I have a 96 Royalstar motorcycle. When i trickel charge it up it runs strong but if i don't start it for a day, battery is completely dead, jump starts right up. Is this battery or alternator?

if the bat is stone dead a trickel charger wont work you can jump start it and drive for awile but you will only get a surface charge on it then bring it back and put your charger on it for about 4 hours

Your alternator is bad that recharge the battery as you drive

Check battery cables are correct ! Prime suspect here ! Alternator may be damaged and shorting .. Don't drive any car that will melt jumper cables ! Something very basic wrong here.

Without some simple tests to provide another clue or two, this is impossible to sort out. You should consider buying a cheap multimeter. Just the cheapest one you can find will be a nice device to have around. If you have one, or get one, with the multimeter set to "DC Voltage", touch the black lead to the - post and the red lead to the + post of the battery. Remember your reading. Now crank the car. Repeat what you did a minute ago with the meter. The voltage should be considerably higher (like between 14 and 16.75, or even more for some cars). This means your alternator is working. That is the clue you wanted because now you can deduce that the battery needs to be replaced. If you read, say 11.5 volts with the vehicle not running and less than 12.5 with the vehicle running, you can strongly suspect that the alternator has failed. BUT -- first take the battery to the nearest auto store, or walmart and have them do a "dead cell" test on it (free). If the battery has a dead cell (highly unlikely with your current circumstances), replace and then retest. If the battery tests ok, then your alternator is not producing.
Don

Battery is shot, buy a new one (possibly get some warranty credit if it is new enough). I just had a co worker ask me about the same problem today and the dealer replaced his battery in his Jeep. The new maintenance free batteries only last approximately 5 years and they don't give you a heads up like they use to in the old days. I have started cars in the morning and noticed that they start a little hard that day. The next time I try to start it, the battery is dead.

Back in the day, I think we had a little more warning because we had to crank the engines longer. With the electronic ignition and fuel injection the modern engines crank so easy, so we don't put a lot of strain on the batteries and when they go they go.

Sounds like you have a toasted battery or alternator. Have you performed a load test on the battery? Have you tried to charge the battery? First remove the battery and charge it externally from the vehicle. If the battery won't hold a charge, or won't hold a charge of 12 volts, replace it. Once you have the vehicle started, test the operation of the alternator. It should be putting out at least 13 volts back to the battery to keep it charged - if it is putting less than 13 volts or more than 16 volts, replace the alternator.

try some proper jump leads and not then cheap chinese things ,you need cables with a copper inside the diameter of your ring finger and double connectd to each side of the clip before you can even think of trying to jump a engine ,these cheap cables are only for charging one vehicle to another not passing 200 amps through

your alternater could be bad and not charging the battery, get it cranked then remove a battery cable. If it stays running, alternater is good if it dies alternater is bad

replace your battery, a battery discharges every day you dont run the alt. to charge it up... after a week or 2 weeks the battery would be dead, just from a car sitting not being started... if you are not using the vehicle, it is a good thing to replace the battery, and every couple days just start the car up and let it run a while to charge the battery.... if you are going to have to leave the car for a while without starting it, then disconnect the battery, and remove it from the vehicle... you can buy a cheap trickel charger for the battery when it is out that will keep it charged till you decide to put it back in.... hope this helps you...

my geo storm lights come on just fine but it wont turn the motor over just dead what could be my problem it was raining hard when i shut it off