starter button problems

[oldyam80sg]

Rectifier is one of Geezers units.Battery is an AGM battery.There are no fill plugs and it is maintenance free.No fill plugs like my Yuasa.Battery when new would be good and gave me a problem free season.I kept it on a battery tender over the winter.When the bike was idling the voltage was 11.5 at best.This should have gone up i feel.Got the Walmart battery-$45.00 plus $9.00 core fee, and i have to add my own acid-not maintenance free!

[bikerphil]

If the new battery doesn't resolve your issue, you can do a simple test to bypass the regulator. Find the thin dark green wire coming from the alternator. Tap into it with a jumper wire and hook it to ground. You should have well over 14V at 2500 rpm. This shouldn't cause any harm to the electrical system, as I have run my 79F this way for a few months before (not recommended). I believe Geezer's reg/rec has a lifetime warranty. What puzzles me is you have very little or no charge and your tach still works. Try the new battery first and keep your fingers crossed.

[oldyam80sg]

Just got off the phone with my brother-little green light indicating 80 % charged is still not on.Has been on charger 4 hours.Battery is not charging.Was 11.3 volts at 6pm.Brother said battery is 11.5 volts 4 hours later.Suspect i have a dead cell.

[oldyam80sg]

Ok so i went to my Moms house and charger was unhooked from bike.Took a voltage reading with a multimeter-11.5 volts.I figured what the hell, so i turned on gas, pulled out choke and hit button once-bike started up and i took another reading with the bike running-12.15 volts.Revved it up to 3500 rpm-14.58 volts-that's weird i thought.Meanwhile i got Wal-Mart battery filled with acid and let it sit for an hour as per instructions, and checked levels and started to charge it.Meanwhile i checked several things on bike including all grounds and cleaned them up.I started bike up several more times and was going to take a ride before it began to rain.Shut off bike and went to restart it and bike would not crank.Starter was very hot-hotter than rest of bike so i removed it and replaced it with another one(thanks Andreas).Took old battery out and put new battery in and let it charge.Took battery to Advanced Auto parts and guy put it on the tester.CCA went up to 191 and took about 10 minutes and then CCA went down to 58.Guy said battery was no good.Went to start bike with new battery and bike started up.I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

[bikerphil]

Yep, bad/weak battery will cause you grief every time. Hopefully that starter swap fixed it for you. Had a similar problem over here, turned out to be a corroded connection at the starter itself. It is often overlooked with it being hidden under the plastic cover. Good luck.

[oldyam80sg]

Yeah starter was hotter than rest of bike so i figured i would swap it.3 bolts and it was out!looked at all connections and cleaned them really good.

[tw1980]

Bikerphil is right about the battery.But when the bike revs past 2000 rpm the voltage should increase 13.1 to 13.9.If this doesn't happen after you replace the battery you have a charging problem as well. TERRY

[oldyam80sg]

Another thing i did was the starter button.After i degreased everything as per TC and Randy,i was not satisfied with the starter button.What to do?I had a spare left side control that i use for parts and took off the button assembly. I cut the wire leading to the button and crimped it onto the existing wire in my right housing using a butt connector.Starter button is now working not sticking.

[oldyam80sg]

Bikerphil is right about the battery.But when the bike revs past 2000 rpm the voltage should increase 13.1 to 13.9.If this doesn't happen after you replace the battery you have a charging problem as well. TERRY

Yes i will check that tomorrow as well.Convinced that the old battery was crap.

[oldyam80sg]

Today after work went to my Moms house and took a voltage reading 12.53 volts.So i turned on gas,pulled out choke and bike started up.Took voltage reading at 3500 rpms-15.35 volts-that's with Geezers rectifier installed.Bike idles at 13.25 volts and is amazing what happens with a new battery.