OK, new season... same problem.
After getting the bike to start, the weather in Seattle turned bad. I would go out every other week and start the bike to keep the new battery healthy. Even on the coldest days, the bike would start right up. The nice weather came back for a day or two so I went for my first ride. The bike did great (though I was rusty).
I figured it was safe, now, to plug in the headlight and taillight.
Wrong!
I turned on the ignition switch...
Power [check]
Low Beam [check]
High beam [check]
Horn [check]
Taillight [check]
Brake light [check]
Excellent! Hit the starter button... click-booszh
Instantaneous battery death! New battery toast... 12.7 volts, no amperage.
No blown fuse. No arcing. No fire. At least a fire would have been cathartic...!
Now I'm the creative sort, so I turned off the right side of my brain to give more processing power to the left (logical) side.
Please, everyone, examine my reasoning and reply if you detect any flaws (or just tell me to replace the heisenstadt converter and get it over with
To cook a battery instantaneously would require...
a. Solid connections--- evidenced by No spark, no fire
AND
b. A large heat sink ---No wires were harmed in the process
The obvious culprit is the starter, it is not on a fuse and contains enough copper to absorb the energy. Yet, it worked fine for months until the lights were plugged in.
Second best, a short in the lights. A short in the lighting system would have blown the fuse, and would have done so before hitting the starter button.
That leads me to two equally dissatisfying possibilities:
Coincidence--- There is an intermittent short that just happened to appear at the same time as plugging in the lights.
Overwhelming the battery--- The combined draw of the starter and the headlight/taillight was enough to cook the battery.
I will talk to the battery rep. maybe there is a fusible link or something in the battery that is going poof. But why do the failed batteries show 12.7 volts with no amps?
My brain hurts! Both the left and the right sides!
Bill