'09 M696 Charging problem

[Mastercraft]

Just got a '09 696 (7250 miles) about 2 weeks ago and I've been trying to chase down some battery/charging problems.  When the bike arrived and I first started it the display was flashing 12.0 volts for the battery right away.  Figured this could be that the seller had only ridden it about 600 miles in his 2 years of ownership and it spent most of it's time on the battery tender.  Got the bike home and charged it with a trickle charger, battery seemed to take a charge ok.  When I turn the key and look at the volt meter on the display it ticks down the volts really quick.  The tenths of a volt were ticking down 1 every few seconds.  That made me think the battery was just weak and wouldn't hold a charge.  I was able to start it and do a short ride around the block.  The volt meter would hover between 11.9 and 12.4 while the bike was running in neutral.  Much lower than I expected.

Tried to go for a short ride after charging the battery for a couple of days and it ended with me having to call a friend and come pick up with my trailer.  I was riding on along about 60 mph and it started to run a little rough and the speedometer start jumping all over the place.  It says I was going 146 mph at one point.  I figured I better pullover and see what I do.  When I pulled into the left turn lane it died.  I pushed into the drive a gas station and turn the key back no the to check the voltage and it just showed error on the battery and then the display and lights flickered and went out.  This prompted me to buy a new battery, so I ordered a Shorai battery and installed it about a week later.  First ride after installing new battery ended the same way.  Both rides took about 20 minutes to completely drain the battery.  When I got the bike back to my garage after the last time I used my volt meter to check the voltage and it read 7.96 volts.  Seems like it shouldn't completely drain the battery in 20 minutes even it's not charging at all.

Last night I checked the AC voltage coming out of the stator and was getting in the 20 volt range on all 3 wires.  It would increase as the rpm went up.  I guess my next step is to buy and new voltage regulator.  All the wires from voltage regulator and the stator look fine, nothing melted.  Checked the fuses in box and the 30 amp main fuse, all good.  Are there other fuses somewhere?  Also checked the ground wires for the battery, seems fine.

Can anyone recommend a R/R that I should buy?  Ebay has a bunch of used Ducati ones and RMStator has a couple (new) aftermarket ones.  I was thinking I'd probably rather buy a new one than used one.  Anybody have any feedback on the aftermarket ones from RMStator?

Here are the specs for the bike
'09 Monster 696
7250 miles
Termi kit, (pipes, racing ecu, filter)
rear fender eliminator kit
CRG levers
everything else stock other than a couple carbon fiber bits (as far I can tell)

Thanks in advance for any help.  As you may be able to tell from this post I'm pretty a DIY person.  I download a service manual so that's been helpful.

[Speeddog]

What rpm was the engine at when you got the ~20 VAC?

[Mastercraft]

Little under 2000 rpm.

[Mastercraft]

Here's an update.  I pulled the headlight fuse just to see if I could see if I could reduce the draw on the battery when turning on the key.  Had a the battery up to about 13.3 before I started.  Battery did seem to come down much slower without the headlight fuse in.  Decided to fire it up and see what the voltage would do while running.  After starting I rev'd up to about 2500-3200 a few times to see what the voltage was doing.  It stayed around 12.8-12.9.  Ran it for a couple minutes max.

At the end of that run just before shutting off the exhaust was orange with heat where it attaches to the heads on both cylinders.  It this normal for it to get that hot?  I thought I saw the exhaust turning cherry red the other day, but it was pretty light outside.  I knew that it was getting pretty hot.

I ordered a Mosfet Regulator from RM Stator today and payed the extra for shipping so it will be here tomorrow or Friday.

[lillo]

Are you sure on the fuses being okay? What kind of battery? You must have some wire that is draining your battery or something. Take the tank off and look around! As far as your speedo giving incorrect speeds and such, I had a similar problem and what it turned out to be that I was on a bumpy road and one of the wiring went loose, I found it and reconnected it. Problem solved (this might have to do with battery also idk). "At the end of that run just before shutting off the exhaust was orange with heat where it attaches to the heads on both cylinders"- this is not normal for sure. You might want to reset your TPS or actually a total ECU reset.  Hope this helps

[alibaba]

FWIW - there seems to be a recurring theme on this list and on others of 2009 M696 original equipment batteries failing or having a short life.  I believe they were all Yuasa's.  Perhaps Ducati got a bad shipment.

[Howie]

You have either a bad battery or a charging system problem.  First fully charge the battery and have it load tested.  Original batter in an '09?  very possible cause.  Open cell voltage (no load) indicates state of charge, not battery condition.  Then test the charging system.

http://www.electrosport.com/technical-resources/diagnosis-center/fault-finding-guide

Though stator failures on newer bikes are uncommon there have been a few on new generation Monsters.  Pay special attention to grounds and where the stator plugs into the regulator.

[Raux]

went through the same thing

stators on both my bikes went bad

09 696
98 ST2

[Mastercraft]

Thanks for all the replies.  My new battery is a Shorai Lithium battery, they are much more powerful than the stock batteries.  I guess I'll get it tested at Autozone.

I checked the fuses by checking the continuity and they are all good.  Have the tank off and have searched and searched to try and find something loose.  The speedo jumping only happens just before everything quits.   Seems to be linked to  when voltage drops very low.


How do I reset TPS or total ECU reset?

[lillo]

to reset TPS you have to turn the key to "on" without letting it go to a full cycle. you do this three times. So insert key, and flip it to on/off position 3 times and the fourth time let it go to full cycle completion, afterwhich fire it up. Done!

[Mastercraft]

Thanks.  I'll give it a try.  My new regulator didn't show up today.  So I think I'll pull the battery and take it to Autozone to have it tested.

[lillo]

cool. let us know...

[Mastercraft]

According to the battery tester at Autozone my new Shorai battery is bad.  We tested it twice.  Not sure if that's a proper test for that battery.  I was going to try a battery from a friend's bike, but it's too big to fit in my bike.

The International Motorcycle Show is in Dallas this weekend and I think Shorai battery will be there.  I'm going to take the battery to their booth and see if they can test it or exchange it.

New R/R should be here tomorrow so we'll see.

[Howie]

I didn't know you have a Shorai battery.  Open cell reading on a fully charged Shorai is 14.340 volts 12.86 is 20% charge.  If the battery is not at least 75% charged a load test means nothing.  That is assuming you load test a Shorai the same way.  I would not expect Autozone to know how to test that battery.  Find out at the bike show or contact Shorai. http://www.shoraipower.com/s.nl/it.I/id.8/.f

Keep in mind you can not properly test a charging system with a bad battery nor will your fuel injected bike run properly.

Do let us know what Shorai says about battery testing.

[scooterd145]

Sounds like bad battery to me. Even if the charging system were disconnected all together that thing should run on battery power alone for several hours...