[Mick-F]

My 2007 R1200RT has been on the road since March 2008 and it now has 42K miles on it. The battery voltage at rest is 12.75 volts. When I crank it, the voltage drops down to just above 8 volts. Time for a new battery? This is the original one and I will be traveling soon.
Most people say to put in a new one, I am inclined to agree.


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[TeSmSp]

According to Wikipedia's article on Lead-Acid batteries, yours is 100% charged. I would leave it alone.

 

[Gaby]

If I am not mistaken, the voltage while cranking shouldn't drop significantly below 10V, say 9.5V as a minimum.

 

[racer7]

1) If its the oem, at its current age of about 5 yrs it won't go much longer BUT
if it cranks well enough you can probably get by for this summer.
2) Theoretically, that 8V measurement is too low BUT a lot depends on how you did it.
There are very short, very low voltages present (but only for a very brief period) when many motors are cranked by reasonably good batteries. But if you just hook a load tester or some other device to a battery that in effect time averages what you see on the meter due to the slow response of the meter you miss them. So if you got the 8V with a typical VOM or a load tester, its telling you that battery is on the way out.

So where are you going and do you mind begging a jump if you need one?
Do you carry jumper cables that you know how to use?
You might get a chance to test both if you keep using that battery.

FWIW, I'm still using the oem in my 08 and it looks good for another year- but I do trips with a riding partner and carry jumpers (that so far have only been used to start someone else's bike). I also have a Battery Bug on mine which makes it easy to watch for approaching battery death EXCEPT some of the oem gels seem to suffer a "sudden death syndrome", and crap out with no warning at all.

 

[Mick-F]

Thanks for the info.

I will probably get an Odyssey PC680 Battery next month, $114.00 delivered. If the thing goes on the road somewhere, you know what a battery will cost me. Plus something could be shaking loose inside too. It's done its job and now it will be my strobe battery for the old stuff.

 

[beech]

With that cranking voltage I am surprised the ABS doesn't fault. That battery is toast. Good price on the battery you want, get the right angle post adapters too. Here is a very good site to purchase batteries, read less expensive than most and less than half what the dealer wants .
The high performance Yuasa batteries are great if you don't want an Odyssey. Interesting site with information to be learned.
http://sepbatteries.com/

 

[Gaby]

I think that the PC680 will fit a 1200RT without any additional hardware.

 

[1964Hall]

I used a couple of 2" long 1/2" rubber tubes to pack out the clamp a little. Straightened the cable eyelets a little and has been good for the last 3 years and 55,000 miles.
Used daily mostly, optimate not used.
\v/