another charging system failure?

[Blizzard_1708]

Aright....so I'm riding home, get into the residential area, and make a left hand 90 turn onto another street.....

Tach - reads ZERO, rev engine, engine sounds normal, tach doesnt even look as if it wants to move. Its happy pointing straight down at ZERO.

Gear Indicator - 2, well, I was in two, know I'm in one....find neutral, neutral light comes on, second, third, back through 2 and dodwn to one. Gear Indicator is happy indicating 2 without blinking even once.

Bike is sputtering - like I just ran out of gas (full tank, filled it yesterday on the way home), runs, sputters, runs, sputters....eventually dies.

while still coasting after the engine in dead, I tried to push start it by letting out the clutch, and it didnt start. I get to a stop and try to crank it over, clicky clicky, nothing, but the neutral light flashes ALOT. Turn the key off, wait a min, and back on. The display does the normal display stuff, tach goes through the full range of motion, lights all come on, crank it over, nothing.

When my battery is disconnected or really low the scorpion alarm goes off, and when ever I took the key to off my alarm was going off.

So opinions? Advice? Kegan, you want your charging gremlin back? I think you left him at my house last time you were over. (You know, the really bad day you had when you said sorry if my house burns down!)

[Firewa11]

Could be a charging system issue, the flickering lights and stuff I got on my Gixxer when the old battery that wouldn't hold a charge was croaking, and I was trying to start it using a battery charger that had a 'jump start' ability straight out of the wall. You can try swapping out batteries with George's bike to see, just put it in neutral and let it run for awhile in the driveway. If your charging system is hosed it shouldn't take long to drain the battery and sputter and die.

I've seen weird things when batteries go bad, and what you've described sounds like it could be one. I'd say try swapping batteries first... then if that doesn't help, I'd take it to a bike doctor like CycleWerkz and have them check the charging system...

[Blizzard_1708]

I'll be taking the battery to cyclegear today because I bought it from them last year and its got a lifetime warranty. They can at least load test it and tell me if its bad. But when the bike is running, shouldnt the charging system keep it running?

[DarcShadow]

Nope, the charging system won't keep it running, at least not at idle speeds, if you keep the revs up above 3 or 4grand the bike might continue to run ok but at the lower revs the charger doesn't have enough juice. At least that was the case on my Daytona and I believe it is true for most modern sport bikes.

[Firewa11]

Nope, the charging system won't keep it running, at least not at idle speeds, if you keep the revs up above 3 or 4grand the bike might continue to run ok but at the lower revs the charger doesn't have enough juice. At least that was the case on my Daytona and I believe it is true for most modern sport bikes.

Yep, same thing I found on my Gixxer. I by some chance got it started with the jump starter charger, but as soon as I chopped the throttle the lights would flicker and it would die. Sounds more and more like the battery...

[Blizzard_1708]

alright, hopefully I just got a bad battery from Cyclegear then because I was just idling through the corner.

[Firewa11]

Well, if it is the battery, it's paid for itself!

[Blizzard_1708]

and, if its just the battery I might still be able to ride to Bike Night tonight. About to take it over to them, I'll let ya'll know what they say.

[U-Turn]

Once, on mine one of the terminal connections to the battery was loose. Tightened it and all was good again.
-

[Blizzard_1708]

well, the battery of 6-7 months old was bad under load, so I got it replaced for free. I will go to cyclewerks tomorrow and make sure the charging system is working like it is supposed to and that it is not the reason the battery went bad.

[Firewa11]

Yep, just because it's got a guarantee doesn't mean it's that much better than any other battery, just be glad it didn't leave you stranded a million miles from home on one of Kegan's rides!

[Blizzard_1708]

Its not even a top shelf battery, there are much better batteries that I could have purchased. This on is just the cyclegear brand. Thats what the guy at cyclegear told me today.

[Blizzard_1708]

got the new battery charged on the battery tender and then tested voltage....hmmm.....12.5 volts under no load, 12.5 volts while reved to 5.5k.....charging system is not charging! ARGH!

[Firewa11]

Wait isn't that normal? You wouldn't want voltage to fluctuate, you'd expect amps to fluctuate right?

[sckego]

No, with the bike on you should be seeing 14-15V at the battery. What she's seeing is just the normal battery voltage, which means the bike isn't charging the battery. You might see less then 14V at idle, when the engine is turning slowly and the stator isn't putting out much power, but at 5k you should definitely be seeing full charging voltage.

[Firewa11]

Ah, makes sense. I trust the guy who's got a volt meter bolted to his bike!

[Blizzard_1708]

Sckego is the resident charging system expert!!

[Blizzard_1708]

Kegan - thanks for your help, and I know you would come over and help diagnose the system further, but I called Arlington Motorsport and my bike is still covered under warranty, so I will be taking it over there to get fixed today.

[sckego]

Alright, cool!

I could help you figure it out, but you'd still need to get parts... warranty coverage is MUCH better then having to pay for stuff! Hope you're back up and running in short order.

[GRex]

Good to hear it is under warrenty! Hope it gets fixed quickly.

[Grinner]

All Hail The Motorcycle gods for having warranties!!

[Blizzard_1708]

wont have the bike for at least a week now

[dufremle]

It took Honda about a week to get mine fixed. Warranty work gets done last.

[armedandinsain]

Aright....so I'm riding home, get into the residential area, and make a left hand 90 turn onto another street.....

Tach - reads ZERO, rev engine, engine sounds normal, tach doesnt even look as if it wants to move. Its happy pointing straight down at ZERO.

Gear Indicator - 2, well, I was in two, know I'm in one....find neutral, neutral light comes on, second, third, back through 2 and dodwn to one. Gear Indicator is happy indicating 2 without blinking even once.

Bike is sputtering - like I just ran out of gas (full tank, filled it yesterday on the way home), runs, sputters, runs, sputters....eventually dies.

while still coasting after the engine in dead, I tried to push start it by letting out the clutch, and it didnt start. I get to a stop and try to crank it over, clicky clicky, nothing, but the neutral light flashes ALOT. Turn the key off, wait a min, and back on. The display does the normal display stuff, tach goes through the full range of motion, lights all come on, crank it over, nothing.

When my battery is disconnected or really low the scorpion alarm goes off, and when ever I took the key to off my alarm was going off.

So opinions? Advice? Kegan, you want your charging gremlin back? I think you left him at my house last time you were over. (You know, the really bad day you had when you said sorry if my house burns down!)

sounds just like what mine did but i was up at 7-8k when it did it to me

[R-Sen]

Sckego- question for ya or anyone else who could input anything.

I bought a new battery because I thought mind had reached it's end, worked ok for about 1 day then same issues came back up. Doesn't happen all the timbut often. my bike won't die on me if idling, but if I turn it off and leave it overnight I can't restart it I have to use jumper cables or push start, but on some days it will start right up. Any idea? I'm also pressed for time cyclewerkz is closed today and I'm taking the bike to Mexico either this weekend or mid next week.