Virago drains battery?

Help & Advice
1

This is so annoying and it’s been happening since l got this bike. If l don’t ride it the battery goes flat. No obvious reason.

Took the battery out for winter. Stored it [battery 1year old!] Charged fully 2wks ago. Went for a few rides. Left the bike for 2wks. Came back. Boom. Won’t even start at all. Controls won’t even come up after turning the key. Completely flat.

I had a phone charger and heated grips connected for last season, but this is all off now.
I mean the new-ish battery should hold some juice right ?

WHY damit. l am so fed up :slight_smile: help ? :slight_smile:

2

have you checked that the sator or Regulator isnt faulty

1 Like
3

thanks for the suggestion, found some vids on how to do that. will check this…but first, need to charge the bat to even do any tests :slight_smile:

4

A multimeter is you best friend here.

I’d suspect either the battery is not up to the job or there is an excessive standby current drain. Carry out a standby current drain test – Set the multimeter to the 20mA range. Remove the battery negative lead and connect the multimeter between the battery’s negative lead and negative terminal. Check your results with the workshop manual specification.

edit: Check the battery Ah and CCA ratings against the workshop manual specifications too.

2 Likes
5

I had an XV750 for ten years and, from my experience, it’s fair to say those bikes aren’t the most reliable, there were many instances when I had to bump start it due to battery/starter issues as well as the infamous Virago starter clutch which failed on a regular basis (costing £200+ to replace each time).

My advice is to swap the battery for a new one in the first instance to eliminate that from the equation, then if the problem continues get the other electricals checked as advised by others here.

Lost count of the number of times I had to bump start it with the help of despatch riders etc. Fun days.