>The first time it happened, I put a battery tender on it, and after some period of >time, was able to crank the bike, and rode it for several hours. Thereafter, it >seemed OK.
>I have been away on business for better than a week, the Guzzi was sitting- and >this morning, the battery was again dead. (I did not leave the battery tender on >it during my absence, but this just reinforces the question about what load is on >it when the bike it shut off). Battery not only dead, but my tender indicated that >there was a fault with the battery, i.e., the tender wouldn't go into normal charge >mode.
Bum battery, bum tender? Depends on your choice of standard, no?
Maybe not the issue, but my understanding is that once substantially drained, the "glass matt" ("gel") batteries require a high-amp charge to be restored. Most low amp Tenders are great for regular use, but apparently don't work if the battery's lost much capacity. They *appear* to work, since measured voltage comes up to spec and that's supposted to reflect capacity, but in my hands, my partially drained battery didn't hold a charge until I stopped trying the Tender, drained the battery to ~10.5V, then recharged with a Optimate charger (6A , I think). YMMV.