Non starter, full battery

I've noticed in the past week the bike not starting 100%, but had assumed it was battery related.

This morning, ignition switches on, as do the lights, when i hit the started the bike attempts to turn over, just a little, the clocks flash to all 8888888 and the oil light comes back on again, as if it were reset, i can hear the starter relay clicking when i push the started, but it's going no where.

I can only assume it's going to be damaged wiring or starter motor is gone, the only problem is i need to get it back asap, really need it running for nxt Saturday

I have a multimeter and im not afraid to use it


I hardly really matters but the ECU in the back end got soaked last week, i cant say for sure if this starting problem began after that, but it might be a contributing factor ?

I had the same problem and it was caused by a weak battery. ( it does crazy things to clocks and lights!)

have you been doing lots of short trips?

use your multimeter to factor out if it is the battery. set to 20v, put + prob to + terminal & - prob to - terminal. A health battery should read 13.10 ish, 14ish if engine is running. if the reading is lower, use a oxford maximiser to charge it up then check the volt, if it doesn't hold more then 13 you may need a new one.

HTH

Hmm, when i stuck the multi on the battery it said 11.4 but when it stuck it on the charger it said fully charged ... more investigation is needed there perhaps .


Actually it's 11.74 but i'll stick it on the charger again

Originally Posted by drag

Hmm, when i stuck the multi on the battery it said 11.4 but when it stuck it on the charger it said fully charged ... more investigation is needed there perhaps .

A fully charged battery should be 13.10ish, 11.4 is not enought to start a SV (hence the clicking noise from the starter relay) I think you got a duffed battery, what other orgers think?

Any idea how old/mileage the battery is?

Battery is new from last summer, i fitted a new reg/rec last summer also, she's on the charger now, so we shall see, i dont usualy suffer from electric gremlins, god only knows why, there a ball of wires up the font i'll take a pic of to scare ye with some day...

It's possible i've waster some of the battery tryin to start it, or so i was just thinking, we'll see once she gets a full charge any road

Originally Posted by drag

Battery is new from last summer, i fitted a new reg/rec last summer also, she's on the charger now, so we shall see, i dont usualy suffer from electric gremlins, god only knows why, there a ball of wires up the font i'll take a pic of to scare ye with some day...

It's possible i've waster some of the battery tryin to start it, or so i was just thinking, we'll see once she gets a full charge any road

I hope that is the case...

My sv had electric gremlins for months, a bit of fixing and a few weeks later more fixing got the problem solved, I think...

[keith_d]

AFAIR there are two ways for a battery charger to indicate fully charged. Old chargers indicate fully charged when the charging voltage reaches a threshold. Newer ones use the rate of change of battery voltage to determine when it's fully charged.

Old chargers would indicate fully charged if there was a high resistance link in the battery, and in both cases a sulphated battery will read fully charged but still be knackered.

There are a couple of things you could do which might give you some pointers.

1) Charge the battery using a charger, disconnect the charger and connect a digital volt meter (DVM). The voltage should drop from, 13.5V and stabilise at around 12.6V. If it drops below 12V it's time for a trip to the battery shop.

2) Put the battery in the bike, switch on the ignition and lights. The voltage should drop to around 11V and stay there. If the lights dim and the voltage drops below 10.5V it's time for a trip to the battery shop.


I've had problems with a car where the starter was drawing excessive current (shorted turns). Replacing the battery helped for a while because the new battery could supply more current. But it re-appeared and was eventually tracked down to a faulty starter.

Hope this helps,

Keith.

She's charging away at the moment, it's possible i have some sort of leak in the charging system from the rec/reg, might be time to invest in some decent cabling

http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/El...FKWH/fkwh.html

Can I suggest that you ensure that ALL earth connections are making good clean contact, metal-metal. We tend to check batteries by placing the test leads directly to the terminals i.e good contact, try the negtive earth test lead against bare metal of the engine, IF there is a significant difference this points towards a poor earthing problem. Having been a rectifier in the motor trade for many years this was the most common electrical/charging fault. Most earths tend to be a bolt through an earth tab directly down onto paint NOT GOOD?

Originally Posted by drag

She's charging away at the moment, it's possible i have some sort of leak in the charging system from the rec/reg, might be time to invest in some decent cabling

http://www.easternbeaver.com/Main/El...FKWH/fkwh.html

Give us a shout if you need a hand/head lad. Ive got the new optimate yoke that tells ya if your battery is good/poor/dud. Also ive an electrical fault finding step by step jobbie from electrosport that i had to use many times for my electric gremlins months ago.