Battery / Electrical Issue

[1FSTZX14]

Ok, I'll try to be brief.

 

Rode '09 RSV to work friday, took home, parked in climate controlled garage.

 

Yesterday evening, went to start it and move it out of the garage for a much needed bath. lights came on and such, but hit starter, nothing. (all switches and such in correct position).

 

Pushed out of garage, removed seat, hooked up jump starter pack showed 12.5v, Started right up. Pushed to front of driveway so exhaust would stay out of garage. Let run 10 minutes. Went to move to side of driveway and hand hit kill switch like it always does. Tried to restart, nothin, not even a click, and then lights all went out.

 

Moved to other side of driveway, still nothing, no lights still.

 

Hooked up 2 amp trickle charger, within seconds said full charge. switched to 15 amp position, within seconds, showed full charge. Of course nothing on dash lights.

 

Removed all that, hooked jump starter back up, udd'n, udd'n again. let idle for 20 minutes. When I hit red kill switch, all lights went out instantly. Replaced seat, and pushed back to front of garage.

 

Finally found multi-meter, seat on so I used pigtail for battery tender, it showed 10.8 volts.

 

Normally I would figure a dead cell in the battery. but is there anything else I should look for before I take to dealer to warranty out the battery??

 

Gotta love a 5 year warranty.

 

Thanks in advance, guess it wasn't all that brief after all...LoL

[Bob Myers]

You likely have the dreaded "open" circuit in the battery, it will show near full charge, as yours does, but not be able to produce enough amperage to do much more than dimly light your lights.

Also, full charge on a 12v battery is actually 13.6v When it was running it was running on the power the stator was making, not the battery.

Time for a new one! I would highly recommend the AGM batteries, my Venture would eat those Yuasa batteries every 8 months or less, I swapped to an AGM battery 7 years ago, it is now on the second battery since switch, and it was covered partially by warranty.

[1FSTZX14]

Bob, thanks for the quick reply. I guess I forgot to put in my first "brief" post. This is the factory original battery, but I only purchased this bike in Feb '11, so it sat in the showroom for 2 years before it was brought into service. no issues other than over the winter I had unplugged the battery tender somehow, and the battery died, but after 2 hours of 15amp charge, it has run fine until last night.

 

I understand that the AGM is far superior to this one, but the bike warranty should cover the factory battery according the information I have found on it. I'm original owner, with only 12k miles.

 

Thanks again.

[Bob Myers]

Whatever you do, don't tell the dealer you charged it with a 15 amp charger!! And don't tell him you allowed to go totally flat.

He'll laugh and walk away leaving you to wonder what was so funny. Most small batteries like these should only be charged at 1½ to 2 amps max

[Flyinfool]

And any lead acid battery is damaged by letting it go flat and then sitting for a while.

The battery may have been flat at the dealer while it sat at the dealer for 2 years. You might want to mention that to them, they might have killed it for you.

 

You may want to check the bike to see if something is drawing power when it is parked.

I do not have a tender and Mine still starts after sitting out in a cold Wisconsin winter. My last Yuasa battery lasted 6 years.

[Bob Myers]

6 years on a Yuasa is most impressive!

[Globewalker]

would a bad battery cause it to die while driving it?

Mine just stranded me other day - luckily only 4 long blocks from home..

Haven't had time to troubleshoot yet (had to work on fence gate falling down)

sputtered a tad, then died. turn key and nothing, although lights would come on and dash.

I think i did hear fuel pump..

[Flyinfool]

A bad battery "usually" will not cause it to die while the RPMs are up. The Stator can put out enough power to run the bike. "Usually" if it dies while riding and the battery is then dead it is a charging system issue.

 

Notice I said "usually", there are scenarios where a bad battery can put enough of a load on the system that the stator can not keep up.

[V7Goose]

Pushed out of garage, removed seat, hooked up jump starter pack showed 12.5v, Started right up. Pushed to front of driveway so exhaust would stay out of garage. Let run 10 minutes. Went to move to side of driveway and hand hit kill switch like it always does. Tried to restart, nothin, not even a click, and then lights all went out.

 

Moved to other side of driveway, still nothing, no lights still.

 

Hooked up 2 amp trickle charger, within seconds said full charge. switched to 15 amp position, within seconds, showed full charge. Of course nothing on dash lights.

This sounds much more like a loose ground wire or bad battery connection than a bad battery. Tighten the main ground on the right rear of the engine behind oil fill cap, then pull the battery cables and scrape both the cable ends and the battery posts with a knife. this is important even if you do not see corrosion. Batteries can build up a hard clear coating on the post that acts as an insulator.

 

When trouble shooting this type of problem, always compare voltage readings taken directly from the battery posts to those taken from any other point in the bike wires to the normal frame or engine ground. That will give you a good check on voltage loss caused by bad connections. But be aware that voltage loss from a bad connection often only shows up during high current drain, such as starting or using the horn, so you might not see it just by taking the measurements with the key off.

Goose

[Barrycuda]

This sounds much more like a loose ground wire or bad battery connection than a bad battery. Tighten the main ground on the right rear of the engine behind oil fill cap, then pull the battery cables and scrape both the cable ends and the battery posts with a knife. this is important even if you do not see corrosion. Batteries can build up a hard clear coating on the post that acts as an insulator.

 

When trouble shooting this type of problem, always compare voltage readings taken directly from the battery posts to those taken from any other point in the bike wires to the normal frame or engine ground. That will give you a good check on voltage loss caused by bad connections. But be aware that voltage loss from a bad connection often only shows up during high current drain, such as starting or using the horn, so you might not see it just by taking the measurements with the key off.

Goose

 

 

That's great info thanks! I did not know about the hard clear coating acting as an insulator. Better check and clean my battery and posts before Vogel...

[1FSTZX14]

Stopped by dealer on way home from work yesteday, in car.

 

Natually, "oh, the battery has only a 1 year warranty from make, not covered by Yamaha warranty" I called BS on him, and asked if he had ever read warranty on the Venture. They have only had 2 of them in the last 6-8 years. So he took me to service guy.

 

Service guy asked what was up, told him, 10.8v, blah blah blah.. Didn't think battery was covered, I called BS again, so he said, he would have to check with Yamaha, but to bring the bike by and drop it off and he would take a look at it sometime. I explained it wouldn't start, so they said I could jump it off my other bike, but not to use more than 2 amps,.

 

I went home, pulled battery, 10.2 at posts, out of bike.

 

Carried it back to the dealer, told him I didn't feel like removing all the crap on the Raider so I could jump it, hence I brought battery. He said he would hook it up to their charger for a little bit and watch it, then let me know what they figure out. I explained it was reading 10.2v... He took my name and number.

 

Will stop by today after work if they don't call me beforehand and see if they "figured" it out...

 

I saw a paper from Yamaha corp somewhere online in the last year or so regarding the replacement of batteries on the venture, does anyone know where it is so I can take them a copy?

 

Thanks in advance.

[Globewalker]

would a bad battery cause it to die while driving it?

Mine just stranded me other day - luckily only 4 long blocks from home..

Haven't had time to troubleshoot yet (had to work on fence gate falling down)

sputtered a tad, then died. turn key and nothing, although lights would come on and dash.

I think i did hear fuel pump..

 

 

Update on mine..

sat a couple of days and it started on its own.. go figure

Put charger on it over night and of course it starts for sure now.

While cranking voltage drops to 10.x

while revving.. it climbs to 14..

I think it may be original battery so prob need start with new one since its an 07 ...

Also ... I never keep a charger on it normally .. but also haven't been riding it much lately

 

just seems odd it died while riding after riding 45 minutes from downtown to the burbs..

 

oh and then coincidentally my 2011 MDX battery dies on me this weekend also - had to replace it to get it home...

 

Thanks