Battery not charging

[Santa Hal]

Two weeks ago my 09 VSR stopped running as battery was dead, and Kreggerdoodle came and saved my wife and I. The battery was original so, it was about 3 years old. So I bought a new battery from Wally World. The bike has been working fine and seemed to be running well and I have been checking with a volt meter so seemed to be charged, because the battery was @ 13 volts. My wife and I went from Katy to Lexington, TX, yesterday about 100 miles and as we got there the battery died on us again. We made it where we needed to be, after being stranded on the road for a short time. A very nice woman gave us a ride to where our friends were @ a bar b q cook off. My buddy took me to the bike where we jumped it and I brought it over to where they were at and I charged the battery for about 4 or 5 hours on a trickle charger. We started going home and made it about 60 miles and shed died on us again. Had to call AAA and had her towed home.

 

So my question to everyone is: Does anyone have any suggestions as to what can be draining the battery or why it won't hold a charge, or not charging.

 

The bike is still under warranty but I am reluctant to take it to the dealer as I like to fix things myself if possible.

 

I would really appeciate any input I can get.

 

Thanks,

 

Hal

[Marcarl]

From what I can gather, it's not charging. Could be a number of issues that can cause this.

Are the battery terminals clean and tight, and are they tight on the cable.

There is a 3 wire and a 5 wire connector on the left side of the bike. With the motor off, take these apart and clean them, check them also for any over heating\burning. Add some dielectric grease to keep things in good shape.

Your system should show more than 13 volts with a fully charged battery. Obviously the stator is charging, but not enough to keep things going. With the bike running at 2000rpm, and a fully charged battery, you should get a reading of around 14 volts.

[Santa Hal]

Yes everything is clean and tight. As for these wires to be checked where are they located at? When you are saying left side of the bike is that your left as you are sitting on the bike? I do get a hire voltage when I rev up the motor, but I don't remember what the voltage was as I don't own a voltage meter. I borrowed one when I checked it at 13, and the 13 voltage was at a non running voltage.

 

Thanks,

 

Hal

[wes0778]

Maybe a defective new battery???

[Santa Hal]

Wally World. says battery good

 

 

Hal

[Marcarl]

The only real way you are going to know if it's charging is to check it with a volt meter. It doesn't need to be an expensive one, but would be nice if it was digital. Then you can see what the battery shows when still, and what it shows with the engine running. You can also check by how in either case how bright the lights are, but it doesn't give you anything real to go on. A multimeter is a real worthwhile investment. I have several, mostly cheap ones, 10 bucks or so, because when I needed one it was cheaper to buy on than to go back home to fetch one.

The left side of the scoot is left when you're sitting on it,,, the side that is not left, is the right side, or wrong side, depends on how you look at it,,,,, now I've even confused myself.

[Santa Hal]

I just got in from checking it with a digital volt meter. I have nothing coming out. It is actually showing a discharge. I do I have a spark when I hook up the cables to the battery, but I think this is due to the memory on the radio and the clock. Do you still think that it could be those 3 wires that you talked about?

 

Hal

[Santa Hal]

Took off left side cover where fuse box is located and there is 3 wires and a 2 wires that is a visiable plug in. I put the dielectric grease on those plugs. Then if you take off the passengers running board there is another cover where there is a 4 plug in and I greased that too. There is also 2 bolted on cables I imagine they are coming from the stater to the battery. One side has juice and the other doesn't have any when running. I don't know if I am in the right place where the 5 wire plug in is at because I do not see 5 wires. Which side of the bike is the stater located at?

 

Thanks again,

Hal

[kwisor]

hello

ck the connection at the voltage reg it will corroad i had to have mine hard wired to fix the charging problem i had no problems since

bumble bee

[Santa Hal]

I don't know where the voltage regulator is at. Please advise.

 

Thanks,

 

Hal

[midnightventure]

Yes everything is clean and tight. As for these wires to be checked where are they located at? When you are saying left side of the bike is that your left as you are sitting on the bike? I do get a hire voltage when I rev up the motor, but I don't remember what the voltage was as I don't own a voltage meter. I borrowed one when I checked it at 13, and the 13 voltage was at a non running voltage.

 

If you had 13 volts when the bike wasn't running the battery was fully charged. I would be suspicious of the main connections. The ground cable to ground. The positive down to the solenoid.

[midnightventure]

I really doubt that a 2009 would have bad corrosion problems already at the regulator. Digital voltmeters are so cheap now days and so valuable for diagnosing these kind of problems. My 2002 has 92000 miles on it and I had my regulator connecter loose just this morning for an inspection and I was suprised how clean it did look being mounted down low and in front like it is.

[Santa Hal]

I don't know where the voltage regulator is at.

 

Thanks,

 

Hal

[Cougar]

The voltage R/R is here in front of the oil filter

the first pic is kind of blurry sorry

[ATTACH]66807[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]66808[/ATTACH]

 

Your Stator is here, on the left side

 

[ATTACH]66809[/ATTACH]

[Cougar]

Your startor wires are here..... I pulled these up. (the one with (3) wires

The other (2) connector also comes from the Stator as well,

Noticed the first picture with only 16K on the bike how dirty

the connector was.

 

[ATTACH]66810[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]66811[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]66812[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]66813[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]66814[/ATTACH]

 

The first three pics is with the antifreeze over flow tank removed from the left side of the bike.

Edited May 6, 2012 by Cougar

[Cougar]

My contacts on the R/R were not to bad. some folks

have seen them burnt.

[ATTACH]66815[/ATTACH]

 

[ATTACH]66816[/ATTACH]

 

I would just inspect the connector and add a little Die-Electric Grease in there.

use a 1/4 little ratchet with a 10MM on it and it's a piece of cake to remove

Edited May 6, 2012 by Cougar

[Cougar]

Hope this helps !!

[bongobobny]

Good luck with having that Wally World battery last more than a couple of years! When you have to replace it again, spring the extra money and get a DEKA battery, lots more cranking power! I would let the dealer fix your bike, but there are also upgrades to both the stator and voltage regulator out there. Buckeye Performance can fix you up with a high output stator and a better voltage regulator...

[Cougar]

[Santa Hal]

Ok guys I found the 3 stator wires and the other 2 wires. How do I check the stator with the volt meter. Running or not running?

 

Let me know please.

 

Thanks,

 

Hal

[reddevilmedic]

just found out my stator was bad, about an hour ago... i was told to check like this by twigg:

Okay ... to make this easy to visualise ...

 

Imagine each of the three wires is labelled 1, 2 and 3

 

Stab the red lead in 1 and the black lead in 2

 

Then Red in 1 and black in 3

 

Then red in 2 and black in 3.

__________________

thats how i did it. supposed to read 15 to 18volts ac. mine read about 3....

[bongobobny]

OK Not running you look for the same DC resistance between all combinations of any two white wires. Running, you are looking for equal AC voltage between all combinations of any two wires. No, I'm not sure of the values but someone will chime in. If your stator is bad one combination of wires will read different from the rest, whether it be resistance or voltage.

 

The combinations, take 2 wires and check. Of those 2, use one of them to check the third wire. Then check the third wire against the other wire you first checked. If the DC resistance is all very close then at least you don't have an open winding, but you could have a winding shorting out with another winding in the same coil, so you still need to compare the output voltages to all be the same as well. The stator is actually 3 coils connected in the center in what is known as a wye (Y) configuration...

[Santa Hal]

OK Not running you look for the same DC resistance between all combinations of any two white wires. Running, you are looking for equal AC voltage between all combinations of any two wires. No, I'm not sure of the values but someone will chime in. If your stator is bad one combination of wires will read different from the rest, whether it be resistance or voltage.

 

The combinations, take 2 wires and check. Of those 2, use one of them to check the third wire. Then check the third wire against the other wire you first checked. If the DC resistance is all very close then at least you don't have an open winding, but you could have a winding shorting out with another winding in the same coil, so you still need to compare the output voltages to all be the same as well. The stator is actually 3 coils connected in the center in what is known as a wye (Y) configuration...

 

I don't see just a DC on my volt meter, so I checked it with OHM meter at 200 and they all read 005. I don't know what this means.

 

Thanks,

Hal

[midnightventure]

5/18/12

I still think this is a good article but the test for the rectifier-regulator isn't conclusive. Mine tested good but I was still having problems. I went through the tests for everything else in the service manual. It doesn't give a test for the RR but after everything else is eliminated they say replace the RR so I did. Fixed the problem. The test in the article tests the diodes and looks for shorts but just because the RR passes there could still be a problem with it. If the diode tests show fail then the RR is definitely bad.

 

original post

I don't know if this is allowed but here is one of the best articles on the subject I have read. Competeing site.

http://www.venturers.org/Tech_Library/index.php?action=article&cat_id=002007&id=400

 

If this isn't allowed somebody nuke it.

Edited May 19, 2012 by midnightventure

[Santa Hal]

I don't know if this is allowed but here is one of the best articles on the subject I have read. Competeing site.

http://www.venturers.org/Tech_Library/index.php?action=article&cat_id=002007&id=400

 

If this isn't allowed somebody nuke it.

 

I really don't think there is a problem with this site, after all we are all trying to help each other it and whatever it takes it should be allowed.

 

Thanks again, but I give up I am taking her to Yamaha in the morning as she is still under warranty.

 

I appreciate everyones help that has posted to my thread.

 

Hal