I've been experiencing an issue with my battery and/or RR recently and it's been really troublesome in fixing it. I'm unsure what could be causing the issue.

The problem:

It seems if I don't ride the bike after 3-5 days it just won't start. It is then necessary to charge it overnight to ride it the next day. This can't be normal. I've stalled twice away from home.

Way back when the issue first arose, it just wouldn't start. I tried to turn it over and it would just click. Assumed it was the battery, had someone check it out who knows about bikes. They said it wasn't the battery, refilled the battery fluids anyway. Let it charge over night. Back up and running. Great.

Sometimes when it can't start it will click and sometimes it just won't start no matter how hard you rev it. You know that noise, it's very definitive.

So I'm back to charging it up overnight whenever I plan to ride. Read online that the Regulator/rectifier may be at fault.

Followed this guide to help: http://www.thegsresources.com/garage/gs_statorfault.htm and this: http://eviltwinsbk.com/forumz/index.php?topic=276.0 and this: http://www.bbburma.net/Documents/JohnBates_ChargingCircuitTests3.pdf

When bringing the bike up to 2500rpg, it maxes out to 13.5VDC. Unsure where to proceed, because one arrow says higher and one says lower. I then bring the revs up to 5000rpm. It will not even creep past 14VDC(good).

Proceed to next step, connect black lead to battery(+), red to RED output wire of RR. Leave engine idle, multimeter reads .8VDC(bad). Then it says "Bad connection in the positive lead from RR to battery(+). Check the entire lead (suspect the connectors as well as the fuse box and fuses). Good connections are extremely import in this high current lead. Solve the problem and return to start."

Unsure what this means, but from what I can see the lead is secure and I checked the fuses and they appear good. Where would I go from here? How do I check the fuse boxes?

So, if you don't ride for 3-4 days it won't start unless you charge the battery.  What happens when you ride for 3-4 days, or every 2nd day?  If it starts fine under those conditions, the regulator its probably fine, the battery isn't holding a charge.

The .8v is a little high, but is probably not the real problem.  Go ahead and disconnect, clean and reconnect all those connections though for some peace of mind.

I see there are a handful of connections under the seat. Which ones would you recommend cleaning? All of them?

I haven't been recording which days the bike starts and which it doesn't over a period of time, but sometimes it will start fine other times it won't.

Quote from: mindraider on April 14, 2012, 11:44:53 AM
I see there are a handful of connections under the seat. Which ones would you recommend cleaning? All of them?

Just the ones between the points your meter leads were touching.

Connectors have been cleaned using CRC QD Electronic cleaning spray. Battery is back on the battery tender until fully charged.

Maybe you can help me with this, I'm testing the stator. Everything is good, then I get to this step..

QuoteSwitch the multimeter to AC-Voltage (Range at least to 100 Vac). Make sure you DON'T switch it to DC-Voltage (=DCV or Vdc). Connect the multimeter leads between two of the three yellow wires emerging from the stator. Start the engine and rev it up to approx. 5000rpm. Check the reading on the meter. Switch one of the multimeter leads to another one of the three yellow wires and check the reading again. Connect the other multimeter lead to another one of the three yellow wires, and check the reading again.

The three readings are not equal, or one of them is below 60 Volts (AC) ---> BAD STATOR
Three equal readings, all higher than 60 Volts (AC) ---> PROCEED

When I rev up to 5K RPM on all connections it reaches 60VAC. Would this be considered passing or is my stator bad? If my stator is good, do you think one of the battery cells have died?

Your symptoms all point to a bad battery.
If you can ride... stop... start the bike back up then the charging is OK.
If you can ride a long time then charging is OK.
If the bike then sits for 2 days and won't start: bad battery.

You can easily prove that.

Stop the bike. Connect the volt meter to the battery. Check the voltage every hour. You'll see it go down. That means bad battery. Your battery will not hold a charge.

Well I went ahead and bought a new battery. Refilled it and put it on charge and has been charging for about 3 hours. They said it would take about 4 hours to completely charge, however the Battery Tender Junior(12VDC, .750A) is still showing it as a Red Light and "charging". I tested the voltage and it's sitting at 14.25VDC w/ tender and 13.85VDC without the tender (drops about .01VDC every 3 seconds). It always sounds like the liquids are bubbling inside it(boiling?). Is this normal? Recommend throwing it in the bike or waiting?

Thanks.

Edit: 4Hr mark, up to 80% charged.

Ok, installed the new battery. Everything is great except the bike doesn't want to stay on. It will start with no problem, but even with choke applied it will stall out in 1st or neutral unless I rev it. This will be bad when at a stoplight. I did a test ride around the bike and could not get out of first gear, the shifter seemed stuck. I pulled up to my house and manually shifted it with my hand and got it back to work.

Ideas?

I figured it was the battery. Glad that you've solved the electrical issue.

You might want to start a new thread regarding your idling and shifting issues. Good for help if different problems are in different threads. You could do a search as these I recall have been discussed before.
Someone else may be able to point you to threads to get you started.

For your shifting issues, make sure you give it a nice oil change. I had sorta the same issue with shifting and new oil solved it brilliantly.