Out of the blue... After a short ride, I get the bird back home, I turn the ignition back on, try to start her up to get her in the garage, battery seems almost dead. The engine will not turn-over. WTF.

I check the battery terminals, and recharged the battery, then everything seems fine. After reading so many post on the defective voltage regulator, I figure this may be the culprit.

One question for you mechanical guru's :roll: .

How should I troubleshoot what is going on with my baby? Not sure where to start. :?: :?: :?:

PS. You have to love how easy it is to get the battery out of the bird. Two phillips screws an a battery strap. Slides right out. Done.

My other bikes are way more complex (removing the tank and sh't). F' that. Honda's baby, Honda's :wink: . Any help would be great.

I would start by having your battery tested at a dealer. If it checks ok follow the instructions in this:

http://www.electrexusa.com/Images/faultfin...ing%20chart.doc

I just went through the ordeal a few months back. PM me if I can help out.

... look at your emergency engine stop switch (right switch housing). It's amazing how often we tend to overlook the simplest explanations, only to be led back there eventually...

Not the kill switch. I wish it was something simple like that.

Thanks for the info Involute. I checked the charging system. I appears to be charging at around 13.5 volts when the engine is at 4500rpm. The manual says it should be a little higher. Not sure if I should worry about it.

Had a bike that did that, it was the clutch switch. The one that tells the bike where it's in gear or not. On that bike it was normaly opend and fell closed on a permanent basis (I thinkg that was it, or close and open), anyway, it was broke and didn't want to start, frayed wire.

Here is a quick check.
Now that you have it running (after a battery charge), check the voltage across the battery terminals with the engine running at some speed over idle (say, above 2000 rpm). If your charging system is working correctly, it should read around 14 v.
You may still have a bad battery. A quick check for battery condition, would be to check the voltage when you try to start the bike. If it drops way down, you probably have one or more dead cells.

Batteries don't live forever. I would check for a bad battery before looking for problems with the reg/rec. Most of the time, when the reg/rec fails, you will be overcharging your battery. (around 18 v.) You will see blown light bulbs (usually the dash lights go first), etc.

Thanks Roadrash for the info. I've never changed the battery, it's about 1.5 years old (not sure). It's a sealed unit batt. I'm getting around 13.5 when the bike is at 4,500 rpms. It did take a full overnight trickle charge at 1 amps. One of the batt. cables was loose and a little dirty when the bike wouldn't turn over. I guess time will tell. I will just keep that little charger with me for a while I guess.

Maybe it's just operator error :lol:

I've still got my factory battery. Bikes a 98.

The reg/rec. can fry open or closed. It can send 18 volts to your battery, or no chargeing current at all. Can also be intermitent, so don't just hook up your multimeter, get a reading, and stop. Take a reading for a couple of minutes.

When my reg/rec. went bad it would read around 14 volts for a min. then shoot up to 18 for 2 seconds, then back to 14.

Check the important threads section. The Yamaha R1 Reg. is the cure, just like the X-11 CCT is the cure.

Use the Electrex troubleshooting tree it is excellent.