hello folks,
lately i've been having problems starting my bike. i was away for about 3 weeks. when i came back i couldn't start the bike. seemed like a dead battery. i put it on my battery tender overnight and it seems fine when i take off for work but when i start it in the evening when i'm leaving work, it barely starts before it's about to die again. i put it on the tender very night.
besides the age of a battery (which i think my battery is on the way out) how do i tell if my alternator's not charging. i'm going to go out and get a fresh battery but i'm curious about the condition of my alternator and how i can tell if it's working properly.
thanks
Well, I'd wager it's the battery - it's not holding a charge.
If it was your alternator - you bike probably would have crapped out on you by now. If the charging systems gone to shit, the bike would have started( if you could start it) run for a bit.. then run poorly for a very short period then died. When the charging systems gone, the bike's running only off the battery and would draw the batt down by running. If you can get it started and it'll stay running that's an indication that the charging system's running fine and providing the juice the bike needs to run.
Your symptoms are totally typical of a failing battery. I bet if you rode it for a while - stopped the engine, then restarted a minute later it starts just fine. But let it sit 8 hours, and it'll barely crank - am I right?
A quick, easy, down and dirty alternator test is simply putting a voltmeter on the battery and revving the bike to about 3K rpm.
If you see 13.5-14.5 volts the alternator is fine.
thanks guys!
yuu, yes, that's what the symptoms are. i thought i had the battery replaced only a few months ago for my last servicing but i just found out it wasn't done. so i thought it might be my alternator.
ducpainter, i should have thought of that before.
You should also check the cleanliness of all connections between the battery and the starter motor. I'm having occasional starting problems with my ST2 that I know is caused by less than optimal electrical connections, because it was like this a few years ago and cleaning them up fixed it.
I just need the time to carefully clean each connection and put some dielectric grease in there.
You should also double-check the water level of your battery.