bad cell in battery?

[Jeffintampa]

Well changed the oil in my rear drive and mid today, Havent rode the bike a few days due to rain in Florida. Well went to fire it up and click nothing lights dim then come up again, I pulled the battery both cables and shined them up with sand paper, took ground off and shined that up to. charged battery put it all back tighter same thing hit the start button click nothing, then power, I put a test light on the positive cable and hit button light died in test light. I put the test light on the battery hit the button light died again. dead cell?

[TopCatGr58]

Hey Jeff,

May not necessarily a bad cell vs. just a depleted battery. What type of charger did you use?? Some of the new chargers are too smart and if the total battery voltage is below 10 volts...the charger will NOT charge! That happened to me with my new sealed battery this past year. I had to put the battery in parallel with another good 12 volt battery and on the charger...THEN the charger would see the 12 volts and provide the actual charging current. After an hour my dead battery voltage rose from ~8 volts up to 11.5 and I was then able to put it on the charger by itself, and it completed a charge, 13.5 volts when done, and it works fine now.

You will also need to verify that your charging system is working ONCE you get the battery charged and the bike running again....voltmeter across the battery, then rev/hold at 2500 rpm and should see ~14.5 volts! IF still only 12 volts...then something is wrong....could be R/R, or field coil or ALT windings! Further diagnostics would ensue. IF you do get 14.5 volts charging....then you need to find out what drained the battery while parked!?

Don't forget the ground at the rear of the bottom of the engine/starter to frame grounding strap....clean that one also!

T.C.

[Jeffintampa]

hmmm

I had just checked my charging a while back cleaning everything 6 or so months ago. I used an run of the mill charger it shouldn't of been that far down as I rode the bike mtwt and just not Friday or yest. I love how it sounds so ran it a few times. it is clicking on the small box that the positive cable bolts to, I took the cables off them also and shined them up. Did the frame ground like 6 months ago

[TopCatGr58]

Well,

If you have a spare car battery, while you are charging the bike battery, you can connect the car battery (car NOT RUNNING) using good quality jumper cables, and try to start it. IF it starts, you can/must leave it jumped/connected while running...and you can then retest the charging system the same way...and then you'll know IF the charging system is still working or if it's gone kaput! R/R's fail, field coils and ALT windings can also go bad...but also check the large white ALT to harness connectors BEHIND the fusepanel....they can corrode and then melt due to resistance.

Then if charging system still good, then need to complete the battery charge, should end up with ~13.5 volts right after the charge. It may drop down some after an hour, but should still hold a high 12.# volt level. Then if you don't have access to a LOAD TESTER, put the battery back in the bike, connect the voltmeter, and then start the bike and monitor the voltage....if it drops below 11 volts...then the battery may be getting old/weak! If after the charge, if it's only ~10.5 volts or less, then it does have a bad cell=DEAD!

T.C.

[Jeffintampa]

crap

well I put my charger on the battery in the bike, it fired right up. I took the charger off the battery and shut it off started it shut it off started it shut it off can click, I put the charger back on still click. I put the hot on my charger across the box to the wire that goes to the starter with key on and kind of a spark didn't turn over. got the charger on the battery and will check the white plug, seems to click on that square thing the pos cable goes to.

[TopCatGr58]

Jeff,

Dude...what are you doing??? Unless your charger is a BOOSTER/Starter type charger, it won't have enough AMPS to actually start the bike. YOU had the battery charged a bit, and that's why it started. You then removed the charger and it started again....but WHY did you shut if off and keep trying to restart it?? Starting puts the biggest load/drain on the battery! When you had it running is when you should have tested the BIKE's charging system with the meter!

So..now you've drained the battery too far....leave it on the charger for an hour, and then try starting it again. IF you get it started, then TEST the charging system with the meter and engine at 2500 rpm. IF good, then shut OFF bike, put back on charger and let it sit OVERNIGHT.

THEN before starting it, check the battery with the meter...notate the voltage, then check it again an hour later...or if you have to go to work, TAKE THE CAR...check the voltage again when you get home. BTW, I would suggest DISCONNECTING the (+) from the battery after it's charged while you do the TIME decay test. IF it still holds 12+ volts a day later, then reconnect it to the battery cable. Actually before connecting the cable, put your voltmeter between the (+) battery terminal and the battery cable and see IF you get any voltage reading. You shouldn't see any voltage reading with the key OFF. IF you do get a voltage reading, then you've got something that's DRAINING your battery while the bike is sitting. Then you have some more tracking of the circuits to find the drain!

T.C.

[Jeffintampa]

well chit s

I tell you I am just about to give up on this freaking bike man every time I get something fixed or do a positive something else comes up grrrrrrr

I took the charger off, hit the button click dead and if you watch the power comes back real slow starts with oil light then green neutral light. hit the button nothing lights go out and come back real slow,


if it was still leaking gas I would do the match thing again.......

[Jeffintampa]

Jeff,

Dude...what are you doing??? Unless your charger is a BOOSTER/Starter type charger, it won't have enough AMPS to actually start the bike. YOU had the battery charged a bit, and that's why it started. You then removed the charger and it started again....but WHY did you shut if off and keep trying to restart it?? Starting puts the biggest load/drain on the battery! When you had it running is when you should have tested the BIKE's charging system with the meter!

So..now you've drained the battery too far....leave it on the charger for an hour, and then try starting it again. IF you get it started, then TEST the charging system with the meter and engine at 2500 rpm. IF good, then shut OFF bike, put back on charger and let it sit OVERNIGHT.

THEN before starting it, check the battery with the meter...notate the voltage, then check it again an hour later...or if you have to go to work, TAKE THE CAR...check the voltage again when you get home. BTW, I would suggest DISCONNECTING the (+) from the battery after it's charged while you do the TIME decay test. IF it still holds 12+ volts a day later, then reconnect it to the battery cable. Actually before connecting the cable, put your voltmeter between the (+) battery terminal and the battery cable and see IF you get any voltage reading. You shouldn't see any voltage reading with the key OFF. IF you do get a voltage reading, then you've got something that's DRAINING your battery while the bike is sitting. Then you have some more tracking of the circuits to find the drain!

T.C.

proof I do not know how to work on these bikes.

[TopCatGr58]

Hey man,

CHILL!! Step back, let the charger work a while and then proceed methodically. How old is the battery?? Another thing that comes to mind is a bad or failing starter solenoid. But from what you've described...the battery may be taking a surface charge...show it can still show 12+ volts, but the plates are sulfated and so it doesn't have the ability to hold a DEEP charge and so looses amps/volts very quickly=click on the solenoid.

The charger WITH the bike battery was able to provide enough extra AMPS to allow starting the bike earlier. But after just a few repeat starting attempts, it drained what little "surface" charge the battery had and then "CLICK".

AGAIN, I'll say, put a set of jumper cables from your car onto the bike's battery connections, and see if you can start the bike. IF so...then that points to the battery as being weak...but you still just need to determine WHY it's weak....AGE....or charging system not working/charging the battery while riding...or a constant drain on the battery with the key off!

WORK the problem....you'll figure it out soon....keep your head and your bike!

T.C.

[motoman]

Well changed the oil in my rear drive and mid today, Havent rode the bike a few days due to rain in Florida. Well went to fire it up and click nothing lights dim then come up again, I pulled the battery both cables and shined them up with sand paper, took ground off and shined that up to. charged battery put it all back tighter same thing hit the start button click nothing, then power, I put a test light on the positive cable and hit button light died in test light. I put the test light on the battery hit the button light died again. dead cell?

Highly likeley........each cell SHOULD show 2.1-2volts fully charged..

[Jeffintampa]

well

I put it on a tickle charge (2amp) overnight, took it off this morning, went to work in car, came home with a multi meter it read 12.87 I turned the key on and it dropped to 2/89 then slowly started climbing. I put the charger on and could not get enough to turn it over.

[CaptonZap]

Time for a new battery.

Unless it it low on water?

CZ

[Jeffintampa]

yep

gonna do a real good cleaning of all the grounds and contact points and when money allows get a new battery, there better parts of a hundred buck now days.....

[TopCatGr58]

Zephyrhills Walmart:

$53.88

Everstart Brand Wet Acid standard battery
Pwrsprt Es50n18la3

T.C.

Just remember to FOLLOW The Directions on the battery label...you have a charger...fill it up with electrolyte, and then put it on the charger in the 2 or 1 amp 12 V mode, and let it run overnight to develop the MAXIMUM charging capacity that it can get BEFORE you put it into service. Then just remember to MONITOR the electrolyte levels and it should last at least 3 years, several members have had them last even longer!!

Yes...the Sealed batteries are up to or over $100.00, but if you're on a budget, this will get you going the quickest and cheapest!

[motoman]

gonna do a real good cleaning of all the grounds and contact points and when money allows get a new battery, there better parts of a hundred buck now days.....

According to your previous explnation with lites on and slight voltag drop then it gradually rose back up to operational cond..........batt. IS still fine. Check and clean internals of kill switch and its plug-in on left side of frame under tank. Again, batt. is fine so save the expense. Another option to confirm, hook good quality jumper cables off your auto to bikes batt..