Hawk Springtime hate ---
 

I put my hawk away last december (very late this year) Ran it dry, drained the tank, and put it inside my heated basement disconnected the battery and hooked the battery tender to it. flash forward 4 short months later (or long depending how you look at it) charge the battery again or at least check it, it was at 95%, charged for a day or so on the tender seemed just fine. hooked everything back up and push the starter and just an anemic click, maybe even a faint buzz from the relay. checked connections, checked battery it seemed to take a nose drive from 12.3V down to 8.2 and according to another charger 30% charge state, but an hour on the charger and we were back at 100% and 12.2v, I did notice when I pressed the starter the tach went to max, lights went out and nothing. Turn key off and back on and I get display but same thing touch starter or headlight and everything dies. Turn the headlight on and it kills the display. I assume it is the battery ? I checked connections, even the connections to the relay all seemed fine.

Check the fluids in the battery. Even if it's a sealed lead acid battery the water will evaporate. I just went through the same thing. No guilds left in a seal battery. Refilled and all good.

Sounds like a junk battery!!
Spend the money & get a good quality unit. You won’t be sorry!!

Definitely battery. I agree with Jerry, see if the electrolite solution is low in the cells. Top off with distilled water and let it sit for an hour, the hook back up to the charger. If that don't work, spring for a new one.

Hooked up to a battery tender for 4 months non stop can be hard on a little motorcycle battery, especially if it's not a motorcycle specific tender. They can over charge them and sometimes even evaporate the electrolyte. If it's low you might be able to save it otherwise your looking for a new battery.

I thought I had a quality battery, paid $100 for a interstate battery. Only had the battery tender on it before I put the battery on the shelf and when I took off and remounted. I didn't think of the electrolyte I will definitely take a look.



Thanks for the quick responses.

Just because it shows voltage, it's amperage you need to know also. Some auto parts stores can check it for you or you can get the tools yourself.

hate to say it but as a small engine mechanic, the batteries i see fail most are interstate... i had similar issues with an interstate that i paid $80 (with my employee Discount) got one year of riding out of it and it crapped the bed. >:( i see about 20 interstate batteries fail a month at work in lawn mowers....

That's wacky. (Way) back when I was an auto mechanic, our shop went through a lot of battery vendors and we had the least failure rate out of the Interstate than any other battery we carried. Things must have changed.

That said, most of these stock batteries in CB's are junk anyway.

quite possible they have outsorced small engine batteries, or, they are dropping quality across the board and riding on the long trusted name... :shrug:all i know is the interstate batteries that the lawnmowers take are $5 cheaper than a deere battery (manufactured by exide) and the deere batteries on average last 6-10 years, but the interstate batteries last about 2 years before getting weak, or dropping a cell all together (dropping straight to 8v under load... sound familiar?)

I have used their batteries in trucks for a while and never had an issue, I run my KLR with their battery as well , sits all winter in my unheated garage (did that one year with the Hawk and it actually started ! but mice found the airfilter delicious) and after an hour @ 3 amps always seems to be find the whole season. I did notice this battery is 'factory sealed' no refill there.



I ordered a replacement on Amazon and will take my 15 month old battery back to Interstate - I am sure they will tell me it is the charging system