dead battery, disconnect, LED speedo is still lit up

[papa smurf]

My battery is 3 yrs old approx, and sat through a really cold winter for maybe 4 or 5 months without being started. I thought i'd put a trickle charger on it just to see what would happen. It was completely and totally dead.

 

I let it charge for a couple of hours and just wanted to go see how it was coming along. I flipped the key on and the LED speedo lit up, but then i started hearing some soft popping and the trickle charger was sorta trying to flicker as well, so i turned the key off, but the LED illuminated speedo stayed lit.

 

I disconnected the battery ground, still lit. I disconnected the positive lead and the speedo was stilll lit. It's sitting out in my garage right now I assume.... still lit up.

 

I've accepted the fact that this is a good time to replace the battery, but what the heck is up with that speedo???

[Dano]

Dumb question, do you still have the trickle charger hooked up to the wiring?

[Cougar]

Not sure about the speedo problem, but there will be someone here shortly

to explain it to you. I would like to know myself why the speedo is doing that as well.

 

As far as the battery , AFTER you get a new one. (if acid) and you live in a place like I do.

Make sure every winter you bring it in doors to protect it from freezing, once it

as done that a couple times your battery is pretty much toast, that is why I went

with Odyssey Battery's (they will not freeze.) , I also have learned over the past 5 years is to make sure you use there charger as well. otherwise it will sulfate , and will never charge properly ,,, just my 2 cents worth. AT least keep the acid battery on a trickle charge ALL winter long so it will not freeze.

Jeff

[Cougar]

Good Question Dano.. didn't think of that.

[papa smurf]

No, at the moment (I just went and looked) the trickle charger is on the battery and both pos and neg cables are off the battery and moved way over away from the battery posts... and the speedo is still lit. It's been so long since i've even looked at the bike, I'm second guessing myself about how it looked that last time i got home from a ride and turned the bike off. I could swear that that part of the instrument panel was completely turned off/ no LED's.

 

This makes absolutely no sence to me at all.

[LilBeaver]

What LEDs are you talking about? Is this a first gen?

 

If this is the 08 Venture you have listed in your profile this might be a good one for the dealer. The only thing I can think of is that there has to be some way for these electronic speedometers to store the mileage information. So, maybe, there is an internal short from the 'backup' battery (that stores the mileage info) causing the light to actually stay on. Since there is no other power being supplied to the bike, I don't know what else could cause it.

 

This is a real 'shot in the dark' but, an idea...

 

If you hook the battery back up and remove the trickle charger, turn the key to the "ON" position and check to see if there are any lights that flash or stay on more than they are supposed to. That could give some insight into a possible error code or something...

[papa smurf]

It's such a gorgeous day outside, I kinda wanna carry on, make some progress. I'm thinking of running down to Wally World and see if they've got a battery that will work. Do i just need to match the specs and size, or is there some other feature I need to be sure to look for? This will just be something to get me through another year or two, then I'll probably upgrade to the Odessey system or something similiar.

[papa smurf]

What LEDs are you talking about? Is this a first gen?

 

It's a 2nd gen. 2007 if I recall correctly. Below the painted on MPH speedo is an LED panel that shows the fuel gauge, and at the moment, KPH read out. couple other indicators as well but I cant recall right of the bat.

[LilBeaver]

It's such a gorgeous day outside, I kinda wanna carry on, make some progress. I'm thinking of running down to Wally World and see if they've got a battery that will work. Do i just need to match the specs and size, or is there some other feature I need to be sure to look for? This will just be something to get me through another year or two, then I'll probably upgrade to the Odessey system or something similiar.

 

I don't know where you are in Texas, but if you have a Sams club by you they have Interstate motorcycle batteries that are AGM. You still need to do the initial charge on them before you use them (I think mine took 3 or 4 hours to come to a complete charge) and they are a decent price too. I know that I looked at wal-mart, but I don't recall if the batteries were not AGM, if they didn't have them, or if there was a price difference.

 

It's a 2nd gen. 2007 if I recall correctly. Below the painted on MPH speedo is an LED panel that shows the fuel gauge, and at the moment, KPH read out. couple other indicators as well but I cant recall right of the bat.

 

 

Okay - That is what I thought you were talking about (it is actually an LCD display ie. Liquid Crystal Display -- but anyways)

[Dano]

The only other thing that will illuminate the leds is some type of capacitor, but it should have lost its charge by now, unless somewhere there is a small dry cell that holds memory while the battery is disconnected and the popping sound you heard is indicative of another problem.

[Flyinfool]

Nutter dumb question.

Do you have an alarm system or something else with its own backup battery?

 

Since an LED takes so little power, it is possible that it could getting power from a filter capacitor somewhere.

 

If not, then you have just invented perpetual power and you need to patent it quick. You will then soon be the richest man on the planet.

[papa smurf]

Thats gotta be it. I was just thinking that there must be some sort of battery to maintain the clock time, etc. Somehow (and probably something bad) i've got a closed circuit feeding this LCD display.

 

dangit! Got my Clymer's out... guess I'll see what i can figure out here. Maybe a relay somewhere closed when i tried to start it earlier and stuck in a closed position.

 

Thanks fellas for all the feedback. I just pronounced this battery dead and turned of the trickle charger. I'm assuming it's toast, and even if not, it's 3 yrs old and just got frozen several times this past winter. We had a really cold one this year.