I've received my first warning

[Feejer/Weejer man]

Mine lasted 5 yeas in Ca. Replaced it last year before WFO in Park City. When hot I sometimes get the reset on the screen on a restart. New battery same result, at times. Connections tight. Go figure?

 

[Fred W]

I thought I'd follow up on this since I laid out my plans to replace the battery.

I ordered the new battery from Jeff at Bike Effects. The price of batteries has gone up a little recently and Jeff had the best price I could find on the desirable WestCo 12V14B-4 sealed battery, just $72 shipped (after the forum discount). I ordered it on Tuesday and received it today. Another great experience with Bike Effects!!!

The new battery fixed the Odometer and clock reset on start issue as I expected. But one other thing got fixed that I didn't expect, and this clearly is another indicator that the battery was aging, but one that I was just ignoring.

In my electric tank-bag I have a little DC distribution box I bought somewhere. It had a cord with a plug on the end that goes in a cigarette socket and three cigarette sockets in the box. I lopped off the plug and replaced it with a connector that goes into my always powered Powerlet socket on the bike. I use the box inside the bag to plug all my accessories into (Starcom, Garmin, etc). You can see it in the bottom of the bag (left side) of this picture:

Anyway, this distribution 3 port box has a low voltage protection circuit built in that cuts power to the accessories if the voltage drops below 10.2Vdc. Kind of handy if I zone out and forget to unplug the powerlet at the end of the day so the accesories won't drain the battery to complete deadness. Prior to replacing the battery, whenever I started the bike the Starcom would go dead briefly (while cranking) and the Garmin would pop-up a message about switching to battery power.

After putting the freshy new WestCo in, the thing doesn't do that anymore, so I'm obviously not dragging the battery voltage down as low as it was before. Just one more thing to keep an eye on going forward...

 

[dsiebens]

Wonder if there is another explanation besides low battery for the clock and trip meters reseting at startup. Bike is '06 AE,,, new to me. Windshield auto retract disconnected (by PO), battery newly replaced but resets still occurring, ignition switch recall done. Appreciate any advice. Thanks.

 

[SkooterG]

Just thought I'd post this as the resetting clock and trip odometer are some good indicators of a battery on the way out.

Or that your starter is FRIED.

 

[SkooterG]

Wonder if there is another explanation besides low battery for the clock and trip meters reseting at startup. Bike is '06 AE,,, new to me. Windshield auto retract disconnected (by PO), battery newly replaced but resets still occurring, ignition switch recall done. Appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Bad connection - at the battery terminals, ground, whatever, could do it.

How do you know it's NOT the battery?

 

[dsiebens]

Wonder if there is another explanation besides low battery for the clock and trip meters reseting at startup. Bike is '06 AE,,, new to me. Windshield auto retract disconnected (by PO), battery newly replaced but resets still occurring, ignition switch recall done. Appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Bad connection - at the battery terminals, ground, whatever, could do it.

How do you know it's NOT the battery?

Thanks, will check ground connections. I just installed a new battery figuring it was original equipment in effort to fix this,,,,, no change.

 

[SkooterG]

Thanks, will check ground connections. I just installed a new battery figuring it was original equipment in effort to fix this,,,,, no change.

Any other symptoms? Like slow cranking? Slow to start?

 

[charismaticmegafauna]

(IMHO)There are many electrical anomalies affecting the FJR, all years, which are often (erroneously, imo) attributed to the battery. In our hurried disposition to quickly cure the problem at hand -- replacing the battery becomes a quick and easy fix.

Often the problem remains. Sometimes, if the problem was loose connections at the battery?, it gets resolved during the battery replacement.

Troubleshooting electrical gremlins is seldom a quick and easy fix -- especially intermittents!

Other places to look may be?:

• Improperly tightened battery cable connections
• Non/poor-conducting multi-pin plug in connectors
• Non/poor-conducting switches (GenII main sw)
• Non-expert installation (and/or choice) of electrical accessories

The battery can be checked (fairly conclusively) for satisfactory condition and, ime, the FJR's OEM battery has an enviable reliability record.
Hopefully, a list of faulty/poor connections will continue on the Forum and the vagaries of troubleshooting low-voltage indicators will be reduced? :blink:

 

[Fred W]

How do you know it's NOT the battery?

Well, there are generally two ways to tell if the battery is good, and only one is surefire. 1) You can replace the battery with a brand new one, (but there is no guarantee that the new battery is 100% good). 2) you can break out your multimeter and make a whole bunch of careful measurements to figure out where the voltage is being dropped, or the starter current restricted. I know you know all about this stuff Skooter, from your recent starter motor debacle. But most people just opt for #1.

One practice that I have only recently encountered or heard about, which has the potential to cause the battery voltage to dip more than normal during starting, is that some folks say they intentionally put the bike in 1st before starting so it doesn't go "kerchunk". I'm thinking, especially on a cold motor, that would put a considerable extra load on the starter motor, and subsequently draw down our poor little batteries even more than normal (ie in neutral).

For the routine reset symptoms I am inclined to believe it's just a case of having spec'ed out the very smallest possible battery for the application, for the minimum added weight up there high in the front faring. If the battery was down lower in the frame they might have picked a beefier battery that maybe wouldn't sack out so easily.

BTW - I have not had a single clock/trip meter reset since I replaced the battery in my '05 last summer (knocking vigorously on everything wood within arms reach)

 

[Philip V]

Fred, if you do a search using the terms +push +start you will find a way to delay the need to replace your battery. The resetting dash is a good early warning of impending amp and volt shortages.
This has been a strange weather year here in New England. I have been shutting my bike off with the fan running more frequently than normal and sometimes when I first turn the key back on the fan turns on if I've parked for only a short time. My battery would like to complain about this treatment because the fan is a major power drain just before I push the starter button. I dunno how this fan operation affects you guys with the true hot weather bikes.

In Southern New Mexico its more like "I went to start my bike and the fan didn't come on, something must be broke"

 

[dsiebens]

Thanks, will check ground connections. I just installed a new battery figuring it was original equipment in effort to fix this,,,,, no change.

Any other symptoms? Like slow cranking? Slow to start?

Thanks for sticking with me... No other symtoms. Seems to crank well, never slow, starts about the same way every time. Starter turns for one or two seconds and it's running. Haven't had a chance to check engine ground connection and probably won't get to it 'til the weekend. Bike has never had (in my few months of ownership) a starting problem, or any hint of refusal to run. BTW............ love the bike.... AE took some getting used to but now I'm liking it most of the time.