I think its a bad battery

CommuterNT

Guest
I need some help friends.

I'm not sure if I have a dead battery or I have some other electrical issue and I would like some advice before I go out and buy a new battery.

Here's the situation:

About 2 weeks ago I started to add some new electrical items to my bike.
-A Garmen GPS power cord, switched power on the Fuzeblock
-USB charging cable, constant on the Fuzeblock but nothing permanent plugged into it.
-Bikeviz lights (very tiny low draw led lights), switched power on the Fuzeblock

Nothing is spliced in, everything goes to the Fuzeblock. When I was working on things I would occasionally turn the key to power up the bike and see if stuff worked. Never left it on more than a couple of minutes but usually on for a few seconds. I did charge my phone on the USB connection to make sure it worked. Everything works as planned when I turn the key on. All lights turn on including my Denali D2's when I turn the key to on. Push the starter button and my headlight goes out except for the little bulb in the bottom and my D2's including the lighted switch go out also. The bike doesn't even make any attempt to try and start. Take my finger off the starter button and the headlight and D2's come on to what seems to be normal brightness.

Here's the extra stuff:
-I don't have a voltimeter...I know, I may be purchasing one.
-I thought I was being smart and had the bike plugged into a battery tender the whole time as I knew I was putting some drain on the battery testing things often. Here's the kicker to that, when I had some major work done about a year ago the shop must have disconnected the positive terminal for the battery tender and so the battery tender was doing nothing the whole time. I have since fixed it and it will say it is charged but I have the same results.
-I have drained the battery a couple of times 1.5 years ago before I got my heated grips put on switched power and had to jump it.
-The bike is a 2010 with about 13,000 miles on it. Was ridden almost daily up until 3 months ago and now about once a week usually for a couple of hours each time.
-I haven't had any problems in the past.

Anybody with some knowledge or experience I would appreciate some advice. I'm scared its some crazy electrical gremlin and not a bad battery. If its the battery I can live with since it is a simple fix.

Thanks,
Kyle
 
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If the battery tender says its charged, it my be charged but have a low amperage capability if the battery is ruined.

One easy check to see is if you can jumper the battery to a car or something else that has a good battery. If it starts, then its likely the battery.

A lot of places where you can buy a battery can do a load test. That can tell for sure.

Hope its something simple.
 
Daboo said:
I think what he's saying, is the battery tender's positive lead wasn't connected. The battery has been connected for the past year or so.

Chris
Click to expand...

Just edited my post to state that. Thanks Chris
 
Guys, most battery tenders do not have enough current to charge a dead battery. I would jump start it and let it run for a couple of hours, or put it on a 6amp or better battery charger over night. If it turns out to be just a drained battery then I would invest in a volt/amp meter with that will test at least a 10amp draw ($20 on Amazon). The average draw on a new car is about 5 - 7 milliamps. So if you disconnect the ground strap from the negative terminal and put your new amp meter in the circuit (one lead on the ground strap, and the other lead on a the negative post of the battery). Then you should see how much current (amps) is being draw with the key turned off. Make sure you run your test for at least 10 seconds or so because when you first connect your meter in between the ground strap and the negative battery post the bikes computer brain will draw a little extra current for a few seconds then settle down.

If its more than 7 milliamps you probably have a short somewhere. Start unplugging each of your new items one at a time and recheck with your amp meter between each item (hook them back up as you go). The problem circuit will be the one where the draw drops down below 7 milliamps.
 
Husker said:
Could it maybe just be in gear? If so it won't turn over.
Click to expand...

Husker,
I'm not sure I should even admit it but you were right. You are my hero right now! I feel really foolish for not even thinking of that. Went to the garage put it into N and it fired right up. AHHHHHH!!!! Apparently 2 weeks of not riding was enough for me to forget how to properly start a motorcycle . And to think I'm one of the young ones on here, what is another 20 years going to do to me!?

Sometimes the hardest things are really just the most simple. I was so focused on it being something electrical that I forgot to check the most obvious.

Thanks again Husker
 
Oh well, we now have a list of things to check for when a bike does not start. haha

If we all listed the stupid things we did over our lifetime it would crash this website!
 
LOL! Don't feel too bad. I stopped once up in Nebraska to adjust the throttle lock I had on my bike and after I adjusted it, I couldn't get the bike started. I called a friend who had a trailer to come get me. Hung up from talking to him and tried one more time. That time I noticed the kill switch I had bumped while I was adjusting the throttle lock. Fortunately I caught my friend before he finished hooking up his trailer.
 
Don,t feel bad. The reason we know things like kill switches and in gear is because we have all done it at one time or another.

By the way the standard amperage draw according to the manual is 1 mA so my 5 - 7 mA was way to high. So if anyone use it make sure to adjust the max draw in your test down to 1 mA.
 
Don't feel bad. Lots of times my bike stalls because I don't put the side stand up when I hit first gear. Been riding since 58 and my bikes did not have that "safety switch" I am also still not used to turn signals. The Norton Atlas had none of that stuff. I'm a slow learner.
 
I did not notice if anyone suggested checking battery cable connections at Battery. If they are corroded that could be the entire problem.

Eldon
 
I'd still consider getting a new battery if it is the original. They usually don't last more than 3 or 4 years. And they tend to go bad quickly, and in the least convenient place :)

Can the NT be jump started without damage? Some computer bikes don't like that. Or, they need the 'donor' vehicle engine to be turned off.
 
This happend to my Valk.

I would go out every few weeks in winter to start the bike and warm it up, with six carbs I didn't want any shelac to build up in the jets. Come spring I went to start it, no joy. The BT had a green light, the lights were strong, horn worked etc. I pushed it out of it's parking spot to sit on it, made sure it was in "N" side stand up and held the clutch lever in, still no joy. A longer story short, I went on the Valk forum and many riders had this problem.

The info I got was to take the starter switch apart and clean the contacts, so I did, lubed it up put it back togeather and The Valk fired right up and was fine after that.
 
[...If the positive terminal was disconnected for a long while, that could have damaged the battery beyond the point where now it won't take a full charge...]

If the positive cable was disconnected, it's exactly the same as having a battery just sitting on your workbench for the same amount of time. How long it'll keep an acceptable level of charge depends on state of charge when stored, ambient temps in storage area, etc.

I had friends who taught at a Honda Technical Training Center in Greendale, WI back in the 80s. As an experiment, they fully charged a scooter battery then put it into the shop 'fridge's freezer section and left it there all winter. In the spring, they removed the battery and let it sit on the workbench for several days in the heated shop to allow the internal temp to normalize, then fitted into a scooter. It easily fired-up the engine without a problem.

Someone else mentioned it but many of the smaller chargers only provide a "maintenance charge" and are incapable of reviving a dead battery. There are a few of the home chargers that can revive a dead battery but they cost much more than the norm. Having a battery fully charged by a shop then "load tested" is the only way to confirm the condition of a battery. Voltmeters only measure surface voltage and say nothing about how much cranking power is in the battery.

My bike is plugged into my Xtreme Charger whenever it's not being ridden, regardless of the time of year. And I still have the original battery from Dec 2009 when I brought the NT home.
 
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Yeah, BTDT. Whenever I dumped my older bikes I was amazed that, almost universally, that kill switch Honda used to use would go to "Stop". Not a bad thing, really, and I don't know how it did that.

Hand muffs have been known to conceal the fact that I stopped the bike with the kill switch (the current design is just so handy) - duh. Therefore I appreciate this nice little touch on my FJR: The starter button is incorporated into the kill switch, so pushing the starter "un-kills" it.
 
I think that all the newer bikes have that sidestand switch. I shut my bike down the same way Rick does. I don't think it is a bad habit.

If you have an Auto Zone in your area, they will load test your battery free of charge. I brought my Yamaha battery to them and it checked out OK. I put it on a 2A charger for 24 hours and have not had a problem since. It is an AGM Battery.
 
It seems the term "load" has different meanings, or levels. I've been told only a commercial grade charger can do a load test yet have read books talking about doing a load test by energizing all accessories then a common volt meter. Any opinions ? oh - and just recently heard that briefly flashing the car lights before starting and pausing the ignition switch to let fuel pump prepare helps a battery on extreme cold starts .. Any opinions on that one ?
 
Sorry but I should have elaborated more on my story.

My example of the battery being put in the freezer was to dispel the old myth of a placing a battery on cold concrete floor can suck the juice out of the battery. My friend fully charged the battery before it was put in the freezer to prevent the case from cracking due to electrolyte freezing. When the battery is flat, the electrolyte is mostly water; conversely it is mostly acid when fully charged. If I'm not mistaken most batteries are strongest when the temp is around 68 F. Colder temps make it somewhat sluggish but not necessary weak or bad.

Taking it out of the freezer several months later then allowing it to come to room temp proved that it retained a full charge in the cold.
 
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