measured in mV, when it's less than 1 amp

 

Like the other guys have said, if you have the original battery in the bike, it's probably time to install a new one. Just make sure when you fill the new one, you tap it on the table a few times before you start charging it. This gets the air bubbles off of the plates and avoids dead spots. A long, slow trickle charge is better than a 200amp zap, so don't get in a hurry.

 

how can anyone post something so stupid, oh that was me it's mA not mV sorry man. my bad

Thanks for the correction Cody

 

do we have 6volt or 12 volt batteries on the bikes?