QuestionPaul, I have a '82 Virago which has a new battery that will not hold a charge when hooked up to pos/neg cables on bike. With bike sitting just a couple days the battery will be drained. I can disconnect the cables and the battery will hold a charge.
AnswerDo you have any aftermarket accessories on the bike ?If so possibly something is on, draining the battery..... If not what position is the key on ? If you lock the forks the switch to the left of locked can turn on the taillight, draining the battery. Find your fusebox, disconnect the pos battery cable and hook a ohm meter to the pos cable, disconnected from the battery, then to ground, check for continuity to ground, remove fuses one at a time until this continuity goes away, that is the curcuit that is going to ground, trace that circuit to the culprit, it might be a bulb or a switch of some kind, replace the offender.
Why did you replace the battery in the first place ? If it was because of discharging then there is a charging system issue...
You will need a manual to perform the following: Do a check on the stator wiring, the regulator rectifier, etc... per the manual. The charging system could be leaking to ground if one of the components are bad.
