Battery vs Electrical Short?

[rjmalizia]

Riddle me this batman: is it the battery or an electrical short somewhere?

 

Well kids, life's been good...haven't ridden the bike in a couple days until yesterday, noon. hopped on Trigger, turned on the ignition, head lights turned on, neutral lit up green, hit the start button, the engine rolled over for a few seconds, but no start. So I hit the start button again, but this time, the engine barely turned and the lights went out.

 

Oh #$%^!

 

Must have blow a fuse. well needless to say the fuses are all good, but the ignition is dead. So I walked away from her for an hour or so, came back and now the lights once again work so i hit the start button only to hear...tick tick tick tick followed by the familiar power death. It sounded like what i believe to be the solenoid ticking?

 

Checking the battery, my meter stated that it had 12.8 volts with 3.8 amps...for what it's worth.

 

Next i pulled the battery and let it charge for a hour and gave it another try...same results.

 

Followed by the "well let's try jump starting it" which worked! ... but, i noticed that the green neutral light (as well as the headlight) was flickering. I didn't like that so i shut her down.

 

and finally, I got little Bro to cough up the battery out of his bike and Mikey Moused it into mine...hit the button and VROOM VROOM! it's alive, it's alive it tell you!

 

Trigger was purring along like nothing ever happened. Lights were stable and bright and the engine was idling nicely.

 

So off to Wal-mart i go and can you believe it. Of the 6 or so batteries on the shelf, one was exactly what i needed...though it set me back $78 bucks, i was still rather happy. Unfortunately though, the new battery required an initial charge, so I'll have to do my [hopefully] final test in the morning [soon].

 

Now with that said, here are my observations:

1. if it was the battery, which i truly hope to be the case, it never showed any signs or symptoms of the impending doom. Lighting didn't change with engine speed, the starter didn't appear to drag or lug while starting, etc. Just BOOM, dead in the water.

 

Another note, which i find rather hard to believe, is that the battery is a Yuasa brand. Which leads me to believe that it may be the original battery. That would be an 11 year old battery with 19K of miles on it...is that possible? [i'm the second owner]

 

Anyway, i was just curious if anyone else has had this issue before.

 

KARMA: the glass being half full here...i was suppose to leave for a big ride today. And yes i'm disappointed not to go, but i would have been REALLY disappointed, had Trigger died on me out there...

 

[Eck]

Sounds like the battery to me...put a good slow over night charge on it and it should be fine.

[SaltyDawg]

I believe it's the battery. I had no indications when my battery died. I went out to the bike turned the key on, lights came on everything looked good. Hit the starter the bike turned over for about 2 seconds and then EVERYTHING went blank. Zip, Zilch, NADA!! Checked the battery and had 12.7 volts, long story short I thought it was the ignition switch and in troubleshooting that found that when the ignition was turned on the battery voltage went to 0vdc. Thankfully Beer30 was able to trailer me home and then following Muffinman's suggestion I jump started the bike and she fired right up only to die as soon as the cables were taken off. Ended up being a shorted battery.

 

Changed the battery and she has been purring along right nice.

[GeorgeS]

11 years old, No way its the original !!

 

Could have been the Second battery in the bike. But I doubt that also.

 

As a rule of thumb, with lead Acid type motorcycle batteries, if its 3 years old, I replace it as a matter of course.

 

I would reccomend, that you monitor the Charging Voltage, ( after you get new bat. fully charged )

 

Read the DC voltage, with engine running at about 2000 rpm, you should see 13.2 up to about 14 volts.

 

IF-- its below 13V, you might need to look for some other problems.

 

Be sure to check the large White 3 wire plug that goes From the Alternator, To, the Regulator Unit. Open it, clean it, and check for any sign of overheating inside the plug. ( This is a Very Common Trouble spot on these bikes )

[bongobobny]

Yup, sounds like your old battery had a weak cell or something, and was toast! Hopefully you should be fine for a few more years...

[rjmalizia]

hey thanks all and thanks GeorgeS...I'll check that connection, as soon as i'm able to find it.

 

one more observation: just now I went to put the battery in. hooked up the negative lead and then placed my meter between the positive terminal and the positive lead...surprisingly, my meter read a 2.1 amp draw. Is that correct? I pulled all 5 fuses one at a time until i got to the last one, a 5 amp fuse for "Back Up" [The wife always said i should have a backup beeper installed:buttkick:].

 

Anyway...is this normal? or should i start looking for that short. AND what the heck is the "back up" for? All i could find a reference for was the instrument lighting...is that all?

 

Again thanks to all. I guess I'll pull the tank.

 

Ron

 

 

[rjmalizia]

well i just performed the same test on my brother's harley, and well, it had a similar 2 amp draw with the ignition off. I'm starting to think that my $20 sears volt meter is only worth $10.

 

 

[Moped]

Another plug for Yausa batteries. I have 99 RSV and just replaced original Yausa three weeks ago. I do use battery tender over winter. I have never been a fan of Wal Mart but did look at their bike batteries. They had two brands both distributed by Johnston Controls. Picked up higher priced one named Everstart Gold. Seen same model in car battery and said 3 yr. warranty. Bike battery didn't say warranty so I asked associate and the way I asked him made it amusing. I asked him if this was a good battery? He said yes it is. Then I asked what the warranty was? He said he would check at desk as I opened the box. Came back and said 1 (one) month. HUH? Paper inside box confirmed warranty. Hopefully your battery will last many years. In researching all the bike batteries I found it turns out three manufactures in Taiwan make almost all brand of bike batteries except Oddysey.

[rjmalizia]

yeah...giggle. 1 month replacement and then a 6 month prorated replacement cost. Joke i know. But just the same, i've had at least two other "wal-mart" batteries and they have held up just fine. I'm more worried that i have bigger issues here.

[rjmalizia]

I just pulled the tank and didn't see anything...however with the tank wiring disconnected and the fuse back in...the draw has disappeared (down to a few milli-amps). it has to be in the instrument panel or the fuel reading/sending unit.

[SaltyDawg]

My thoughts on the "Back Up" fuse is it keeps trip odometer, clock, and fuel gage information if you have those types of electronics on the bike.

[Moped]

Sounds like you have it narrowed down. Been a while since working on 97 but think it is similar to 99. The sending unit is just pulling circuit to ground. If it is three wire connector blk. wire is ground, green wire to gauge and grn/wh wire to low level light. If this is what you have connect ampmeter at battery and remove green wire from connector with connector connected. If no current draw then wire or gauge is shorted. If you still have current draw then it is in low light circuit.

[rjmalizia]

ME!

 

 

I am an idiot! and yes you may quote me...but please be gentle.

 

 

 

Well if i knew how to use my meter correctly it would have told me that i was only drawing a few milli-amps as normal.

 

I borrowed a third meter to test on another bike only to make BIG SPARKS on the battery. Thought i had the testers in the correct meter holes, black-common, Red-A10...spark spark spark...not good. Got me thinking though. Ran home and grabbed my meter. Guess what and the tester leads in the wrong hole...had the red lead in the milli-amp hole, NOT the 10A hole.

 

Freaking meter...perhaps i should read the instructions...you think.

 

Well in the booklet, the magic sentence says..."press and hold the ac/dc button until the display says 'dc'."

 

With that done and the testers in the correct holes, the meter now correctly (so i hope) is telling me that there are only 0.02 amps being drawn.

 

Actually now that i think of it...the meter was right before too! I had it dialed to 10A but the testers were plugged into the mA hole and it was telling me 1.80 MILLI-AMPS!

 

DOH! I am such an idiot!

 

Sorry to waste everyone's time, especially you GeorgeS.

 

Thanks for the help all.