2000 SV650 not starting with fully charged Battery

[embee]

You can't really tell the state for charge of a battery by checking open circuit voltage, especially Li-ion types which are a bit like emptying a bottle, it pours out fine until suddenly it's empty, lead-acid are a bit more like squeezing out a sponge.
Li-ion can be a bit more sensitive to overcharging, but the replacements for lead-acid are usually fine if the vehicle charging is within spec.
Sounds to me simply like the battery is flat and the bike is not charging it properly.
I'd suggest go back to square one, fit a well charged battery and see if it starts, and check the charging voltage while it's running.
Have you checked the condition of the connector between the alternator and the reg/rec lead, the one with 3 yellow wires? That's prone to burning out connector blades.
All terminals including the main relay and the 30A fuse in it need to be in good clean condition.

You "can" charge a Li-ion battery using a normal charger PROVIDING it is not in de-sulphation mode and it doesn't go over the max limit. I used one while monitoring the voltage and after around an hour it began to rise and I stopped it at around 14V. I have since invested in a dedicated charger. Note that the bike types are LiFePO, a different animal to other "Li-ion" types like phone batteries etc., I'm using a couple of Shido ones successfully (so far).
While the quoted Ah capacity of a LiFePO replacement is usually considerably less than the lead acid original, it's not quite as it appears because you cannot use all the lead-acid charge and still get it to start, but a LiFePO will deliver almost full current right down to the minimum charge state. They also will re-charge at a much higher rate than a lead-acid, so in real world use you don't generally need as much Ah rating to be workable. LiFePO are also a bit grumpy when cold, so the usual advice is if soaked at near freezing to turn on the lights for a minute or so to warm it a bit, then it will deliver starting current OK.

Originally Posted by bezsv650

Ok, got it. Will check 2nite. Thanks Othen

Did you find the problem bezsv650? Was it a flat battery, bad earth lead, poor connection somewhere or something else?

Alan

[bezsv650]

Originally Posted by Othen

Did you find the problem bezsv650? Was it a flat battery, bad earth lead, poor connection somewhere or something else?

Alan

I tried my best to check all connections, voltage improved a bit. Now it is clicking but still not starting.

[bezsv650]

Definitely appears to be the new lithium battery https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058EBVXS that is not working for me. Strangely it worked for a few days. I believe embee was right. Need to go back to an acid battery. Thanks for all of your help

Originally Posted by bezsv650

Definitely appears to be the new lithium battery https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0058EBVXS that is not working for me. Strangely it worked for a few days. I believe embee was right. Need to go back to an acid battery. Thanks for all of your help

Now that is interesting. In that case it might be that the bike is not charging the new battery properly, so it ran as a dead loss system for a few days. I don’t know much about lithium batteries (but I’ll do some reading today), but I’m thinking that perhaps your rectifier/regulator is not producing the output the battery was expecting to see, but that your lead acid battery was less intolerant?

If you still have the old battery then charge it fully and try it, if not buy the cheapest one you can (I got one for £25 that I use on my K6 that works very well indeed) and do the same to get the bike going. Then it would be a good idea to check the charging voltage (generally a bit over 14v, but check in the service manual, I think I sent you a link to one you may download free if you don’t already have one). You may need to do that over a few days to make sure there is no intermittent fault, so it might be a good idea to fit some accessible tails to the terminals so you can check without taking the seat off (and you could use them to charge the battery whilst still on the bike as well).

It seems a great pity to waste an expensive lithium battery, so I think it would be worth the effort in trying to identify the problem. It may be that the rectifier/regulator is not doing exactly as it is supposed to, and if so it would be a good idea to fix that now because it will not get better on its own. Someone published a good article on RR problems, I think in these pages, so I’ll have a look later on and see if I can fink a link for you.

It has been really helpful to publish this issue and so inform other readers of potential problems. Do let us know what was the problem if you investigate further.

Well done to embee for getting this right. I don’t have any experience with lithium batteries and so was to an extent leading you up the garden path (although all the continuity checks were sensible - always check the free things first).

Good fortune,

Alan


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Hi again,

I’ve just read the reviews on the Li battery, they vary a great deal (most very good, but about 10% very poor indeed). Here is one I found that is not so dissimilar to your experience:

1.0 out of 5 starsNo where near the CCA rating. No good for big twins.
May 22, 2018
Verified Purchase
After receiving the battery I charged it up with a small Battery Tender. Worked great for 3 weeks. During those three weeks my KTM 950 Adventure started perfectly. Keep in mind I only road it 5 times during those 3 weeks. Well, that was the end of the battery. After that it never had the power to turn over the engine. I did all the research and everything was fine. The regulator was working great. I tried charging the battery again and it fully charged in about 20 min. I live in the tropics and so I don't have to deal with cold temps. This battery was basically worthless and it cost a fortune in shipping and taxes to import it. Watch the vids on Youtube and read other peoples warnings. This is not a good battery. If you bought one of them that is rated at 2 times the amount of CCA you need, then maybe it is. In the meantime walking due to a worthless battery is no fun.

- so it may be that the QC is not very good on these and a proportion just turn out to be bad.

Alan




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[embee]

I just read a couple of the reviews on the Amazon link above.
It is not recommended that LiFePO batteries are left on chargers for extended periods. The chargers you get for them say you can, but the battery manufacturers recommend not to. Lead acid batteries need to be kept fully charged at all times when possible in order to reduce deterioration, LiFePO do not suffer from this effect and can be allowed to run down as long as they don't sit completely flat (recommended).
One report said the battery exploded and had clearly overheated. The most likely way for that to happen is either grossly over-charging or having a short circuit somewhere. It's possible for the battery to have an internal fault, which may have been the case there.
You really need to check the charging system voltage when the engine is running.
The batteries I have are Shido from https://www.sportsbikeshop.co.uk/mot...nt_prod/248963
They will price match, I've had a couple of reductions from them. Interestingly the LTZ14S gives the same dimensions as a Yuasa TYZ14S, which fits the curvy SV but you have to remove the electrics tray above the battery. The Shido LTZ14S however is shorter (same as a YTZ10S) and comes with plastic raising blocks to make it up to the height of the 14, so you can use it with the original tray. I discovered this having ordered a 14 for another bike. My SV still has the lead acid but as/when I need to replace it I'll happily fit a LiFePO, but I do know the charging is fine (has a MOSFET reg/rec fitted).

[bezsv650]

The reg/rec seems to be working fine. I'm going to stick to the Acid battery for now until I understand the Lithium's better (thank God for Amazon Returns!). Meanwhile the sun is starting to shine here in NY and I don't want to miss any of it. Cheers guys!!

Originally Posted by bezsv650

The reg/rec seems to be working fine. I'm going to stick to the Acid battery for now until I understand the Lithium's better (thank God for Amazon Returns!). Meanwhile the sun is starting to shine here in NY and I don't want to miss any of it. Cheers guys!!

That is the pragmatic way forward (and what I would do, get a $35 battery and make sure everything works as it did before).
It is also a glorious day here in Norfolk (the one in England, not Va).


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