Went out to the garage to start the Ducati this morning... it was a little chilly (15F) so it was reluctant to light off. While I was cranking on it, it just cut out... like, no power, display dark. I switched it off, waited a second, and switched it on again... and it, basically, fired right up, however... the display lost it's memory (i.e. the clock reset to 0:00, and the trip odo went back to 0.)
I did plug the battery tender back in... and, like usual, it says the battery is full... which has me scratching my head. I believe the battery is on it's way out, as soon as I get through Christmas I'll have a new one to install, but I was hammering the starter, the electrics cut out (I'm assuming because of low voltage...) and... the battery is still 'full'?
All this is a little unusual... just checking to see if something like this is normal, or am I missing something?
Just filling dead air until the smart folks arrive, but based on previous advice (and not supreme knowledge), I recommend checking/cleaning your battery connections and performing a load test as detailed here in step #3: https://www.batterystuff.com/blog/how-to-tell-if-your-battery-is-bad.html
No idea about the memory loss, but a load test is in order. A bit of reality...big twins require a lot of current to turn over. The battery, at best is barely capable of supplying enough current. If voltage drops too low; a)not enough to power fuel pump b)not enough power for the ECU. If you want to ride in 15oF weather a cable upgrade is probably in your future.
Quote from: howie on December 18, 2016, 11:11:34 PM
No idea about the memory loss, but a load test is in order. A bit of reality...big twins require a lot of current to turn over. The battery, at best is barely capable of supplying enough current. If voltage drops too low; a)not enough to power fuel pump b)not enough power for the ECU. If you want to ride in 15oF weather a cable upgrade is probably in your future.
I was going to upgrade the cables next year, in any event... I may do it when I replace the battery next month, instead.
It's been starting hard lately (not temperature dependent) and I wondered if the battery was going bad, just by the way it was cranking and behaving. I know it's a torture test at 15F.
My car radio would do that, lose presets, while cranking when the battery was on it's way out.
Battery tenders are not the best chargers either. They sense voltage only and can't balance the cells. You might just have one cell one which will allow sufficient voltage to fool the tender, but it won't fool the motor.
^ Do you have a charger(s) that you recommend?
Quote from: greenohawk69 on December 19, 2016, 08:38:07 AM
^ Do you have a charger(s) that you recommend?
Depends on what you use a charger for. Moto batteries, flooded lead acid or AGM, shouldn't be charged over 2 amps. I have no experience with Li moto batteries.
I had a Schauer charger that I really liked. It's passed on now. I'll likely buy something that will do motos, my yard equipment, and my camper deep cycle battery. They all have different charging requirements. It will likely be a Schauer.
Similar to this... https://www.amazon.com/Schauer-Battery-Charger-Maintainer-Rejuvenator/dp/B01GVKHGJK/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1482166711&sr=8-6&keywords=schauer+battery+charger
I bought a Yuasa trickle charger for the Ducati... I don't really care for it, but it may be having a hard time with a battery on the way out.
I also have a Schauer that I really like... it has 3 charging rates and can handle everything except LI batteries. It replaced my ancient Schauer that I found out was cooking my AGM motorcycle batteries to death in under a year.
All you really want for a lead acid battery is a trickle charger that will go into "float" when full charge is reached. AG [shot] batteries have slightly higher open cell voltage than flooded batteries so the charger should ideally be AGM compatible. LiFe batteries require special chargers and should have cell balancing capability unless the battery has that capability in it. If a lead acid battery has a cell specific gravity variation of .050 or a cell voltage of more than .050 volts you have a week cell and need a battery. A but of a mute point since you have a sealed battery and cannot do these tests. I brought this up because open cell voltage, which only indicates state of charge,not battery health, may not pick up a slightly weak cell. This is where a load test comes in.
Poor man's load test:
Disable ignition or fuel. Crank engine. Battery voltage should stay over 10.5 volts.
Note:
Open cell voltage is voltage across positive and negative with no load on battery. If the battery was just taken off the charger it will read artificially high. In that case, turn on the ignition for a second or two to remove the surface charge.
Quote from: howie on December 19, 2016, 09:17:03 PM
Poor man's load test:
Disable ignition or fuel. Crank engine. Battery voltage should stay over 10.5 volts.
Note:
Open cell voltage is voltage across positive and negative with no load on battery. If the battery was just taken off the charger it will read artificially high. In that case, turn on the ignition for a second or two to remove the surface charge.
No, I understand the differences in measured voltage... and that's why I already figured the battery was on it's way out.
Dumb question... do they even sell lead acid motorcycle batteries any longer? ...let alone ones you can cell test? I just assumed they were all sealed and maintenance-free.
Quote from: Charlie98 on December 20, 2016, 06:09:12 AM
No, I understand the differences in measured voltage... and that's why I already figured the battery was on it's way out.
Dumb question... do they even sell lead acid motorcycle batteries any longer? ...let alone ones you can cell test? I just assumed they were all sealed and maintenance-free.
They certainly do, and they're my choice for street bikes if the installation allows. I can get 5+ years out of a flooded lead acid battery with absolutely no maintenance other than making sure the plates never get exposed to the air.
Got 7 out of my last AGM and it was still good enough to start the bike. I only replaced it because the thought of bump starting the bike late at night on a cold, damp November day just isn't appealing to me. The 7 year old AGM in the car is being replaced for the same reason, well, noy quite since you can't bump start a modern Audi. Battery still tests perfect.
Most car batteries are still flooded, even if sealed. Flooded batteries are still being sold for bikes.
Quote from: howie on December 20, 2016, 08:40:19 AM
Got 7 out of my last AGM and it was still good enough to start the bike. I only replaced it because the thought of bump starting the bike late at night on a cold, damp November day just isn't appealing to me. The 7 year old AGM in the car is being replaced for the same reason, well, noy quite since you can't bump start a modern Audi. Battery still tests perfect.
Most car batteries are still flooded, even if sealed. Flooded batteries are still being sold for bikes.
When I say 'no maintenance' I'm including sitting without so much as a charge for years at a time. The sealed flooded battery in my old Focus was replaced at 10 years.
I just replaced my battery in the monster a couple months ago, my bike was doing the same thing. I went with the Shorai LiFePO4. Gotta say I do notice a difference, the bike cranks up a lot easier in the cold. So it gets my endorsement.
Quote from: lightspd on December 20, 2016, 06:13:30 PM
I just replaced my battery in the monster a couple months ago, my bike was doing the same thing. I went with the Shorai LiFePO4. Gotta say I do notice a difference, the bike cranks up a lot easier in the cold. So it gets my endorsement.
Shorai recommends their charger for the battery vs a Battery Tender.
I had 2 Shorai batteries, 1 installed and 1 not, hooked up to 2 non-Shorai chargers and both batteries are now dead. This was over a period of approximately 1 year. Just an FYI.
Li batteries require their own chargers and live a full Volt higher to be healthy than regular batteries . They can be destroyed by regular chargers, sometimes dangerously so. I have had good service from Shorai batteries using a Shorai charger. Using the search function here will bring up some useful information on Li batteries and the pros and cons of using them and their different service requirements.
I have this same issue that Charlie was posting about. Its a dying battery. Usually its an SW008 error and the gauge cluster resets.
I have a shorai battery that's on its death bed. It's been operating flawlessly since May 2011. Considering its almost January 2017, I cant complain.
That said, its still cranks but I've put a lot of load on the system at start. I have a powercommander with the autotune dual channel unit that warms up the (2) O2 sensors before startup.
I've decided to put up with the issue for the last two months. It seems like cold winter weather makes it worse and I wholeheartedly expect that the bike will respond better once the autotune unit is removed.