time for a battery?

[Eric L]

Last winter, rode with the gerbings on lots of rides, never a problem with the battery. Yesterday was the first day for them, rode maybe an hour, came back to the bike about two hours later and boy, it seemed slow to start (gerbings not plugged in at that point) -

I rode 15K this past year - everyday commute, long rides - this was the first time I ever noticed a really slow turn over upon starting. When the bike is running, the datel sits at 13.5 with or without the gerbings on...

DO I need a battery?

 

[TomInPA]

On my Gen I, I typically see 14.1 on the volt meter when the bike is running, and that drops to 13.6-13.8 with the 90 watt W&S jacket and Clearwater Lights. I have a new Shorai.

Your Gen II has about 100 more watts on the charge system and should not be showing that kind of drop and without any load, you should be seeing a higher voltage state (14 VDC) from your stator and regulator. It can be suppressed if the battery is not fully charging, but the question is, how has your voltage state changed over the past six months? If you are seeing a decline in the resting charge-state, and in the normal operating voltage, a battery could well be needed. It could also be a bad connection in the harness, or a regulator or stator starting to go out.

I assume you have the original OEM battery. Has it ever deep-discharged?

 

[wfooshee]

13.5 is really low if nothing extra is on the bike drawing juice.

 

[FJRBluesman]

Are your terminals tight?

 

[Eric L]

OK I confess, the datel is wired into the cig adapter and not to the battery, that's why it reads 13.5 I think. Its read that since the day I installed it like a year ago, so I don't think anything there has changed. With the bike running, I saw no voltage drop with the gerbings controller off -> on, just a suspiciously slow turnover from the starter..

What is the symptom of a) overloading the charging system versus a weak battery? I'll keep an eye on it and frankly a battery is not a huge purchase for some peace of mind if it comes down to that.

 

[wfooshee]

Well, maybe putting it a little too simply, the main symptom of overloading the charging system is a weak battery.

If it's enough load, the battery won't even run the bike indefinitely, and it will eventually stumble and shut off.

But if riding for an hour or so with no extra load doesn't get the cranking back to full speed, then it's probably time for a battery. You can test the stator output directly with an AC voltmeter, I've seen the procedure around here somewhere, but it's more likely the barttery itself jsut getting some age on it.

 

[dsmack]

Another quick question: During that hour you rode yesterday, were you cruising down the road at reasonable RPMs, or were you pretty much around town, with varying but lower general RPMs?

An hour on the road should certainly perk up a battery in good condition, especially where you say you have successfully used your heated gear before. Just putzing around town with heated gear on and lower electrical output due to the decreased RPMs could be a drain on even a healthy battery.

Do you keep your bike's battery on a Battery Minder from time to time, or just depend on the charging system to keep it in top shape?

 

[Eric L]

I ride the bike virtually every day. Today it seemed fine, did 100 miles with a couple of stops, had no issues.

Only time the bike sits is dead of winter with snow and ice on the ground. Then it's on a tender.

 

[S76]

I seem to remember the Gen 1"s will run 14 to 14.1 volts. But my gen 2 (06) never ran more than 13.9, and is usually around 13.5 to 13.8 over the road. And with heated gear it drops to 12.8 or 12.9. Never seems to kill the battery though. I was able to raise the datel reading .2 volts by replacing the main 50 amp fuse (which showed corrosion inside of it) and cleaning the connections.