Shopping for used Nomad 1500

[Micknmd]

I originally put my first post on the Wanted section of the Free Classified section introducing myself and stating that I was in the market for a used Nomad 1500. I've been having a heck of a time finding a nice used Nomad here in Canada. I went to see my first one this afternoon. It was an '04 with 49,000 miles on it. Not bad but rode a bit hard and put away wet. The battery was completely dead and we had to boost the battery to get the bike running.

My technical question is: as soon as we took the booster cables off of the battery the thing died instantly. The fellow knew that the battery was cooked (I don't know why he wouldn't put a new one in when he's trying to sell the dang thing!!) but does anyone think that there could be a problem with the charging system as well??