need help starting my 2009 KLR650
- Thread starter ShinyPartsUp
- Start date
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oldryder
Well-known member
the wierd buzz may be the starter relay cycling at a high rate which happens due to low batt voltage. the relay picks up, the starter motor draws loads of current, the voltage drops below the minimum required to keep the relay pulled in so the relay opens, the voltage goes back up due to no more starter motor demand, relay pulls in, starter draws current, voltage drops, and on and on and on and on .......
smitty141
My name is Smitty.. And I have a motorcycle proble
Battery.. My buddys 09 did the same thing last week. Pull the seat and left side cover to slide the battery out.
Smitty
Smitty
I got around to taking off the rear armor (good thing because on one of my dumps I evidently bent a 6 inch stainless bolt I now need to replace). Needed to do that to take off the seat. Anyway, unhooked all the cables from the terminals and checked the battery. Bone dry!!!! And it has been on a battery charger most of the time it has sat.
I ordered a gel battery replacement. Now I worry the charging system may have boiled the acid off. I'll check the voltage when I put in the new battery. Tell me if I'm wrong but if I'm near 15 volts with the throttle open I have a problem.
The saga should end Monday when a new battery gets here.
yamafitter
Reigning NERDS Granite Lane Gold Medalist
I don't understand how switching to an AGM battery solves the overcharging problem. If the voltage regulator is not functioning properly it should be replaced either with a new unit from Kawasaki or an aftermarket regulator that is more robust in my view. Otherwise I think you risk damaging the new battery.
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mcatrophy
Privileged to ride a 2018 FJR1300AS
Not surprised it's dried if you leave it on a charger for long periods. Try a tender instead.
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I'm an old fart before they had battery tenders. I used the generic "batter charger" term, but it was hooked up to a Battery Tender +
It doesn't solve the problem; whenever the underlying problem is solved, I want a maintenance free battery anyway.
I'm hoping it was either a bad battery tender (I dropped it once a while back) or the battery just going dry after 2 1/2 years of abuse and neglect (bad on me but I can hope). Or the regulator went bad -- hard to believe after just a couple years, but it happens.
SO, a new battery that will last will be put in. I'll check the voltage from the regulator and if more than 13.5-14 I think I found the culprit. If the output at WOT is in the normal range, I'm not sure what to think.
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beemerdons
Certifiable Old Fart
Well I know why the Gentleman from Warsaw, Poland didn't know this answer to the problem, but for Heaven's Sake ShinyPartsUp: You're a goat fecking Irishman!
Ya Killarney Bogstomper, it is the Work of the Leprechauns! Old Michael and Papa Chuy had it figured out a week ago, but we had to wait until dog pile Friday to inform your dumb ass. Here we are at a Leprechaun outing in Galway, Eire last year:
Leave two shots of Jameson, two pints of Smithwicks, scones and two pints of Guiness on a small table next to your KLR and it will start just fine for you.
Oh by the way, don't you put the combination padlock on the back door of your Roseburg garage: OM and I don't know that number! Slainte, Erin ga Bragh!
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oster_oops: Of course you are right Don! How could I have forgotten the wee tricksters? Smithwicks brings up fond memories of "dating" a violet eyed lass on a trip to Kilkenny many years ago. I digress.... I will agree to leave an offering on the table at the side of the bike, but only after I properly filter it by drinking the golden brews. That smell should also keep any Irish pranksters of the thieving sort away as well!
smitty141
My name is Smitty.. And I have a motorcycle proble
Shiny, my buddys battery was dry also. He also never took a look at his factory battery. I bought my 09 KLR as a left over last April, so it was over 2 years old and never used. When I went to pick the bike up the battery was shot. They had seviced the bike a few weeks before I picked it up. The dealer was kind enough to put AGM maintenance free battery in for me...
Smitty
Smitty
I'd also be a little suspicious of your battery tender. Battery tenders are supposed to have an active circuit that puts them into "float charge" mode, meaning it is applying a voltage that is only a couple tenths of a volt higher than the battery's charged voltage and therefore not actively charging. If the tender sticks in a true charging mode, it will eventually boil all the H2O out of the electrolyte.
UPDATE: I slid a new gel battery into the box (some of you have such dirty minds -- stop it!) and fired up the bike easy enough. At WOT I got @ 14 volts at the battery posts, so the charging system likely was not the problem. I'm worried about the Battery Charger + that I was using. I'm not sure how a battery either run on the bike, or mostly stored on a 6-year-old charger goes bone dry, but it did. I put the charger on the shelf, and now both bikes are sharing time with the one battery tender I trust. Thanks for all the help.
Aside: while taking the armor off, one of the rear SS bolts that went through armor, plastic and into the frame was bent and a pain to get out. One of those dumps was a good sized one I guess. Waiting 5 days for a replacement bolt (odd size). Then I'll run the bike next weekend and give a report.
Aside: while taking the armor off, one of the rear SS bolts that went through armor, plastic and into the frame was bent and a pain to get out. One of those dumps was a good sized one I guess. Waiting 5 days for a replacement bolt (odd size). Then I'll run the bike next weekend and give a report.
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HotRodZilla
GOD BLESS AMERICA
Shiny,
Go to WalMart. Then go to the Automotive section. Spend like $20 on the Schumacher Speed Charge Battery Tender they have there. That was the best $20 I have ever spent.
When I thought my KLR battery was done I put that charger on it. That battery was never dead again, until the day I sold the bike. Now I keep it on the FJR...Just for the Hell of it.
Just a thought...
Go to WalMart. Then go to the Automotive section. Spend like $20 on the Schumacher Speed Charge Battery Tender they have there. That was the best $20 I have ever spent.
When I thought my KLR battery was done I put that charger on it. That battery was never dead again, until the day I sold the bike. Now I keep it on the FJR...Just for the Hell of it.
Just a thought...
madmike2
Shtirrenuppenmeister
It's not that the battery is overcharged but that it is continually charged (even at a miniscule rate) without the fluid level being monitored (I do remember reading that he had not followed Kawasaki's suggested maintenance procedures).
Because acid filled standard batteries are vented and the H20 will boil and vent out the tube.
The AGM batteries are sealed.
Silly owners named Mike/Michael (regardless of their last names) always learn the hard way........
TRUE
TRUE
Also TRUE Mike
Don't you just hate being right the vast majority of the time, MMII?
OK, I'll admit to something that should allow a chuckle or opening for abuse. Today I went to throw it on the charger after 5 days because the FJR didn't need it (another story). For the hell of it I turn on the ignition, turn off the kill switch and hit the starter. Bike won't turn over. Crap! Try a few more times and the bike tries but just can't get over the hump. CRAP! Did I get a bad battery? Do I have a ground fault? I throw it on the charger and the lights indicate less than 80% charged. I decide to leave it a few hours and see what happens.
I check on the bike after a few hours. Bike is over 80% charged. Turn on the ignition, turn off the kill switch, and set the choke. DUH! Forgot that step the first time. Started right up. SOB! Talk about feeling dumb...
I think I'm good to go.
Anybody know how to test a battery tester to see if it is working correctly without damaging a battery? Or should I just toss it and replace (Thanks HotRodZilla).
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mcatrophy
Privileged to ride a 2018 FJR1300AS
Well, technically, NOT true. The H2O is electrolysed into hydrogen and oxygen, not boiled, though it may bubble.
Just being my pedantic self. You're welcome
Ok, back to the normal insults ...
Well, technically, NOT true. The H2O is electrolysed into hydrogen and oxygen, not boiled, though it may bubble.
Just being my pedantic self. You're welcome.
Ok, back to the normal insults ...
There's always one in the crowd... :lol:
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madmike2
Shtirrenuppenmeister
Yep...I prolly shooda jiss sed...that dang-ol' wet cell battry ull jis go dang-ol' dry iffin yuh leaves et onna chargerin'-up muh-chine wiffout puttin' noe distillated wodder entuh them cells. Em dried up plates ull git all "touchy-feely" uth wun-uh-nuther en nuthin' s likely tuh werk after thet. Jiss throw et sucker ay-way en gitcher seff wunna them all-sealed-up-not-a-gunna-leek battries...y'knoe, thems thet's fillied up wiff Jello er sumpthin'.Well, technically, NOT true. The H2O is electrolysed into hydrogen and oxygen, not boiled, though it may bubble.
Just being my pedantic self. You're welcome.
Ok, back to the normal insults ...
S'posed tuh thems don't be leekin' all over yer murdersickle iffin yew wuz tuh tippit "shiny-parts-down", neither.
Oh...yeah...yuh mite wunna foller them uther suggestified mane-taining tricks in thet ther Kawasakial manual.
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