Battery Issues

[John P]

Hello All

 

Recently bought a 2006 RSV. Road it 2 hours home. When I got home I couldn't restart to pull it into the garage because the battery was dead. (I had the radio on during the ride home but on no volume as I hadn't figured out how to turn it off yet ).

Charged up the battery (which the prev owner said was only 3 month old). It was reading at over 12V when done. Road the bike to work all that week 20 min one way (radio on only last trip). Took it for a 1 hour test ride on the weekend and the radio cut in and out at the end of the ride seemingly tied to the amount of throttle I gave it. Bike stopped just as I was pulling back into my driveway and again the battery was dead. Recharged the battery. It sat cold for a few days after charging. Now it shows 13V cold and about 14.4V when running which i think is in spec. Running volts seems to hold pretty well through different RPMS. I did an amp test and couldn't detect any draw when off (but I'm not super confident I did it right).

My plan now is to get a second battery so I don't get stuck while testing. Run it for a few trips with no accessories on and test the battery frequently to see if it is holding. Thinking of installing a permanent volt meter so I can detect charging issues while riding. I just have a gut feeling that the audio system is draining too much juice. Is there an easy way to test that? Any other ideas would be greatly appreciated!

[vzuden]

if it were mine I would take that battery to an auto parts place and have it load tested. Start there before I went any further

[cowpuc]

Sure sounds suspsiously like either a Regulator or Stator issue to me.. The running until the battery is dead and then having the bike die at the end is a dead give away in my experience.. If my bike did not have a volt meter built in so I could watch it I would grab a cheapo HF meter (the type that HF was giving away free on a regular basis in thier coupon book) like I always carry in my bikes maintenance dept (right saddlebag) and wire it up to the battery terminals and duct tape it to my handlebars or something so I could have a constant monitoring of the charging system if having issues like you are having and it seemed to happen inconsistently..

Now this is just an opinion from a backyard mechanic who has swapped out his share of Stators,, here is how this works,, again - IMHO (best you get till the real guru's show up .. What I have experienced is when a Stator gets hot and the protection around the wires in its coils (I call it thier lamination) gets cooked the coils loss their ability to resist current flow between those wires,, or,, put in another way,, they lose effeciency.. It always amazed me on the 1st Gens of mine how a failed stator would clearly show its cooked status in areas that was not getting proper oil bath cooling. When the bikes engine is cool,, say at start up,,, those windings can,, and often do perform adequately but when they get hot from operating those same coils now will have a completely different attitude.. That is why I always check mine both cold and hot if I dont have a dash mounted volt meter and the bike is acting up as you describe.. On my first gens I can usually detect a failed stator/regulator coming just by change in my dash meters attitude.. If it gets slow to respond when I cross 1500 rpm or so this is an indicator.. If I turn on a blinker or touch the brake light and the meter starts dropping to low voltage that is a good indicator.. If we are out on a couple hour ride (or a 2 month trip,, Murphy LOVES this!!) and I notice my bike suddenly backfiring strangely or dropping fire on a cylinder I immeditely glance my volt gauge cause a low output from the stator is not friendly to the ignition system..

I would also check for AC Voltage at the battery too,, an indicator the rectifier is toast if present.. IMHO,, it is always important to not just look for output but also look at how cleanly and sharply the regulator input is coming in.. Is it lazy? Does it not consistently snap right to 14.5 volts when it crossed a low rpm increase?? Sure signs that something at right..

Hate to be the bearer of bad new and definitely hope it is just a bad battery or loose/dirty connection at the battery but the above is what it sounds like to me..

Truth Matters

Puc

[John P]

Thanks for all the advise! I took the battery over to an auto store and they did a load test and verified it's a ok. So I thought I would do the ohm test on the stator. I took off the left side panel and think I'm staring at the stator wire connection.. three wires in and out right by the fuse box. Can't for the life of me get the male to unmount the female so to speak. Pushing on the little tab. Etc. Does this look like the right connection? Any advise for this novice?

[Du-Rron]

Thanks for all the advise! I took the battery over to an auto store and they did a load test and verified it's a ok. So I thought I would do the ohm test on the stator. I took off the left side panel and think I'm staring at the stator wire connection.. three wires in and out right by the fuse box. Can't for the life of me get the male to unmount the female so to speak. Pushing on the little tab. Etc. Does this look like the right connection? Any advise for this novice?

 

No, I believe that is the fuel pump connector. I think the one you want is behind the center panel, next to the "left" panel you just removed.