Battery Not Recharging - Bike Stalling

[tucker]

1999 RS Venture - 13,000 miles. Dead battery months back. Charged it fully. Went for a ride a week or so later. Bike stalls at stop sign. Get a jump and drive to dealer. Install new battery immediately...no help. They keep bike and run electrical test.....find blown main fuse. I get bike back and take a 2-3 hour ride a week later. No problem. Couple weeks later take another 2-3 hour drive and bike dies. Won't start. I think the first ride drained the battery and the 2nd one killed it. Dealer tells me that screw holding cable on batter was loose and could not find any other problem. Really don't believe them on the loose screw thing. I plan on doing a 2-3 hour ride this weekend and then checking battery to see if holding a charge. Any other thoughts?

 

Tucker

[Yammer Dan]

Clean and tighten connections. Would be nice to take extra charged battery with you.

[FreezyRider]

1999 RS Venture - 13,000 miles. Dead battery months back. Charged it fully. Went for a ride a week or so later. Bike stalls at stop sign. Get a jump and drive to dealer. Install new battery immediately...no help. They keep bike and run electrical test.....find blown main fuse. I get bike back and take a 2-3 hour ride a week later. No problem. Couple weeks later take another 2-3 hour drive and bike dies. Won't start. I think the first ride drained the battery and the 2nd one killed it. Dealer tells me that screw holding cable on batter was loose and could not find any other problem. Really don't believe them on the loose screw thing. I plan on doing a 2-3 hour ride this weekend and then checking battery to see if holding a charge. Any other thoughts?

 

Tucker

 

Mine did the exact same thing and it turned out to be a bad connection at the regulator/rectifier. The RR is located about right in the center behind the front lower fairings. If you just remove the one on the throttle side you can get easy access to it. Unplug the connector and give it a good look. Mine had one of the female connections pretty burned from being too loose, thereby creating resistance. Resistance is death on a circuit. I had to use some needle nose pliers to tighten it up a bit, then cleaned everything well, put some dielectric grease in the plug and plugged it back in. No more charging issues.

Like you, I had to be stranded twice before I found it.

 

Good luck.

 

Joe

[tucker]

Mine did the exact same thing and it turned out to be a bad connection at the regulator/rectifier. The RR is located about right in the center behind the front lower fairings. If you just remove the one on the throttle side you can get easy access to it. Unplug the connector and give it a good look. Mine had one of the female connections pretty burned from being too loose, thereby creating resistance. Resistance is death on a circuit. I had to use some needle nose pliers to tighten it up a bit, then cleaned everything well, put some dielectric grease in the plug and plugged it back in. No more charging issues.

Like you, I had to be stranded twice before I found it.

 

Good luck.

 

Joe

 

I read that once a battery is fully drained, it is a gonner. Any truth to that? i just bought a new battery and I am still having my problems. thanks

[WRoger]

Hi Tucker ..

 

I just finished a big discovery on my 2000 RSV. I had several stalls (or no starts) for no apparent reason during the past 2 years with no solution. Even with booster cables attached, the bike would not come to life... however after moving it (as in loading, transporting, etc.) it fired up as if nothing was ever amiss. Recently, after working on the bike in the shop for another reason, I turned the key - dead again.

 

The problem turned out to be at the end of the positive battery cable. Just ahead of the rear tire on the left side, it joins a box with two functions: starter relay and a junction of two heavy gauge red wires in a connector that power the bike, via a 30 amp fuse. The left pass step and kick plate must be removed to get at it.

 

The 30 amp fuse could not be extracted to be checked; it pulled apart as the bottom was seized in place. The relay assembly fell in two parts upon removal, and the molded connector was badly corroded, probably because it is unprotected from splashing water.

 

A new relay was installed $30+ , but I really had to spend a lot of time cleaning up the opaque connector before I could get it to pass 12 volts to the bike.

 

I am certain that the corroded connector on the start relay was my intermittent gremlin. The bike runs well now.

 

Hope this is of some assistance.

 

WRoger

[N3FOL]

If it is a deep cycle battery, they are designed to take some abuse. For a motorcycle battery, if one drains the battery completely it may be the point of no return. If ever the battery recovers, it may not be charging and keeping its charge at its full potential.

 

Good point on the RR. Something worth checking...

[V7Goose]

Quite trying to guess what is going on by riding it. Test the battery and charging capacity with a volt meter. You don't even need to know too much about it to do the preliminary test:

 

1. With the key off, check the voltage across the battery. If it is not 12.9 volts after being off for more than 3 hours, the battery is NOT fully charged. Get it charged before doing anything else.
   
2. With a fully charged battery, start the bike and bring the RPM up to somewhere around mid-range. The actual engine speed is not too important, just make sure it is higher than idle. With the engine running fast, the voltage across the battery should be around 13.7 volts. If lower, your bike is not charging properly.
   

I see you are in Texas. If it is North Texas, bring it over here and we'll get it sorted out.

Goose

[cb1313]

My 2005 did not start having battery problems until I started adding stuff.... Sat radio, 2005 Statoliner Driving lights ( 4 bulds), extra large tail light, all light bulbs swapped to Piaa bulbs .

My stock stator could not recharge my battery as I was using more power than the stock could give. Problems were a totaly dead battery and not starting after stopping for a rest.

I have 2 very good battery changers and things just did not improve.

I up-graded to a heavey duty stator. No more problems.

 

Cb

[crockettrider]

My brother had posted this but is busy with job changes and other things in his life.....therefore I thought I could report the latest for him (you owe me)!

 

After checking the voltage at the battery (thanks Goose) he did not see and increase in voltage when the bike was revved.

He did bring it back to Yamaha and they ordered a new rectifier and installed it. It appears to be charging at close to 14 volts.

 

I hope they got it as I would hate to see him stranded at the side of the road on our West Texas trip.

 

Thanks for the help and suggestion:thumbsup:

[N3FOL]

Mine did the exact same thing and it turned out to be a bad connection at the regulator/rectifier. The RR is located about right in the center behind the front lower fairings. If you just remove the one on the throttle side you can get easy access to it. Unplug the connector and give it a good look. Mine had one of the female connections pretty burned from being too loose, thereby creating resistance. Resistance is death on a circuit. I had to use some needle nose pliers to tighten it up a bit, then cleaned everything well, put some dielectric grease in the plug and plugged it back in. No more charging issues.

Like you, I had to be stranded twice before I found it.

 

Good luck.

 

Joe

 

Your diagnosis appears to be on the ball. :97:This is good information for us. This can happen to me down one day.

 

Ride Safe.