I just had to put in a new battery and have kept it no a tender when not riding. I've been on the bike twice since installation and both times prior to taking off when I would grab the front brake lever the neutral light would dim slightly. I never noticed this with the other battery.

Is this just something that I didn't pay attention to previously and is normal or do I have a charging/battery problem?

Any help is appreciated.

Keith

I have a 2000 model, so I don’t have power brakes. However since there has been a problem, acknowledged by BMW, of the power brake system using a lot of juice, enough to cause an ABS problem when used “excessively”, I would say it is either normal or your battery is borderline capacity. Did you get the correct amp hours / cold cranking power? Are your terminals clean and tight? Just my 2 cents.

Try fully charging the battery with a battery charger next time before a ride, I used an automatic 10 amp charger as per instructions with the new battery, after installation.

Keith,
I just replaced my battery also, the old one was about 2 years old it would charge fine however, it would not hold a charge. Be sure the new battery is not only charging but holding that charge properly.
A weak battery on the LT can cause all kinds of fluky behavior.

This time of year many rides are of short duration. The drain on the battery with infrequent riding combined with short trips may not be charging an already undercharged battery.

Usually when a light goes dim there is a short of some kind. Check to make sure there are no bare wires around the battery and see it you can figure out if the brake light wiring has worn the cover off the wire. (another 2 cents)

I appreciate the advice. I will check to make sure that none of the wires are shorting, but my bigger concern is that I might have gotten an underpowered battery.

It was a pain trying to find a battery for this bike locally that wasn't a gel battery. I didn't want to buy a new battery and have to invest in a new tender at the same time. Hopefully a nice long ride will top it off if that's the only problem.

Thanks again,
Keith

I bought a battery tender junior for about $20.

Seems to work fine.

I've got two of them already, but it was my understanding that the Jrs. would not work on a gel battery, which is why I went with another lead/acid battery.

Keith

If you get an AGM type battery (Westco or Odyssey), no real need for a tender anyway, unless you park the bike for MONTHS at a time. I have an old Odyssey I took out of my LT when it started showing slight signs of weakening, put it in my lawn tractor a couple months ago when it's battery died, and it started the tractor immediatly, even though it had not been charged in over 7MONTHS! The tractor has not been used for about 8 weeks now, tried it again last weekend just to see, and it started right up. That old Odyssey has never been on a charger.

Now that is the only type of battery I will ever buy for a motorcycle, or anything else for which they are available to fit.

I'm with David,

The Oddysey is the answer to battery problems. I've had all sorts of lousy batteries over the years, including failures in almost new conventional lead/acid units. I really believe that QA in conventional battery manufacturing is lousy. Even the Japanese can't seem to make a consistent product!

The AGM design solves a lot of problems. I put an Oddysey in Helga a year or so ago, and have NO complaints at all. I suspect the thing would power up your car or truck. It's that good.

Spring for a couple bucks extra, and solve your problems for good.

Don