Mikesblackbird Posted January 14, 2006 Share Posted January 14, 2006 I'm new to the BB and I purchased my 97 this past fall with 12k miles. I installed a new battery and everything's been fine. I did not winterize the bike, but instead have been making a point to start it and ride for 20 minutes or so each week as long as the roads are dry. In the last few weeks the weather in the NE has been warm, so while the bike is sitting I did not have it on the battery tender. This morning I went to start it and after 5 seconds or so of turning over, the battery went dead. Any ideas? The only thing that is not stock on the bike is the PO installed an alarm that I don't use and is activated when the remote is pushed. Is there something on this bike that would wear down the battery when the key is off and left in the ignition? I'm stumped. Any help would be appreciated. Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rockmeupto125 Posted January 14, 2006 Share Posted January 14, 2006 No...only the clock. Alarms can draw a small amount that adds up over a few weeks. First is to put a good charge in the battery, get the bike started, and then do a quick voltage check on the system. This is not an automobile charging system. Starting the bike and running it for 20 minutes won't necessarily put much of a charge back in the battery. You may have a weak battery. It happens. You may also have a bad stator, or regulator. Charge, voltage check, and go from there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikesblackbird Posted January 14, 2006 Author Share Posted January 14, 2006 Got it. I'm checking other posts and see a lot of stuff posted on the components. It may have been a problem when I bought the bike. The PO told me the battery was new. It looked new, but I replaced it anyway. I just printed the "electrex" troubleshooting flowchart and man do I hate doing electrics, but I'll give it a shot. Thanks for the guidance. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gharknes Posted January 14, 2006 Share Posted January 14, 2006 FI birds only require a 1 second start. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrdxx Posted January 14, 2006 Share Posted January 14, 2006 You state that the previous owner had an alarm installed, that you don't use. You might try disconnecting the alarm from the battery circuit. If the alarm can be controlled using a remote, there must be a "hot" wire directly connected from the battery to the alarm, and there might be sufficient drain on the battery to require more freqent riding or the regular use of a battery tender to keep the battery topped off. Like Joe said, start troubleshooting with a fully charged battery, and do the voltage check first to eliminate the charging system as culprit. You could insert a multimeter in series with the battery and measure the current drain (milliamperes). Pull fuses one at a time until the drain disappears. This should tell you what circuit is pulling the battery down, and I suspect it might be the alarm. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikesblackbird Posted January 14, 2006 Author Share Posted January 14, 2006 You state that the previous owner had an alarm installed, that you don't use. You might try disconnecting the alarm from the battery circuit. If the alarm can be controlled using a remote, there must be a "hot" wire directly connected from the battery to the alarm, and there might be sufficient drain on the battery to require more freqent riding or the regular use of a battery tender to keep the battery topped off. Like Joe said, start troubleshooting with a fully charged battery, and do the voltage check first to eliminate the charging system as culprit. You could insert a multimeter in series with the battery and measure the current drain (milliamperes). Pull fuses one at a time until the drain disappears. This should tell you what circuit is pulling the battery down, and I suspect it might be the alarm. I had the tender on it all day and the system light on the tender says that it is fully charged, but the bike would not turn over long enough to start. I put a 2 amp charger on and let it charge for about 1 hour and the bike kicked over and revv'ed and idled nicely. I also did the rectifier test in the manual and it looks like on the ohm test that all 3 yellow leads measure the same - 1 ohm. Funny thing though, all other threads where the r/r was acting up, the idle, speedo and tach were moving wildly, and even stalled. My bike runs perfect once it's running, so maybe it's not the r/r???? very puzzling. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonW Posted January 14, 2006 Share Posted January 14, 2006 I'm no electrical expert by any stretch, but what from what I'm reading here my guess would be that the simple act of starting it every couple of weeks and letting it run for only 20 minutes is what was slowly draining your battery. Like Joe said, the bike's system isn't that stout and it's probably not topping the charge back up to snuff each time, therefore becoming more and more weak every time you start it again, until one day it doesn't start. From what I understand, a battery tender will only keep a battery at roughly the same that it's currently in and not actually charge it.....especially if it doesn't have enough juice to start the bike. Also, I've never gotten anywhere near a full charge with a 2 amp charger on for only an hour. I would recommend leaving the battery on the 2 amp charger overnight (providing it's the type that will cycle on and off when it reaches full charge) and then do your tests and what others have suggested again. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrdxx Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 From your last post, I would suspect the battery. I've had the same experience where the charger would say that the battery has a full charge, but the battery can't supply enough current to start the bike. I think a cell in the battery is weak or dead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest rockmeupto125 Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 Suspect the same as jrd. The gauges erratic behavior is caused by very low voltage. If you have a reasonbly charged battery, and good connections, you wouldn't see that until the battery had discharged quite a bit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Iceman_40 Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 First disconnect your alarm.... mine is a two way alarm and it kills my battery if I don't ride the bike for a few weeks. Running the bike for 20mins is probably just barely adding the power used to start the bike back to the battery. Find the power for the alarm and unhook it if you aren't using it. Fully charge the battery and leave the tender on it when not in use. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gharknes Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 I'm no electrical expert by any stretch, but what from what I'm reading here my guess would be that the simple act of starting it every couple of weeks and letting it run for only 20 minutes is what was slowly draining your battery. Like Joe said, the bike's system isn't that stout and it's probably not topping the charge back up to snuff each time, therefore becoming more and more weak every time you start it again, until one day it doesn't start. From what I understand, a battery tender will only keep a battery at roughly the same that it's currently in and not actually charge it.....especially if it doesn't have enough juice to start the bike. Also, I've never gotten anywhere near a full charge with a 2 amp charger on for only an hour. I would recommend leaving the battery on the 2 amp charger overnight (providing it's the type that will cycle on and off when it reaches full charge) and then do your tests and what others have suggested again. JasonW is bang on the money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikesblackbird Posted January 15, 2006 Author Share Posted January 15, 2006 First disconnect your alarm.... mine is a two way alarm and it kills my battery if I don't ride the bike for a few weeks. Running the bike for 20mins is probably just barely adding the power used to start the bike back to the battery.Find the power for the alarm and unhook it if you aren't using it. Fully charge the battery and leave the tender on it when not in use. Will disconnect the alarm. I plan to put the old rectifier back in and see. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sykotek-xx Posted January 15, 2006 Share Posted January 15, 2006 I have a battery tender. Works well and will charge a partially dead battery. However, don't trust the light on the front. I have a sealed gel cell battery that I use for hobbies. It's 12V. It's dead, only puts out about 2 volts. If I hook it to a regular charger it takes no current according to the meter on the charger. If I hook it to the battery tender, the tender's lights indicate that the battery is "charging and 80% charged". Blinking green light if I remember right. If I unhook the tender then immediately test the battery, it's still at 2, maybe 3 volts. So I don't know how the tender measures "overall charge" but it does not work how you would expect. That said I would suspect your battery, or your battery tender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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