Dead short, no power, need help

[RockinRuss]

Symptoms: Last used bike 5 days ago. Today, turned key, had power, hit starter, click, dead. Everything dead. After leaving alone for a while and it got dark, I would notice that I turn key from off to ACC and the radio lights come on for a second then fade away. Turn to ON and nothing is there. Turn off then back to ACC and no radio lights unless I let it sit for a few minutes. Still, nothing works, no radio, no horn, no lights.

 

Troubleshooting notes: I cleaned the battery terminals and retightened. Battery voltage was at 12.7 V. Then I turn switch to ACC and battery voltage drops to 7 or 8 V while radio light comes on then fades off a second later. I turn the ignition switch all the way to ON and the battery voltage drops to near zero. I repeated this several times, then noticed my battery was having a hard time coming back up to 12 V, so I expect a short some where. Then, I hooked up the trickle charger and it was acting funny. It has a light to indicate when the battery is charged, and that light was slowly flickering. If charged, it would stay constant on, but if charging, it would stay off. I tested all fuses with continuity tester, that includes all 5 fuses on left side behind panel C, plus the 30A main fuse behind panel B, plus all 5 fuses in the lower right fairing, and all got continuity on all. I read several posts about ignition switch failure, so I checked that too. (Note: my radio doesn't work though) Took tank off and checked continuity across ignition wire connectors and found no problems.

 

Please share ideas. I will check the thread again tomorrow and try your suggestions. I really don't want to try to push this 900 lb beast up the ramp into my jacked-up truck!

[MidlifeVenture]

Sounds like a bad battery do you have a 12v light you cold hook to the battery and see if it will light it?

[flb_78]

Yep, sounds like a bad battery to me.

[Tom]

Only thing on the battery issue is he says 12.7 volts showing at battery..this should be enough to have radio lights etc..I am thinking the dreaded Ignition switch failure..Just my guess.

[flb_78]

"then noticed my battery was having a hard time coming back up to 12 V"

 

That was leading me towards bad battery. He could try to jump it, if it starts, its the battery, if it does the same thing, it's the switch most likely.

[V7Goose]

It is not the ignition switch - you have a bad battery.

Goose

[wes0778]

It is not the ignition switch - you have a bad battery.

Goose

 

 

Dead short = blown fuse(somewhere) OR "the smoke" comes out!!!

[1BigDog]

Pull the dreaded battery out and have it load tested. More than likely you dropped a cell and the battery is kaput. Dont ask me how I know this......:mo money:

 

Mine just did the same thing...for the third time this year. Friends dont let friends use Batteries Plus batteries!!!

How old is this battery and what brand is it?

[Guest tx2sturgis]

Bad battery.

 

Now...what caused it to die so fast? Maybe just old age, or maybe there is another reason it died. Guess you'll find out when you put a new battery in the bike.

[Steve S]

Sorry Dude, but it's a dead battery. The lead link between a couple of the cells has opened up. It will still read voltage through the acid, but it will not carry any amps. You could have it load tested to make sure if it would make you feel better.

[RockinRuss]

Thanks for the advice. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I made this more complicated than it needed to be. Since my battery contacts were clean, my battery was only 7 mo old, and it tested 12.7 V, I jumped to all the other possiblities before getting the battery tested. I didn't have the chance to get a load test on the battery yet, but I think you guys are right, that must be it. I have batteries fail load tests all too often, each vehicle once per year. I just bought this one 7 months ago. After doing some searches on this site for the best battery, and seeing lots of disagreement, I settled on the XTAX20HL-BS sealed AGM, which I got at a local Batteries Plus store. Good news is, I still have the box and receipt, so it should be replaced under warranty when I go in tomorrow. It was $85 plus tax, no shipping charge. I like to deal locally, which is why I didn't order one of those orange batteries on the internet that others suggested. Thanks. I'll repost later with an update. I expect I tore apart the bike (fuses and wires under the tank) for no good reason.

[LilBeaver]

... Since my battery contacts were clean, my battery was only 7 mo old, and it tested 12.7 V, ...

 

It IS strange that the battery did this and is only 7 months old. BUT depending on how often you ride, what kinds of rides they are, and of course the battery itself it can certainly go bad that quickly. For example, if you take many quick trips with a lot of idling and low RPMs and that is the typical riding that you do, this is very hard on batteries and can lead to an early demise. It is also possible that your battery was not very good to begin with and it just took that long to kill itself. But there is also the possibility that there is something else that caused the battery to fail, albeit other options would likely produce other symptoms that you would be able to detect.

 

Regardless, hopefully they will honor your warranty

 

... I didn't have the chance to get a load test on the battery yet, but I think you guys are right, that must be it. I have batteries fail load tests all too often, each vehicle once per year...

 

Well, you did do a type of load test on your battery that it CLEARLY failed. That is you tested the voltage on your battery with the key off, then you turned the key to the ACC position and ON position and tested the voltage (that is YOU applied a load to the battery and tested the voltage). You clearly failed because the terminal voltage dipped so much. What the 'typical' vehicle load test does (if you hook it up to a load testing machine) is simulate the power drawn by cranking the motor and measure the differences in terminal voltage. You failed without applying the extra draw from the motor which IS (as everyone suggested) a clear indicator that your battery is certainly not functioning properly.

 

...I expect I tore apart the bike (fuses and wires under the tank) for no good reason.

 

In my opinion it never hurts to take a look at the things you looked at occasionally. The fact that everything looked okay is a good sign, but this gave you the opportunity to verify the proper (or apparently proper) functioning of the components you examined and proper routing of wiring. Preventative maintenance is something that in my opinion is very rarely a bad thing.

 

Anyhoot, Good luck

[footsie]

Check the fuse on the side of the starter relay, if itas corroded, it causes many problems, such as the battery not being charged properly.

If you live near salt, or where they salt the roads for ice, the back tire throws water on the area where the fuse is mounted.

 

But more than likely, you have a dead cell in your battery.

 

Gregg

[GeorgeS]

Remove All the fuses, except the " Ignition fuse "

 

Use wireing diagram, to be sure you find All of them.

 

See if engine will start, and run ( After Charging the battery of course )

 

If OK, the start to RE-Install the fuses one at a time, test everything on that fuse

circuit, untill something goes wrong.

 

Now you have some idea where to look if there is still a problem.