Got a new battery from the dealer, which turned out to be junk. When they tested it, came back as "unstable." They replaced it and everything seemed fine for about 2 weeks. It sat in the garage the first week due to weather, road it 4 times the next week, the next time I went to ride it I made it about 2 miles from home and cut out on me and started to run rough (almost like it was misfiring). Restarted it and it sounded ok, but then almost immediately did the same thing. Checked the voltage via the display, about 11.6. Tried to start it again, 10.4 and whole bike reset (trip to 0, time 0:00).
Is there anything else easy I can check before I take it in?
Mike
make sure the terminals are tight i had a loose one and it
caused the bike to run rough and shut down
gas light flickers for some reason
worth a check at least
Unstable battery? Batteries are good, bad or in between, not unstable. Your volt meter is telling you there is a charging system problem. Yes, as redial said it can be a loose battery connection. If you need to tell your tech how to troubleshoot your bike you are in the wrong shop.
Tell us what the year and model of the bike is and we can give you some pointers
Your battery is going flat because it's not being charged.
Likely causes of trouble:
- Connection issue.
- Dead regulator.
- Open circuit winding in stator.
Charge the battery off the bike, and then put it in and start it. Measure the voltage at the battery terminals before you start the bike, and then with the bike running at about 4K rpm. It should measure 12.something volts before starting, and 14.something when revving at 4K.
It won't be. So next you need to work your way back through the charging circuit to see what isn't working. Check the output from the regulator (red and green wires). They should be 14.something volts at 4K rpm.
If the regulator output is okay, check connections from there to the battery. If not, check the voltages on the yellow wires (stator output) going to the regulator. Use the AC volts range on your multimeter. The voltage between any pair of yellow wires should be >30V AC with the bike running at around 4K. check all three combinations. If they are okay, your regulator is shot. If they aren't, it's the stator (or the wiring to the stator).
It is an 09 696. Probably won't get to it tonight, but I will double check that the connection is tight at the terminals. I just wanted to make sure there wasn't anything else quick and easy I could before I took it in. I am not the best with a voltage meter....
The unstable battery was the reading the shop's battery tester came up with. The guy said that he had never seen that come up before and had no idea what it meant, so they just replaced it with a different new one. That one cause my bike not to start as well, but it threw up the 'high batt' error. That is when I removed it and took it back.
Thanks-
Mike
i had an similar issue. turned out to be a loose connection between the reg/rec/ and the battery.
slapped a zip tie on the connector and problem solved.
Quote from: JoeChieftain on May 24, 2010, 02:51:16 PM
The unstable battery was the reading the shop's battery tester came up with. The guy said that he had never seen that come up before and had no idea what it meant,
Mike
I have seen Dthat before. It was an internally broken post.
I love this kind of trouble shooting. If you still have the problem next week after the holiday I might be able to help you with it. Call me or pm if you don't have my number.
Suzy is right. She has hit about all the problems you can have in a simple electrical system( if you consider a short or open as a connection problem).
Could be a broken post, but unlikely on that bike since it is a screw-on connection. My assumption is your bike is still under warranty, so all you should probably be doing is checking connections. I would start with the battery positive and negative. Then I would check the connection where the stator wires plug into voltage regulator. Then the engine ground. It is the dealer's job to do what suzyj says, since they are the folk who would need to replace defective parts, but if you have a meter and want to, go for it. I have a feeling your dealer is using the DDS (factory scan tool) and expecting that tool to say what is wrong with the bike. Pin point testing is needed.
Quote from: redial on May 24, 2010, 09:13:40 AM
make sure the terminals are tight i had a loose one and it
caused the bike to run rough and shut down
gas light flickers for some reason
worth a check at least
+1 My negative was loose and caused me to have to push start it for 3 days of a 7 day trip. I looked at the postive terminal initially, but not the negative [bang] Oh well, lesson learned! [drink]
The best lesson was learning to find even the slightest of glradients even if you are in the back woods or on gravel [cheeky]
It appears it may have been a loose connection, but not at the battery terminal. The nut on the other end of the + cable was almost off. I checked the rest of them and they seem tight. I checked all the other nuts and cable connections I can find and they all seem ok.
After looking at the pdf with all of the diagrams the one thing I did not check is the fuse in the relay switch. (part 14 on diagram 19) How likely is that it is blow with the cable being able rattle around on the post? Taking the tank covers off to check stuff is becoming tedious, would rather be riding.
I guess I just need to ride it for a while and see if I have any issues with it cutting out.
Quote from: JoeChieftain on May 27, 2010, 10:42:11 AM
It appears it may have been a loose connection, but not at the battery terminal. The nut on the other end of the + cable was almost off. I checked the rest of them and they seem tight. I checked all the other nuts and cable connections I can find and they all seem ok.
After looking at the pdf with all of the diagrams the one thing I did not check is the fuse in the relay switch. (part 14 on diagram 19) How likely is that it is blow with the cable being able rattle around on the post? Taking the tank covers off to check stuff is becoming tedious, would rather be riding.
I guess I just need to ride it for a while and see if I have any issues with it cutting out.
Yeah if you tightened it up good, I would go ride it around, and see what happens. My guess is nothing! good luck [thumbsup]