G@& Damn. Battery!

[numb41]

Bike is a 2005. Battery was weak (or so I thought). Ok, bought a new one. this was about a month ago. Rode the bike 3 or 4 times with no issues. Went to start it up last sunday and the bike barely turned over. charged it up but didn't start it until tonite after work ( wed). Dead again! Put the charger on and it reads 80%. It charges up in an hour. I start it up this time. Tried to read the draw on the batt. by taking off the neg cable (see, I did try to research this) and couldn't get a reading (amps, right?). I'm tired and pissed. I just want to enjoy this bike and so far it ain't happening.

 

[TomInPA]

It sounds like you might be using a fairly high amperage charger if you went from 80% to 100% in an hour. This leaves a surface charge that does not hold up well to starting duty. When you got the battery, a long absorption charge at 1.5 amp is the best way to get a good lasting charge. Outside of that, you might have a parasitic draw or loose or contaminated battery cable connections.

What battery are you using?

 

[HotRodZilla]

What are the chances your starter is dying? How many miles on the bike?

 

[MrZappo]

Bike is a 2005. Battery was weak (or so I thought). Ok, bought a new one. this was about a month ago. Rode the bike 3 or 4 times with no issues. Went to start it up last sunday and the bike barely turned over. charged it up but didn't start it until tonite after work ( wed). Dead again! Put the charger on and it reads 80%. It charges up in an hour. I start it up this time. Tried to read the draw on the batt. by taking off the neg cable (see, I did try to research this) and couldn't get a reading (amps, right?). I'm tired and pissed. I just want to enjoy this bike and so far it ain't happening.

Nope, read DC volts ... (Easier with 2 people) ...

Set your DVM to DC volts

Connect it to battery (Should read about 12.8 volts) see https://modernsurvivalblog.com/alternative-energy/battery-state-of-charge-chart/

If it is less, see the chart to determine the state of discharge. It should not be very discharged

With the DVM connected crank the starter and see how low the voltage goes. If it drops low (say below 11 or 12 volts), the battery is bad and can't deliver enough starting current ...

Amps are important in determining if the starter is actually bad but to see if the battery is bad simply read DC volts ...

Report back ...

 

[Chiefblueman]

If you can get the bike to start again take a simple DC voltage reading across the battery terminals. If you see less than 14v your charging system may be the culprit.

 

[SkooterG]

It could be the battery. It wouldn't be the first time a brand new battery was **** right out of the box.

 

[Bounce]

Had thast happen on my car last time it needed a battery. new off-the-shelf battery was TU.

 

[Big Sky]

I had a new Yuasa that was deader 'n' a doornail at 30 days.

 

[Bounce]

But that was a Yuasa. It's a feature.

 

[infrared]

Tried to read the draw on the batt. by taking off the neg cable (see, I did try to research this) and couldn't get a reading (amps, right?). I'm tired and pissed.

Numb41,

Most Voltmeters read Amperes using a different jack at the meter, rather than the DC +/- jacks.. There may be a high-Amp jack, and a low one. Use the common jack for one lead, and the high-Amp jack. Fair warning: if the starter is shorted and the battery is charged, you may blow the fuse in the meter (but that should not hurt the meter). With everything OFF, the bike should draw much less current than half an Ampere. I do not know the right number, but probably less than 100 milliAmps (mAmp). If there is a lot of current draw when the bike is OFF, no battery will keep a charge for long. Do you have anything electrical added (not stock) on the bike?

Do not try to jump-start the bike using a running car or battery charger.. That can cause serious damage to the bike electrical system. Give the bike battery a good long charge, like ten hours, at low Amps and go from there.

A Battery Tender (BatteryMinder) is the best deal to keep a vehicle battery healthy. They run with a de-sulfating cycle in the program, and most batteries fail due to sulfated plates.

Cheers,

Infrared

 

[Denver_FJR]

Tried to read the draw on the batt. by taking off the neg cable (see, I did try to research this) and couldn't get a reading (amps, right?). I'm tired and pissed. I just want to enjoy this bike and so far it ain't happening.

When you say you're disconnecting the neg cable, are you then running your meter in series? IANAE, but considering we're talking about 70+ amps, I thought clamp type ammeters were the way to go and the pass-through type meters were limited to milliamps or maybe a few amps. Are you sure your meter can handle that kind of current? I mean the battery cables are what, 1/4" to 3/8" thick!

 

[audiowize]

If you want to check for parasitic draw, but you are having issues getting a reliable DC current reading on your meter, there is another solution. Go to your local electronics store and pick up a 0.1 Ohm 1+W resistor. With the bike sitting in your garage with a freshly charged battery, remove the cable from the + side of the battery, stick one end of the 0.1 Ohm resistor where the cable went, clamp it down, then wrap the other end of the cable around the loose + cable connector.

Now, you can measure DC voltage across the 0.1 Ohm resistor (red probe on + of battery, black probe on + cable leaving the 0.1 Ohm resistor). The voltage will be very low, every 0.1V you measure is 1A of parasitic current. (Note - if your parasitic current is really high, or you try to start the bike like this, the resistor will overheat and fail open) I can't remember how much parasitic current the FJR draws, but I suspect it is under 100mA.

 

[AlleyCat]

Tried to read the draw on the batt. by taking off the neg cable (see, I did try to research this) and couldn't get a reading (amps, right?). I'm tired and pissed.

Numb41,

Most Voltmeters read Amperes using a different jack at the meter, rather than the DC +/- jacks.. There may be a high-Amp jack, and a low one. Use the common jack for one lead, and the high-Amp jack. Fair warning: if the starter is shorted and the battery is charged, you may blow the fuse in the meter (but that should not hurt the meter). With everything OFF, the bike should draw much less current than half an Ampere. I do not know the right number, but probably less than 100 milliAmps (mAmp). If there is a lot of current draw when the bike is OFF, no battery will keep a charge for long. Do you have anything electrical added (not stock) on the bike?

Do not try to jump-start the bike using a running car or battery charger.. That can cause serious damage to the bike electrical system. Give the bike battery a good long charge, like ten hours, at low Amps and go from there.

A Battery Tender (BatteryMinder) is the best deal to keep a vehicle battery healthy. They run with a de-sulfating cycle in the program, and most batteries fail due to sulfated plates.

Cheers,

Infrared

I wonder why getting a boost from a car could cause damage ? Isn't the 12v system of a car compatible to the 12v system of the bike ? I have boosted 2 different bikes with a car and no issues. Just lucky ?

 

[numb41]

Thanks for the replies so far. The battery is a scorpion battery - agm type- SYT14B-4. My charger has the function for agm batts specifically. Last nite, when I charged the batt and started the bike, I checked the batt - it said 13.6 volts. During lunch today, I ran home and checked the battery level again...12.8 volts. I tried to start the bike: it turned over fast for like two seconds or so- wahwahwahwha, then it made a SOUND. Not a sparky like sound, but something like it-kinda clicky like a connection was made. (My first thought was the batt connections weren't good, but they were tight). After the sound was made, the starter did the dead batt sound, Owah Owah Owah. After that I checked the voltage and it read 12.5 volts. By now, I gotta get back to work. I took the batt out of the bike and put it on a charger here at work. It wasn't on the charger for more than 3 minutes and was fully charged. Hmmmmm. We've hooked it up to a car light, to drain it and then we'll see how it charges. I want to see what the charger was charging the battery at in the agm mode and will find that out after we drain it down a bit. BTW, how many amps is normal for the starter to draw? Oh, the bike has 31000 miles on it.

 

[odot]

More then lucky, you could have caused a catastrophic explosion.....kinda like putting a car tyre on the back side of your skoot.

 

[MrZappo]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="AlleyCat" data-cid="1221762" data-time="1428598579"><p>

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="infrared" data-cid="1221743" data-time="1428595901"><p><blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="numb41" data-cid="1221637" data-time="1428543914"><p> Tried to read the draw on the batt. by taking off the neg cable (see, I did try to research this) and couldn't get a reading (amps, right?). I'm tired and pissed.</p></blockquote>

Numb41,<br />

<br />

Most Voltmeters read Amperes using a different jack at the meter, rather than the DC +/- jacks.. There may be a high-Amp jack, and a low one. Use the common jack for one lead, and the high-Amp jack. Fair warning: if the starter is shorted and the battery is charged, you may blow the fuse in the meter (but that should not hurt the meter). With everything OFF, the bike should draw much less current than half an Ampere. I do not know the right number, but probably less than 100 milliAmps (mAmp). If there is a lot of current draw when the bike is OFF, no battery will keep a charge for long. Do you have anything electrical added (not stock) on the bike?<br />

<br />

Do not try to jump-start the bike using a running car or battery charger.. That can cause serious damage to the bike electrical system. Give the bike battery a good long charge, like ten hours, at low Amps and go from there.<br />

<br />

A Battery Tender (BatteryMinder) is the best deal to keep a vehicle battery healthy. They run with a de-sulfating cycle in the program, and most batteries fail due to sulfated plates.<br />

<br />

Cheers,<br />

Infrared</p></blockquote>

<br />

I wonder why getting a boost from a car could cause damage ? Isn't the 12v system of a car compatible to the 12v system of the bike ? I have boosted 2 different bikes with a car and no issues. Just lucky ?</p></blockquote>

If you jumped it while the car was running than yes, you were lucky. That is a good way to blow your voltage regulator.

If the car is off, there should not be a problem.

 

[MrZappo]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="numb41" data-cid="1221787" data-time="1428603948"><p>

Thanks for the replies so far. The battery is a scorpion battery - agm type- SYT14B-4. My charger has the function for agm batts specifically. Last nite, when I charged the batt and started the bike, I checked the batt - it said 13.6 volts. During lunch today, I ran home and checked the battery level again...12.8 volts. I tried to start the bike: it turned over fast for like two seconds or so- wahwahwahwha, then it made a SOUND. Not a sparky like sound, but something like it-kinda clicky like a connection was made. (My first thought was the batt connections weren't good, but they were tight). After the sound was made, the starter did the dead batt sound, Owah Owah Owah. After that I checked the voltage and it read 12.5 volts. By now, I gotta get back to work. I took the batt out of the bike and put it on a charger here at work. It wasn't on the charger for more than 3 minutes and was fully charged. Hmmmmm. We've hooked it up to a car light, to drain it and then we'll see how it charges. I want to see what the charger was charging the battery at in the agm mode and will find that out after we drain it down a bit. BTW, how many amps is normal for the starter to draw? Oh, the bike has 31000 miles

on it.</p></blockquote>

Your not doing it right.

Measure the voltage at the battery before AND DURING cranking. Not after cranking.

If the voltage drops much below 12 during cranking, your battery is bad. No other troubleshooting required.

From what you have said so far, everything points to a bad battery. 15 minutes troubleshooting max.

 

[Twigg]

I wonder why getting a boost from a car could cause damage ? Isn't the 12v system of a car compatible to the 12v system of the bike ? I have boosted 2 different bikes with a car and no issues. Just lucky ?

We just had another battery thread on this but briefly:

The alternator systems on cars are not compatible with the stator systems on bikes.

Jumping from a car or truck is okay providing the engine of the donor vehicle is not running. If it IS running, the alternator on the car will sense the regulator on the bike as a load, and ramp up it's output to try to meet the demand. The bike doesn't actually need this power, so the regulator will try to dump it as heat and ... well you get the picture.

Most times you will get away with it, until the time you don't and you will need a new regulator.

 

[numb41]

MRZappo - Thanks for the info. I'll try it tonite.