Battery issues AGAIN!

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

So I posted to this forum a little while ago with the issue of the bike sputtering between 1k and 2k; I replaced the spark plugs and charged the battery while I was at it; after that everything seemed to be A-OK.

But the yesterday I was having a spirited ride in the back roads and popped a wheelie; after that the issue came back. So last night I put the charger on and it said the battery was probably about half full. So now I'm assuming I have a bad battery? I tested the bike off voltage and it sat at 12.6V and running it was at 13.7V~ max.

I'm seeing that the 13.7V~ running voltage is pretty common; so may my battery be dead/dying?

 

[04fizzer]

Make sure your connections are tight.

 

[Erci]

Make sure your connections are tight.

If connections are good, load test the battery. Take it to any autozone.. they'll do it for free. (Can do it yourself, but you have to disable the ignition, attach volt meter to terminals and crank the starter for up to 15 seconds.. see how far it drops.. bad one will dip to 8, if not lower).

Is it a standard battery or gel? If it's gel, 12.6 is 80%.. whereas 12.6 is 100% for standard.

 

[FinalImpact]

You might take a look at this: http://www.600riders.com/forum/showpost.php?p=579412&postcount=6 << post 6. Off hand it sounds like you have a bad connection and you should open it up and give it a good once over. i.e. take the battery out and really inspect all connections.

However, the rough running may be rust or water in the fuel tank too? Is that a possibility???

As for the battery:
The 13.7v is not uncommon if the battery is low and the bike is charging it. Off state fully charged I usually find something closer to 12.95 on my lead acid battery even when its cool. In the picture below is my bike at cold start. I don't think this is too typical to see 14.4V at 1500 RPM. It does indicate the battery is fully charged and at float state.

Yours at 13.7V indicates its needs a charge!

Here is an excerpt from that thread. (( PASTE ))
***************************
12 Volt Battery ~12.72V:
A fully charged 12 volt lead acid battery is ~12.72 volts! It needs at least 13++ Volts from the charging system to stay charged! Yamaha specified a "no-load output from the charging system of 14.1 - 14.9vdc. (( Each cell is ~2.12V X6 = 12.72 ))

HEALTHY BATTERY = something like this:
If you think your bike is having charging issues, get an inexpensive volt ohm meter. On a healthy system you should find something like this:

12.95V - Battery voltage, engine off for 30 minutes to 30 days
12.82V - 1300 RPM - fan off, may be higher with single headlight
14.30V - 2500 RPM - fan off, but less than 14.5V above 5000 RPM

Battery Voltage can be checked from the RR w/the seat off:
Shown is Cold start, @ 1500 RPM, 14.4vdc

DURING STARTUP - EXPECT something like this:
KEY ON = 12.00V +0.35V/-0.50V (not cranking)
CRANKING = 10.50V +0.25V/-0.50V i.e. start button depressed & cranking. It's normal for the battery to drop about ~1.5V from static no load to cranking. NOTE: Batteries are temperature sensitive. As their temps drops, so does the voltage. As their temp increases, so does their voltage.

***************************

 

[Andz]

I was having a spirited ride in the back roads and popped a wheelie

Karma's a bitch.... the bike has 2 wheels for a reason! :spank:

 

[FinalImpact]

Karma's a bitch.... the bike has 2 wheels for a reason! :spank:

I guess my day is coming then!

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

My battery is on the way out, the dash dims occassionally when cranking, (always spins over fast), passed an old style meter load test with flying colors

A volt meter when cranking shows voltage dropping (cold) down to as low as 8 volts, (10 is about the minimum).

I couldn't get above 13.92 charge at the battery running however, at the voltage regulator, it was putting 14.2 volts out, thats to the battery.

Seems with the batteries old age, it just isn't accepting that little bit extra voltage..


Bike runs fine, got my new battery sitting, un-filled, waiting for this one to die..

 

[dbldutch02]

Karma's a bitch.... the bike has 2 wheels for a reason! :spank:

So it doesn't fall over on the sidestand, right?

 

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

Connections are definitely good and there's no water in the tank (I already ran fuel additives through the tank to troubleshoot); It's gotta be the bat or charging system. As soon as I charge the battery overnight everything is fine for a little while.

**The battery is not a gel one; but I just ordered a AGM battery of a widely known brand; hoping this will fix any possible wheelie issues or possibly just a ****ty battery.

**Also side note, completely forgot about this: When I turn the bike off via the kill switch; but the bike ignition is still "on" the dash turns off momentarily or completely.

**This is my second battery from "Batteries Plus+" in Orlando; the first one had a bad cell within 3 months. I'm beginning to think this may be a quality issue.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

When I turn the bike off via the kill switch; but the bike ignition is still "on" the dash turns off momentarily or completely.

This by itself indicates a probable battery issue.

All the lights are still on, drawing on the battery. The dash going out for a sec is what I see while cranking cold and the cranking volts (cold) drop to approx 8 volts(too low)...

 

[Nelly]

Have you checked your kill switch?
It's a known weakness. When my kill switch failed the bike ran and had what I initially thought was a miss fire. The instrument cluster also went completely blank.

Nelly

Sent from my HTC Desire S

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Have you checked your kill switch?
It's a known weakness. When my kill switch failed the bike ran and had what I initially thought was a miss fire. The instrument cluster also went completely blank.

Nelly

Sent from my HTC Desire S

A bad kill switch, or even turning it off (same thing), shouldn't kill the dash gauges, just the engine/fuel pump, etc.. Don't know why it did that.

A bad ignition switch, that'll kill both..

 

[Nelly]

The dash went blank a few times before I fixed the issue.
It was very bizarre.

Nelly

Sent from my HTC Desire S

 

[Nelly]

My battery was also on the way out, so perhaps it is related?

Nelly

Sent from my HTC Desire S

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

The dash went blank a few times before I fixed the issue.
It was very bizarre.

Nelly

Sent from my HTC Desire S

Mines doing that now on occasion, blanks out momentarily, but I know the battery is on the way out.

It does pass the load test easily but cranking cold voltage drops to about 8 volts (way too low).. Won't take the full 14.2 charging volts from the VR, tops off at about 13.9 volts.

 

[NewKidOnTheBlock]

Posting back to update; I went and had the battery warrantied; all problems vanished. No nothing! Everything is A-OK now! Although when they tested the battery they said it was OK; but my issues were intermittent, so I assume the battery issue was interment as well.

So never buy a battery from batteries plus in Orlando; low quality crap! Ditching the battery they gave me when my online order comes in the mail for a new one!