That was called dry-charged, and there was a time that this was the only kind there was. The consumer never saw the plastic bottle of acid because the retailer would install it before the customer ever saw the battery. You didn't have to charge to after adding the acid, it was as charged as it would ever be (charged = lead and acid, discharged is lead sulfide and water. Thats why a hydrometer can be used to check the health of each cell -- the density changes with the concentration of acid)

It's actually better, because the battery can't discharge and kill itself while sitting on the shelf, so the customer was recieving a perfectly fresh battery.

 

Sounds like a bad battery. I had an 04 and the battery only lasted 3 years. When I took my battery into the dealer and they put a load test on it, they said the battery was good. I charge it and put it back in the bike and it died in a day and a half. So I test my stator and the R&R, they were fine. Recharge the battery and did a voltage reading and it was just above 14v. I let it sit for 36 hours, then checked the volts again, it was just above 10v. the dealer was wrong. I bought a new battery and I was good to go.

 

Well, I'm back. I checked the battery as well as I could. My voltmeter has a 0-10 scale and then a 0-250, but the charging system appeared to be about 13.5-14 while running. I was going to take it to the bike shop, because the guy said he could check the whole system for me, but I never got the chance until today. To make sure I would make it, I charged the battery last night. Went out this morning, disconnected the charger, turned the bike on, pust the start button and it turned over once, quickly, and now does not respond to the start button. The battery is fully charged and the fuse attached to the battery is good. The book says the starter control circuit relay or solenoid could be bad, so I came to the computer to find out where those are, so I can check them out, but I thought I would repost here too and see if anyone had an idea about something else that might be the problem.

Thanks
Dawg

 

Did not see how to edit the post above, but also wanted to note that the headlight and none of the running lights are coming on either. The N and oil light on the speedo come on and the speedo makes a little buzzing noise, but no lights and no start.

Thanks
Dawg