rickardracing Posted July 30, 2015 #1 Posted July 30, 2015 Well, about a month ago, I went out to the garage to crank up the bike to take it to get gas. Bike would not start. Fuel pump died. Replaced that and things were okie dokie. Took it for a spin tonight and stopped at the gas station, topped off the tank and when I went to leave............dead battery. This is the second gel battery in 2 years. Me thinks I may have a charging problem. Battery is on a trickle charger now. Electrical on motorcycles is not my forte. I gotta get this thing fixed quick. I have a group weekend trip planned fin two weeks.
djh3 Posted July 30, 2015 #2 Posted July 30, 2015 First thing to start looking at is the connections. Connector at battery all the way down to and including the main fuse and starter solenoid. Ground battery and connection at the engine block on bottom right side engine. Probably wouldnt hurt to get a multi meter and check out the charge system if you can.
Condor Posted July 30, 2015 #3 Posted July 30, 2015 Have you been using Gel Cell batteries, or did you mean AGM 'absorbed glass matt' ??? Best way to check the charging system is pick up a multi-meter. Harbor Freight has them for about 6 bucks. Check the batter voltage at rest, at idle, and when running ay 2000rpm. Tell us what the readings are and I bet you'll get a ton of responses and ideas.... To get to the batt, remove the drivers saddle.
billmac Posted July 30, 2015 #4 Posted July 30, 2015 You must have an acc running when the key is off draining the battery. or you can try riding everyday to keep it charged.
Venturous Randy Posted July 30, 2015 #5 Posted July 30, 2015 One other thing, if you have a dead battery, you need something better than a trickle charger. Randy
rickardracing Posted July 30, 2015 Author #6 Posted July 30, 2015 You must have an acc running when the key is off draining the battery. or you can try riding everyday to keep it charged. Ok, first off, I have had the bike since 09 and never had an issue before. I have no accessories running without the key turned on. I just got back from a two week vacation plus Michigan weather sucks to ride everyday. My wifes bike sits for weeks....many weeks at a time, cranks right up. The bike has set for longer periods with no issue. I am looking for honest trustworthy advise. Not smartass comments. Sorry, frustrated and I am about to trade this puppy in on a new bike. If I cannot rely on it, I do not need it.
rickardracing Posted July 30, 2015 Author #7 Posted July 30, 2015 One other thing, if you have a dead battery, you need something better than a trickle charger. Randy I have a bigger charger. But it is late and I did not want to leave it on the bigger charger overnight, so I have it cooking on the trickle overnight and will disconnect it before I leave for work at 4:30am.
videoarizona Posted July 30, 2015 #8 Posted July 30, 2015 Regardless...understand your frustration. However, now is the time to be very methodical with your troubleshooting. Follow Condor's advice and get yourself a simple meter and read the voltages. Present the info here and you will get help. You don't need to be an electrical engineer to troubleshoot a motorcycle....just a few tools and some help. We'll provide the help... See ya after work tomorrow.... david
rickardracing Posted July 30, 2015 Author #9 Posted July 30, 2015 Regardless...understand your frustration. However, now is the time to be very methodical with your troubleshooting. Follow Condor's advice and get yourself a simple meter and read the voltages. Present the info here and you will get help. You don't need to be an electrical engineer to troubleshoot a motorcycle....just a few tools and some help. We'll provide the help... See ya after work tomorrow.... david I have a meter. When I get home I am going to check it. I do have gauges on the dash that I installed about 3 1/2 years ago. There is a voltage guage. I did not look at it on the way to the gas station so I do not know what the voltage was at the time. It usually reads about 13 to 14 volts when running. I di get the bike started this morning and the voltage was just over 10 volts. I will do a better check tonight with a meter at the battery and on the cables when it is running.
XV1100SE Posted July 30, 2015 #10 Posted July 30, 2015 (edited) Does sound like you have something drawing current if the battery was 10 volts after sitting over night. What was it when you parked it? That is a good place to start. If when you park it the battery is over 12 volts (when engine off) then the bike is charging the battery. What accessories do you have on the bike ? gps - if wired directly to battery and you leave the gps on the bike it will have a constant draw. iSimple - always "hot" so if you leave an iPod connected it will draw power with the bike off guages - by any chance are they always powered ? I put a tach on my bike but power goes thru a relay that is switched on when a keyed-on source is on (bike running) accessory/cigarette lighter outlet - do you have anything plugged in when the bike is off? This would be "hot" too I believe anything else non-original? Have you or the previous owner added anything? Batteries have been known to have bad cells in them. Even a brand new one can be defective. Have the battery tested for load. What brand/model is it? Is it properly sized for the Venture? Cold Cranking Amps (CCA) varies by battery model. Also, how you store the battery over the winter can affect the life of a battery. (I know you said that your accessories are keyed but for someone else having similar issues, this gives them some ideas) Edited July 30, 2015 by XV1100SE
billmac Posted July 30, 2015 #11 Posted July 30, 2015 was not meant as a smartass comment, try taking it to a battery place and they will do a free load test.
Rick Haywood Posted July 30, 2015 #12 Posted July 30, 2015 Bad regulator check the voltage running and see what it says. Also it could just be a bad battery just be because it is only 2 years old doesn't mean it is good. And by the way the regulator is easy to change and takes about 10 minutes, Good Luck
rickardracing Posted July 30, 2015 Author #13 Posted July 30, 2015 Does sound like you have something drawing current if the battery was 10 volts after sitting over night. What was it when you parked it? That is a good place to start. If when you park it the battery is over 12 volts (when engine off) then the bike is charging the battery. What accessories do you have on the bike ? gps - if wired directly to battery and you leave the gps on the bike it will have a constant draw. iSimple - always "hot" so if you leave an iPod connected it will draw power with the bike off guages - by any chance are they always powered ? I put a tach on my bike but power goes thru a relay that is switched on when a keyed-on source is on (bike running) accessory/cigarette lighter outlet - do you have anything plugged in when the bike is off? This would be "hot" too I believe anything else non-original? Have you or the previous owner added anything? Batteries have been known to have bad cells in them. Even a brand new one can be defective. Have the battery tested for load. What brand/model is it? Is it properly sized for the Venture? Cold Cranking Amps (CCA) varies by battery model. Also, how you store the battery over the winter can affect the life of a battery. (I know you said that your accessories are keyed but for someone else having similar issues, this gives them some ideas) GPS has been wired to a waterproof button switch located next to passing lamp switch. Not turned on. gauges are connected to accessory switch, those are off when key is off. Water and oil pressure are mechanicl not electrical, volts is electrical along with illumination bulbs. None are drawing juice. Previous owner had it 2 years and added nothing. I have not added anything in 3 years and I know for a fact that these items are not drawing power. I made sure of that during installation. As stated, I charged the battery overnight, I did not have time before work this morning to check anything out other than starting the bike and looking at the volt guage and seeing that it was not at the normal 13 some odd volts, it was at 10 when running which leads me to believe the stator or regular/rectifier is bad.
Sailor Posted July 30, 2015 #14 Posted July 30, 2015 I had problems with batteries. Turned out that if I had the radio or tape deck on and just turned off the key the battery would slowly drain. I have to turn off all accessories before turning off the bike then it is ok.
StarFan Posted July 30, 2015 #15 Posted July 30, 2015 Sorry, frustrated and I am about to trade this puppy in on a new bike. If I cannot rely on it, I do not need it. Randy. A car, a bike or for that matter any other motor driven vehicle will sooner or later brake down and need some repairs or new spare parts. Any new bike can brake down. In my opinion the RSV is the most reliable bike I have ever owned and I can not think of any other bike that is more reliable. These bikes are easy to fix and 99,99 % of the issues that come up, the members of VR.ORG have a solution for. I would spend a little time finding the problem and live happily ever after
M61A1MECH Posted July 30, 2015 #16 Posted July 30, 2015 So here is a very simple thing you can do to determine if it is the battery self discharging , like it would do if it had a bad cell or internal short, or if it is the bike drainign the voltage. Get the battery chatged up, test the voltage and record it, leave the battery disconnected from the bike and leave it over night or better yet for 24 hours, check the voltage again, if it has dropped significantly then you have a bad battery. If it has not dropped , then hook it back up to the bike and repeat, if you find after the hold time the voltage has dropped, it must be something on the bike. Could be a shorted diode in the rectifier / regulator I have seen that happen on cars many times.
Flyinfool Posted July 30, 2015 #17 Posted July 30, 2015 GPS has been wired to a waterproof button switch located next to passing lamp switch. Not turned on. gauges are connected to accessory switch, those are off when key is off. Water and oil pressure are mechanicl not electrical, volts is electrical along with illumination bulbs. None are drawing juice. Previous owner had it 2 years and added nothing. I have not added anything in 3 years and I know for a fact that these items are not drawing power. I made sure of that during installation. As stated, I charged the battery overnight, I did not have time before work this morning to check anything out other than starting the bike and looking at the volt guage and seeing that it was not at the normal 13 some odd volts, it was at 10 when running which leads me to believe the stator or regular/rectifier is bad. This would tell me the battery is bad. A fresh charged battery will not drop to 10V with the bike running even if the charging system is completely dead. I'm betting that if you fully charge the battery and take it in for a load test it will fail. You seem to be the lucky owner of a fairly new bad battery. It is also possible that in addition to a bad battery you have some other electrical gremlin hiding in there. But all of the electrical tests require a good battery, so start there with a good charge and a load test. Charge the battery with the big charger and then put it on the trickle overnight to top it off. then take it in for the load test.
rickardracing Posted July 31, 2015 Author #18 Posted July 31, 2015 Ok here is the poop oop ba doop. Checked the voltage on the battery fully charged. 12.7 volts. Start the bike, (gage on bike says 11.5 ish volts), volt meter says 12 volts. Ok, that tells me possibly not charging or bad cell in battery. Onwards to check the stator. I pulled the lower fairing off and pulled out the regulator/rectifier. Plug is clean, no corrosion, cool beans. Did an ohm check across stator terminals in harness. Should read .3 ohms. all checked at .33-.35 ohms. Okie dokie. Now check voltage across pos and neg terminals on the plug. 12.5 volts. Yipee dipee. Now lets check the stator voltage itself across the three terminals. Start the bike and check at idle, 25 volts across the board. Well alrighty then. Now rev the motor to just below detenation rpm's, 90-95 volts. Maybe a bit low, really did not hit the 4000 rpm check but me thinks the stator is ok. Well tickle me pink. Onto the regulator/rectifier. Check voltage. Black lead to pos bat terminal on R/R and red lead to each stator pin got .5 volts each. Well shiver me timbers. Now to check for open circuit......here is the el problemo. Attach red lead to pos bat terminal on R/R and touch each stator terminal ond the meter should read OL for open circuit. Well....my meter just says 1 and does not change........well spank me and call me Shirley.........either my meter won't read and open circuit OR it means that those are closed, which would lead me to believe, correct me if I am wrong, if the stator is putting out 25 -95 volts ac and the rectifier converts that to dc volts and the regulator circuit is closed, that would mean no juice is getting to the battery to charge which is why whe it is running the voltage is low because the lights and dash are pulling juice and the battery is not getting replenished. So I am "ASSUMING"...........that the regulator/rectifier is bad.
Flyinfool Posted July 31, 2015 #19 Posted July 31, 2015 What does your meter read with the leads not connected to anything, that is the reading you should have for the last part of the test. Your meter may display differently than the one in the article you used. Also do a test with the meter set to the highest ohms Ω scale, test from any one of the 3 stator wires to a good engine ground. The reading should be the same as it is with the leads connected to nothing. This should be done with the key and engine off and the stator unplugged from the RR.
rickardracing Posted August 1, 2015 Author #20 Posted August 1, 2015 Everything is pointing towards the regulator rectifier. Plugged it back in and started the bike to confirm low voltage when running and low and behold....all voltages when running are at 13.5 to 13.7 volts. Hmmmmmmm so I shut the bike off.....only ran it about 3 minutes.....and went to unplug the regulator to double check the plug and holy moly goodness gratious and great balls of fire....that sucker was smoking hot.
djh3 Posted August 2, 2015 #22 Posted August 2, 2015 Would not be the first time I have heard of an external connector like these to begin working better once "reconnected"
rougeray Posted August 2, 2015 #23 Posted August 2, 2015 Everything is pointing towards the regulator rectifier. Plugged it back in and started the bike to confirm low voltage when running and low and behold....all voltages when running are at 13.5 to 13.7 volts. Hmmmmmmm so I shut the bike off.....only ran it about 3 minutes.....and went to unplug the regulator to double check the plug and holy moly goodness gratious and great balls of fire....that sucker was smoking hot. R/R will be hot this is normal. The fins are there to help this condition. I just went through what you are going through although it seems that your problem has resolved itself by exersizing the plug at the R/R. I was not so lucky as it required the changing of the stator.
rougeray Posted August 2, 2015 #24 Posted August 2, 2015 BTW how many miles on the bike. I have an 07 and my fuel pump went out at about 60,000 miles and the stator at 78,000.
rickardracing Posted August 2, 2015 Author #25 Posted August 2, 2015 49,000 miles. My fuel pump went out just a few weeks ago. Bought an OEM replacement from Dennis Kirk and picked up another one pretty cheap off of ebay and put that one in the saddle bag as a spare incase the more expensive one decides to go on vacation while I am on my vacation! Stealer said the RR should get fairly warm but not hot enough to burn your hands. If it gets that hot you are running the risk of melting the plug. And it got that hot. I am going to go ahead and replace the RR. I do not believe it was a loose connection. That plug is really tight coming off and going back on. I checked all the other connections, they were tight and clean.I think something is going bad on the inside and the jarring of taking it off and putting it back on made the difference.
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