Battery issues

[acobb]

I know I'm new here, but I bought a 83 venture royale from a co-worker after his father passed away he had 4 ventures. so I'm the second owner of this bike got every maintance record from dat one. I work out of town for 6 weeks at a time and I left the bike on a tender three times now and every time I return home the battery is dead and Yamaha tests it says its bad. I have pulled the bike down to do a visual inspection of the wiring harness and see no cracks, rub spots, or breaks. I need guidance here please. all connections are good and tight where else should I be looking or checking. thanks for the help

[Freebird]

OK....I'm probably being a little dense this morning but don't completely understand. You say that the Yamaha test says the battery is dead. I assume you have replaced it?

[acobb]

I've replace the battery three times. Every time I go to Yamaha for a battery they test it on their bench unit and say the batter is bad. its driving me bonkers not finding the issue my other bikes don't have this issue I figured maybe a wire became grounged out so I went threw the harness and found nothing so I'm at a lose here

[Freebird]

Well, to be honest, I would suspect the battery tender. Have you got another one that you can try? I have seen them go bad and not shutoff and therefore overcharging and ruining batteries. That's the first thing I would verify.

[acobb]

I have three tenders one for each bike. ill swap one off my shovelhead and see how it goes. TY for the advice and this is how she looks right now gotta put het back together Edited February 28, 2018 by acobb

[Freebird]

Let us know what you find.

[Woody]

welcome to Ventureriders and I am interested to know what you find.

[acobb]

ill post what I figure out or if I don't get what the dealer says

[Flyinfool]

Welcome to VR.

Always love pics of a nekid blond. (The bike, I'm talking about the bike........)

 

Couple of things.

 

1. As Freebird mentioned, make sure that you battery tender is working correctly.

2. Check for a parasitic draw. Battery tenders put out such low power that it is possible to have a draw that is more than the tender output that will still kill the battery even while on the tender.

3. Take the battery someplace else to have it checked, maybe the dealers checker is bad. Make sure the battery is fully charged using a battery charger, not a tender, when you take it in for test. Many auto parts stores will check a battery for free. To get 3 bad batteries in a row is not likely.

[acobb]

so I have a update on the battery issues.... I found 2 melted spots on the underside of the fuse panel, bought a new fuse block, found a wire at the tail light had been pinched and was direct shorting to the frame, and the other fuse is to the headlight so I'm tracing every inch of wire spent 4 hrs today trying to find the bad wire of bad part. will let you know what else I find.

[acobb]

on another note, if anyone has replaced their fuse block I could use some help, not very electrically inclinded. the new fuse block has just one hot connection at the front for all the fuses, so my questions are how to wire it up properly and what to do with the ground wires that were attached to old fuse block. can I just do a rudimentary ground to the frame to ground them out or do I need to do something else

[Yammer Dan]

I think the Tech Library has a good one on replacing the Fuse panel.

[Flyinfool]

The fuse panel you have will not work by its self. there are some circuits that are always hot, some go hot with the key in ACC and some go hot only in run. You would need to use 3 of the common buss buss blocks to cover it. Or just get one fuse block that does not have common power.

Since you say that you are not real good with electricity, you may want to get the kit from @skydoc_17 that has everything you will need including instructions.

Edited March 9, 2018 by Flyinfool

[bongobobny]

Yup, what Jeff said! You have the wrong replacement block. You need the type that has isolated terminals on each side of the fuses. I do indeed recommend buying Earl's (Skydoc_17) kit especially if you are electrically challenged...

[skydoc_17]

Hey Addam,

Welcome to the forum! I'm sure with the help of the members of the forum, you'll have that pesky electrical problem solved in no time. As for Jeff, and Bobby, thank you, my friends for the kind words about my Fuse Box Upgrade Kit. I know I have told this story a few times before, but next month will be ten years since I purchased my Venture, and reading this thread brought back the memories of how the fuse box upgrade kit came about.

Like many of us, I had come across a low priced 87' MKII Venture, and having owned them in the past I just couldn't pass it up. As is the case most of the time, this bike was in need of some TLC, but having owned a few before, I didn't think there was anything wrong with this bike I couldn't handle. I had just joined the VR.ORG Forum, and a few of the members were getting together in Gettysburg Pennsylvania for a "meet and greet". I had just finished a rebuild of the Carbs;

and was dying to get this baby out on the road and put some miles on her, plus I wanted to meet some of the people that had been so kind to me when I introduced myself on the VentureRider Forum. I left out Saturday morning bright and early on RT 30 hoping to be in Gettysburg before noon. I shunned the Turnpike because Rt 30 is a wonderful twisty road thru the mountains, and I wanted to check out the handling of the bike. I was just west of Chambersburg Pa. when I crossed a set of railroad tracks, the kind of tracks that make your teeth clunk together, when I lost all power on the bike! It sounded like popcorn as I looked down in horror watching all of the fuses from the fusebox rain down on the roadway! Every clip in the fuse box had broken and I couldn't even light a cigar!

I thought the bike was ruined. I called my brother on my cell phone, he came with the trailer, and that was the pitiful end of my first "meet and greet". I never even made it. I took some ribbing from the guys on the forum, and my wife wanted to turn the old 87'VR into a planter in the front yard, but I was determined to get this bike on the road. And so the Fuse Box Upgrade Kit was born. That was 10 years and 85,000 miles ago, and she is still running strong. Oh, I did have to build my wife a planter in the front yard though. I wish you the best of luck with this project, Addam. Don't give up just yet. And if by chance you do have some use for the fuse box upgrade kit, here's the link:

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/photopost/showproduct.php?product=59&title=first-gen-vr-fuse-box-upgrade-kit&cat=17

 

Thanks again Jeff and Bobby, for reminding me that "we've all been there"!

Earl

[snyper316]

I agree you should get skydocs kit and see if yamagrl still has a upgraded battery cable while your that tore down. Worth the money I will say. I have the upgrades and will say her cables are the best I have done to bike I still haven't bought 4 brush starter. I'm at hospital right now I followed in fools footsteps. Minus tinker but I believe I have pictures And short video I will post of my setup later. Suprised our resident trickster pucster hasn't posted here lol. Maybe someone forgot to leave the hot dog trail.. Anyways welcome pull up a chair and in no time you will be doing everything to that bike you never dreamed. I'm rambling they gave me a pill earlier trying to fight my eyes up. Plus side not feeling ankle much cpt my febula is hurting like a well won't go there. Once again welcome I love my 83!!

 

Sent from my LG-M255 using Tapatalk

[Yammer Dan]

Hey Addam,

Welcome to the forum! I'm sure with the help of the members of the forum, you'll have that pesky electrical problem solved in no time. As for Jeff, and Bobby, thank you, my friends for the kind words about my Fuse Box Upgrade Kit. I know I have told this story a few times before, but next month will be ten years since I purchased my Venture, and reading this thread brought back the memories of how the fuse box upgrade kit came about.

Like many of us, I had come across a low priced 87' MKII Venture, and having owned them in the past I just couldn't pass it up. As is the case most of the time, this bike was in need of some TLC, but having owned a few before, I didn't think there was anything wrong with this bike I couldn't handle. I had just joined the VR.ORG Forum, and a few of the members were getting together in Gettysburg Pennsylvania for a "meet and greet". I had just finished a rebuild of the Carbs;

and was dying to get this baby out on the road and put some miles on her, plus I wanted to meet some of the people that had been so kind to me when I introduced myself on the VentureRider Forum. I left out Saturday morning bright and early on RT 30 hoping to be in Gettysburg before noon. I shunned the Turnpike because Rt 30 is a wonderful twisty road thru the mountains, and I wanted to check out the handling of the bike. I was just west of Chambersburg Pa. when I crossed a set of railroad tracks, the kind of tracks that make your teeth clunk together, when I lost all power on the bike! It sounded like popcorn as I looked down in horror watching all of the fuses from the fusebox rain down on the roadway! Every clip in the fuse box had broken and I couldn't even light a cigar!

I thought the bike was ruined. I called my brother on my cell phone, he came with the trailer, and that was the pitiful end of my first "meet and greet". I never even made it. I took some ribbing from the guys on the forum, and my wife wanted to turn the old 87'VR into a planter in the front yard, but I was determined to get this bike on the road. And so the Fuse Box Upgrade Kit was born. That was 10 years and 85,000 miles ago, and she is still running strong. Oh, I did have to build my wife a planter in the front yard though. I wish you the best of luck with this project, Addam. Don't give up just yet. And if by chance you do have some use for the fuse box upgrade kit, here's the link:

 

http://www.venturerider.org/forum/photopost/showproduct.php?product=59&title=first-gen-vr-fuse-box-upgrade-kit&cat=17

 

Thanks again Jeff and Bobby, for reminding me that "we've all been there"!

Earl

 

 

 

How is the Planter doing???