Help!

[Phil Tarman]

I probably brought this on myself by saying that I could afford to fix a lot of things that might go wrong with my NT more easily than I could pay for an FJR.

That said, this is what's going on: I got up this morning to go to a meeting. The bike started right up, I rolled it out of the garage, closed the door, and noticed that the lights of the heated handgrip switch were blinking. I pushed the switch several times and they didn't quit or change. The bottom two lights were blinking brightly, the middle one was blinking faintly. I put the bike in gear and rolled off down the alley, and then noticed that my ABS light was blinking rather than going off. When I got to the street, I pulled over to the curb, shut the bike off, thinking to reset everything, and that was it.

The bike wouldn't restart, and barely enough had enough juice to click the solenoid a few times. I tried to jump it with my car, but that didn't work. I've pulled the battery and it's been on the Battery Tender for about four hours and is still recharging.

Any ideas?

The battery is probably 2 to 2 1/2 years old. The bike was running fine day before yesterday when I ran some errands with it.

 

[RedLdr1]

The blinking lights on the OEM hand grips are supposed to indicate low voltage and the heated grips won't work IIRC... The clicking solenoid also sounds like a low battery situation as well. It sounds like the battery is going. I'd wait and see how the battery does in the morning before doing anything else.

Now when are you flying in to pick up your FJR?

 

[charlie b]

LOL, isn't it the truth. Every time I think about not getting a new bike something will go wrong. Then I'll fix it, ride for a while and wonder why I ever considered a new one.

 

[Chucksklrst]

Battery. Change it and then if the symptoms persist trouble shoot further. Always Trouble shoot electric/electronic problems with known good power source. Ask Rick about how fast a battery can die. I have had a few my self go from working to Dead in one start. Both on my cars and on my bikes. Sounds like a bad battery. Also when you get the bike started put a volt meter on the battery and see if the bike is charging. 14.2 volts at about 5k rpm. If your stater is bad you will get something less and if the regulator is bad you will see the voltage climb higher and not regulate down to 14.2v. This is a quick check to see if the system is working. There are other checks for trouble shooting the Whys and the How comes.

 

[ARKNT]

It does sound like a battery gone bad. They can get a short in a cell and go bad very fast.
I would follow chuck's advise above and check with a voltmeter when you have a good charged battery in it.

Brad

 

[vzshadow]

I have a solution!

 

[Phil Tarman]

Dan, I was going to NAPA to get a fuse for my battery tender, I was passed by a pretty blue Triumph Spring GT.

 

[KazooST]

Phil, I have to pay attention in order to not pass everything on the road; the Sprint GT is one smooth mile-eater. I have about 3600 miles on mine now and almost have it fully farkled.

Now I'm trying to decide color...she came with enough scrapes in the silver to warrant my breaking out the sandpaper and spray gun. I'm waffling between British Racing Green and Honda Bloom Red...

 

[junglejim]

You can pay for a new battery or you can pay for a new motorcycle.

For me, I'm putting a new battery in my NT next spring.

 

[Chucksklrst]

You can pay for a new battery or you can pay for a new motorcycle.

For me, I'm putting a new battery in my NT next spring.

Ahh but one only lives once in this world. Now is the time to start trying out a lot of things before it is too late.:wink:

 

[junglejim]

Ahh but one only lives once in this world. Now is the time to start trying out a lot of things before it is too late.

Ya but - - - -
I have too many hobbies. I always end each year with the same amount of money left over. Chuck you certainly couldn't object to my buying tools.

My NT is set up just the way I want it. Most comfortable bike I've had. In order to get any better I think a BMW RT would be an improvement, but even if I would pay the purchase price I'd rebel at the maintenance costs. And the nearest dealer is 3 hours away.

Yes, I did ride an FJR. I don't believe I could behave on that thing. I proved that on the first ride. Its capabilities exceed mine by a big margin. Same goes for the C14. The NT stays.

 

[Chucksklrst]

Ya but - - - -
I have too many hobbies. I always end each year with the same amount of money left over. Chuck you certainly couldn't object to my buying tools.

My NT is set up just the way I want it. Most comfortable bike I've had. In order to get any better I think a BMW RT would be an improvement, but even if I would pay the purchase price I'd rebel at the maintenance costs. And the nearest dealer is 3 hours away.

Yes, I did ride an FJR. I don't believe I could behave on that thing. I proved that on the first ride. Its capabilities exceed mine by a big margin. Same goes for the C14. The NT stays.

Years ago in 2002 when the FJR came out, a year before the ST1300, my dealer had his own, first year, private FJR. As Yamaha wanted a deposit before they would ship a bike to the dealers. I Test road his, thinking I might want to trade in my ST1100 for a FJR. Anyway, I rode it and then gave it back with the comments that "I would hurt myself on that thing, or get too many tickets. I will wait for the Honda ST1300 to come to the US." In late 2002 the Honda ST1300 came and I bought that instead. Seems I just postponed the inevitable for 13 years. Waiting for Honda again I went and did what I failed to do 13 years ago. Now I think I am old enough to behave myself on the FJR. Maybe. My ST was set up perfect for me and I did all the maint myself. It is fun refarkling the FJR and learning how to work on it. Besides the purpose of money is to spend it, other wise it does no good sitting around. Might as well enjoy the fruits of ones labor. PS: I was riding with Guitarman today so I got to see my old NT most of the day. Looked pretty good rolling down the road.

 

[Phil Tarman]

The Battery Tender has finally switched from Charging mode to Maintenance mode. I'll probably get it load tested in the morning.

 

[seagrass]

Almost certainly the battery, these new AGM and calcium batteries often just fail without any notice, good one day not working the next.

I have had a few of these batteries fail on me, usually at inconvenient times, but thankfully always at home

 

[Warren]

Phil. What brand battery do you have. If its made in China it would not surprise me that it only lasted a couple of years.

 

[junglejim]

The Battery Tender has finally switched from Charging mode to Maintenance mode. I'll probably get it load tested in the morning.

Just replace it and ride with confidence.

 

[RedLdr1]

Ahh but one only lives once in this world. Now is the time to start trying out a lot of things before it is too late.

Yes, indeed. The phrase "If not now, when?" comes to mind.

Just replace it and ride with confidence.

+1 This was your "warning shot"....the next one could be a lot more inconvenient!

 

[bicyclist]

Phil. What brand battery do you have. If its made in China it would not surprise me that it only lasted a couple of years.

Plenty of "Made in Pennsylvania" batteries do the same thing.

 

[EX Winger]

Years ago in 2002 when the FJR came out, a year before the ST1300, my dealer had his own, first year, private FJR. As Yamaha wanted a deposit before they would ship a bike to the dealers. I Test road his, thinking I might want to trade in my ST1100 for a FJR. Anyway, I rode it and then gave it back with the comments that "I would hurt myself on that thing, or get too many tickets. I will wait for the Honda ST1300 to come to the US." In late 2002 the Honda ST1300 came and I bought that instead. Seems I just postponed the inevitable for 13 years. Waiting for Honda again I went and did what I failed to do 13 years ago. Now I think I am old enough to behave myself on the FJR. Maybe. My ST was set up perfect for me and I did all the maint myself. It is fun refarkling the FJR and learning how to work on it. Besides the purpose of money is to spend it, other wise it does no good sitting around. Might as well enjoy the fruits of ones labor. PS: I was riding with Guitarman today so I got to see my old NT most of the day. Looked pretty good rolling down the road.[/QUOT]

Jim , chuck,

I have had several other rider friedns tell / dvise me that a ST either 11, or 13, or FJR would be ticket getters and I know where they are coming from, BUTT the NT is in that same category as well It HELPED me to get a performance award on a fun twisty very crooked road that is posted 45 & 50. I was having fun and not really running that agressivly and I got nailed! I have been a good boy since that one and it will go away in April, or May. I have a new Valentine V-1 on the way that will arrive by Buster Brown on Monday. It will help me to be good, or at lest a bit more mindful of what is happening. I fully realize that it is not a gaureented preventive, BUT all the time I had the wing it did a pretty good job for me, LOL one exception between La Grand & Baker Oregon on I-84 I got carried away and forgot about where sneaky Pete sets in hiding and he got me and I was running a detector there too, although it was concealed in a fairing pocket on the Wing and the Tupperware deflected his actions until it was too late. Also I have had several instances of finding a LEO setting and never had a blip to indicate their presence. Hopefully I can keep myself out of trouble this time around. The FJR is so much like the VETTE as far as instant power that I know I must be very careful with it. Hopefully when some one temps me to play I wil do as I do in the Vette, and just laugh or smile , wave and let them go & do their thing!

AS far as tools go If I had the space for them a good platform hoist and a wire feed welder and a number od oher tools would be nice =. but with the hand tools I have I still don't bnd wreches any more , It is too easy to let a younger guy whom I trust do it for me!

Eldon

 

[RedLdr1]

Eldon,

Don't depend too much on your Valentine V-1. With the "instant on" laser units in use around here it may not warn you until it is too late... Especially if there is no other traffic to get the LEO "shooting" prior to your arrival.

I just got my 10 year old V-1 back from the factory with all the new software and firmware installed. It is nice to see a manufacture who doesn't believe in "planned obsolescence" and will let you buy their product once and let you keep it current at a reasonable price while you own it.