So, heres's the latest installment in my "WTF Happened?" series.
Pulled bike out, insert key, cranks 3 times and everything goes dead. So, I think "Battery" since it did a similar thing 2 years ago when the battery shorted. Pulled the battery, reads 12.7 V.Hmmm . Put the battery on charger and it charges up to 13.4 V. Put it back in and I get a momentary flicker of the dash lights and then all goes dead again. Any further cycling of the key does nothing, everything stays dead. So I pull the Relay box and do the static test on it. Everything seems to check out. I am not able to do the powered part of the test. So, any ideas? The bike was running fine and the dash display showed it charging the battery at 14.3 V. I'm so broke right now that I can't even afford to pay attention so before I take it to a shop I thought I'd see what you guys thought.

Thanks in advance.

Mad

I'm so broke right now that I can't even afford to pay attention so before I take it to a shop I thought I'd see what you guys thought.

You and me both, bro!

Don't take her to a shop unless you have tried everything. If you don't try, the shop will and you will pay. If its not a good shop, they might not be able to fix it if you can't figure out the problem.

Hope you get it sorted soon. Hope Hayward is in S Cal where it never rains. No rush to fix 'er before the end of the season.

Put the battery on charger and it charges up to 13.4 V. Put it back in and I get a momentary flicker of the dash lights and then all goes dead again...........TRY THAT AGAIN AND SEE WHAT HAPPENS AND WHILE ITS OUT JUST TAP ON SOME WIRES WHILE YOU AT IT

Hayward is in the Bay Area. Home of the pimp playas and hustlers.

No clue really, just thinking. Does voltage necessarily mean that your battery is good? I'm thinking amperage is what you need. My cordless drill is 18 volts, wont start a motorcycle for sure. I would borrow a battery and try it. If I'm way off here I apologize, like I said I have no clue.

Does voltage necessarily mean that your battery is good? I'm thinking amperage

That's WATT I'm thinking. How old is that battery, and is that the same battery that did that hatrick 2 years ago?

Let's not get all twisted up on 3 variables. Lets narrow it down like the 3amigos for running.

1. V/reg: I see my reg is pumping out 14.3v = Not the V/reg.
2. AC output: I put out the recharging loop and the V/reg makes sure the battery does not over cook = Not the AC.
3. Battery: I am the last problem in the charging loop. How old am I and am I the original battery and what is my average riding time? Everyday? Once a week? Once a month? And did I trickle charge my 1% of charge lost each day not being charge? So 15 days is 15% down on the charge = BINGO!

Hi, how much is the hourly rate? That's $110.00 an hour. How much is a new battery? That's $110.00 for a new battery. Do you gamble? Not really. I'm broke and if I went on the net and asked how much trust should I put into wfozx, save $110.OO and buy a new battery? I think if it doesn't turn out, we could shake $100 out of wofozx's trousers, because he already apologized so turn him right side up.

Ok, Hub here's the story on the battery. Bought it 2 years ago when my old one shorted out suddenly. Put it in and it solved the problem and has been working good ever since. It is a generic brand, not top quality but until now has seemed to be fine. The bike was cranking a bit slower than usual lately which is why I checked the charging output the day before this latest problem cropped up. When I was fiddling around with the bike this past weekend, when I was hooking up the negative terminal I was getting " clicks" from the dash area. Got everything tightened up and turned the key. Brief flash of neutral light then blank. No flash or quiver from the gauges after the intital key try. I am taking the battery down to have it load tested today. I am hoping they will tell me it's junk. I've kind of ruled out the main fuse since I do get the flash from the neutral light. And this all started while I was cranking the motor. So....
I just know that these bikes are pretty sensitive to having a good battery in the system so I hope that' all it is.

Mad

And I did shake wofozx and all I got was some lint and a cornflake...

Mad

Mad, I do have a battery load tester, but another way of seeing that load is to put the volt meter back on the battery leads, hit the starter and watch the drop in volts. Kind of like a load test. I spoke to Yuasa tech and the battery prep is pretty easy, but takes a few hours or part of the day.

When it says 12-14A-BS, the BS means, 'Battery ACID Supplied.'
1. Fill the acid and let sit for an hour or more for plate soaking.
2. Charge for 4 hours so every volt is pushed out of that battery post you read the peak volt it rises no higher, meaning, that's about all that charger is going to put out and it better be over 1.5amp rated.
3. Since that is the saturation number to aim for or higher after the charge, either remotely wire up a high beam and remotely wire up a brake light bulb to drain the battery to 1v. That, or burn your high beams and bungee cord the brake light, install battery and watch the volts drop to 1v this way.
4. Pull the battery out or pull the bulb wires off the battery and charge the battery back up again to that number. You are going to do this 2 more times, then charge the battery on that trickle until you go riding.

That new battery may... I say, I say, that cheap battery you bought, may last a lot longer with a pre-prep, than shoving that battery in for service right from the getgo. We know how it was charged initially?: is here we are. WATT??? Our 3rd year on the battery or going on now 3 years or less is it? And here we are again.

I still say buy a gel for a few more coin, and it'll last 5 years.

WHOO HOO!
Well, I took my battery to Auto Zone to get load tested. The girl there couldn't get the tester to work on the battery at all. So, either:
1. The battery is really bad
2. Her tester is no good
3. She doesn't know how to use the test box.
So I then took it to the local motorcycle mega dealer here in town. They told me:
1. it read 12.2 V
2. It was REAL screwed up
3. That the battery was so bad that the tester called it "unstable".
HALLELUEIA!! (sp?)
So the master plan is to save my pennies for a Shorai and that should make all my days full of sunshine and
bunnies.
So, thanks to all who kept insisting the battery was the problem. If it turns out it IS something else, I'll come stalking your asses.

Mad

Thats great, does this mean I get my fucking corn flake back?

If it turns out it IS something else, I'll come stalking your asses.

SUCKER!

It's the v/reg!

Uh, sorry wfozx, I had the cornflake with my only hot meal for the day, a bowl of steam.
I can probably find a raisen under the couch though. Interested?
Hub thanks a lot. Now I'l continue to stay up nights...

Mad

I had the cornflake with my only hot meal for the day, a bowl of steam