New battery wont hold charge

[DevilBoy]

Hiya guys

I know I know, another battery problem.

I bought a new Yuasa battery last summer for my 02 S4, and it ran fine all summer.
Put the bike away for the winter, and charged it up a couple of weekends ago.
Went out for a run, parked up for half hour while I had a cuppa and waited for the rain to stop, and the battery was dead.

Managed to jump it, took it home, and just guessed that it was the rain getting into something, and my bike does NOT like the rain.

So a couple of days ago, charged it up over night, optimate says fully charged.
Took it off charge yesterday, and went to start it today, DEAD.

Tries to tick over once, then slowly dies a death.

Its a new battery, so I am guessing thats not the problem.
Anyone have a check list of stuff I can go through?

Cheers!
DB

[Pomp1]

How long has the bike been away for? If the cells furs that's it,I'm afraid. Also rusted earth cable on the battery or fried regulator perhaps?

[gary tompkins]

Immobiliser/alarm will drain the battery so low it won't recharge. Even though the battery was new before winter, 5 months of sitting in the garage may have killed it. That's why they should always be charged regularly or left on an optimate.

[Rally]

I have just taken delivery of a bike that has sat for a few months and exactly the same. The Optimate shows two green lights as okay, but it just clicks on trying to start it. It is the battery that has failed, as I was in the fortunate position to be able to exchange it to try it with my old bike that hadn't gone yet. It started straight away and ran fine. I think as Max says, if they are left for a while, they fur up and are no good. You need to keep them on an Optimate all the time when not in use.

I collect my new battery tomorrow.

[DevilBoy]

I went to the store I bought the battery at, and the guy told me the same thing.
Leave it sat for 6 months, and it'll kill the battery.

The thing is, i've always left the bike over the winter, and got it back out in the summer.
but then again, i've always had battery problems! :)

I bought a new one at a discounted price, and i'll try and keep this one charged as much as I can this winter.
I still cant believe that they die that easily though.

[analogue_rogue]

my old old old man has had a bike for 12 years with the same battery (it must be some sort of record) he only uses it in the summer and from oct to may the battery comes off and goes on trickle charge (for months at a time) i told him he was crazy but he simply said he checks it once a week and spends less on batteries than anything else!!!!

[chris yeatman]

as i am in the motor trade, i know for a fact they dont make batterys like they used to!!