Electrical?

[iclrag]

apparently my bike isn't liking me starting yesterday morning, it's been running great until now, it wouldn't start on monday so we pushed it up into my friends truck and brougt it in for registration etc. afterwards we brought it home and i jump started it, drove it around for a while then it died on me while i was decelerating (just holding the clutch, not engine braking) so this morning it clicked but wouldn't turn over, i jump-started it again and rode the 20 minute ride into work (about 55 or so on country back roads) I made it with no problems what-so-ever, but when i got here and killed it then tried to start it again it didn't do anything, didn't even make a sound!

My friend is convinced its electrical (he's a trade mechanic, learned from his dad) and wants me to come over so he can check it out and possibly re-wire the bike

So what are your'e thoughts?

[bigfatcat]

I wouldn't let anybody 're-wire' my bike, not even my own self, until I figured out the exact problem .

I 'd guess "battery" as a start , without knowing more details, year, mileage on the bike, how well maintained, modifications ? , etc .

[sledge]

He is a trade mechanic but doesnt recognise the symptoms of a dead or non charging battery and instead wants to rewire it??? 

Get the battery out and load tested and the charging system checked before you let him anywhere near the thing 

[adidasguy]

#5077

That is 99% battery OR connections to the battery.

Get your volt meter and check the voltage. Jump start the bike. Ride a half hour then check the voltage again.
When running, check the voltage. Should be between 13 and 14v. If not, then either bad battery or bad voltage regulator.
The WIKI and Haynes or Clymer manuals tell you how to check the stator.

(I have extra stators and a box of voltage regulators if you need them.)

It is possible your battery was damaged when it was drained.

Like others say - DO NOT REWIRE THE BIKE!

If you were going to do that, it is something you can do. Buy a new wiring harness for $20-$50. Pull the old one and lay in the new one. But it is not a need for a rewire. You have simple, battery issues.

[jestercinti]

+1 on battery.  Even a newer quality battery can sometimes die without warning.  Had that happen to me with a Yuasa once that was only 2 years old.

Check connections to make sure it isn't also something else like Stator or Regulator/Rectifier.

[iclrag]

He is a trade mechanic but doesnt recognise the symptoms of a dead or non charging battery and instead wants to rewire it??? 

Get the battery out and load tested and the charging system checked before you let him anywhere near the thing 

we're charging the battery and testing that first, he just offered to re-wire it if it turns out to be a wiring problem, he was thinking maybe bare wire touched the frame somewhere and created a short or two wires touched that shouldn't have, that's a last resort if it comes down to it, he would help me with it.

i'm hoping it is the beattery and at the same time that it isn't, the battery was purchased brand new and given to me (so no reciept) hopefully it's that simple, perhaps it's no-longer grounded?

[iclrag]

#5077

That is 99% battery OR connections to the battery.

Get your volt meter and check the voltage. Jump start the bike. Ride a half hour then check the voltage again.
When running, check the voltage. Should be between 13 and 14v. If not, then either bad battery or bad voltage regulator.
The WIKI and Haynes or Clymer manuals tell you how to check the stator.

(I have extra stators and a box of voltage regulators if you need them.)

It is possible your battery was damaged when it was drained.

Like others say - DO NOT REWIRE THE BIKE!

If you were going to do that, it is something you can do. Buy a new wiring harness for $20-$50. Pull the old one and lay in the new one. But it is not a need for a rewire. You have simple, battery issues.

I think he was suggesting the wiring harness now that you mention it, my biggest worry was immediately that the strator was having problems, after all the bike was crashed hard enough to make it flip and damage both sides.

I'll have to find my volt meter now! my plans are to have it at-least partially charged at my local auto-zone and see if it is fine from there, my main worry is if i'm out on a 30 minute ride and my bike dies again in the middle of the country we don't have shoulders out here, that'd be a dangerous walk home (and not to mention long) but i'll take the long way home from work (about 20-30 minutes when I do the speed limit) and cruise around town for a bit would that work?


And thanks everybody, i'm thinking it may just be the battery after all (knock on wood) i'll let you know what i find when i get home!

[mister]

Get yourself a battery charger - make sure you check the electrolyte levels first. If low, top up with distilled water. 

Michael

[iclrag]

Okay,  i couldn't jump start it so i got a ride home with the bike in the bed of a truck, i also got a tender on the battery for tonight so we'll see in the morning!

[jacob_ns]

When I bought my bike it had a battery that no matter how long it was charged wouldn't start the bike reliably. Replace it.

[iclrag]

yup, 3-4 hours on the tender and it still just clicks, probably the battery still?

[adidasguy]

#5089

What is the voltage? That will tell us a lot.

[iclrag]

when i was at auto-zone it was like 9 something, i never did find my volt meter, reminds me, i'm gonna go look for it again

[iclrag]

Hmmm, no luck, i got 0 for all the readings and -1 on one of them (go figure) i did find a pair of shoes though!

[adidasguy]

#5090

One possibility is dirty connections. Unusual that a battery would read absolute zero. Scrape the meter probes on the terminals and try again

To be sure the meter is working, measure a AA or C or D or 9v battery. if those are zero, the meter is bad.

[jdoorn14]

To be sure the meter is working, measure a AA or C or D or 9v battery. if those are zero, the meter is bad.

I would also suggest verifying the range the meter is measuring. If you're somehow measuring too high a voltage range (like ~kW) or AC instead of DC, you might get a 0 reading. I'm not saying I've done this, but I'm not saying I haven't...

[iclrag]

I measured everything, AC / DC even started over with OHMs, i think it doesn't go that low, i got -1 0 and 1 as readings

it was a free volt meter from a friend, i'm no electrician by any means, maybe ti's just a crappy one? i think he got it free with a magazine subscription

[adidasguy]

#5091

You want the meter on DC. You're looking for up to 15 volts, so you set the meter to the first setting (sometimes second) setting ABOVE the highest voltage you're looking for.

OHMs is for measuring resistance and continuity on a circuit that is off. You can fry a meter trying to measure voltage when set to OHMs.

AC is for measuring house electricity. On a bike, it is AC coming from the stator. It is around 70 volts AC. If you were doing a test with the bike running to see if the stator is generating electricity, you would use AC volts. Probably a 200v setting.

To be sure the meter is working, measure the voltage on a 9v or 1.5v ordinary battery. A new 1.5v battery (like a double A) will measure around 1.7v DC. A used one can measure 1.5 or even lower, depending on how used up the battery is.

You should verify the meter is function correctly.

[sledge]

iclrag? This is getting far more complicated than it needs to. Even you do work out the meter and see 12v across the battery it does not mean its ok. Save some time and make it easy for yourself eh? Take the battery to a shop, ask them to load test. If they say its dead and they probably will, buy a new one. If they say its ok then we can move on to the more tricky stuff 

[iclrag]

Yeah, they told me to charge it and bring it back in, s it's probably dead, all night on a tender and no start after work i'm heading back over there.

Every use batteries plus batteries? a few people around town have told me to go there first since they have a lifetime warranty, but first thing is to bring it back into the shop (not in the bike) and see what they say.
New battery time!
Thanks for all the help!