Dead VFR

[spud786]

Hey bent,

I always felt the standard vfr battery was barely adquate, The YTZ14, corrected that way of thinking, and its not excessive, its the way it should be.

Dielectric grease is not conductive , so if you have a bad mechanical connection and you add in a non condutive coating, its just going to make the connection worse, and then you get more heat buildup.

WD40 is quick clean and doesnt harm conductivity, it works . I have dielectric grease, it does not go in my bike wiring though, I've not had reason to do that, I did see it in the telephone lines in florida though

[Bent]

Hey bent,

I always felt the standard vfr battery was barely adquate, The YTZ14, corrected that way of thinking, and its not excessive, its the way it should be.

Dielectric grease is not conductive , so if you have a bad mechanical connection and you add in a non condutive coating, its just going to make the connection worse, and then you get more heat buildup.

WD40 is quick clean and doesnt harm conductivity, it works . I have dielectric grease, it does not go in my bike wiring though, I've not had reason to do that, I did see it in the telephone lines in florida though

Thanks. I'll let you know how the "hot rod" battery works. I've lived in Texas and the place is very hard on batteries because of heat.

[2thdr]

A couple of thoughts...I was sure it was the 30A fuse when I read your first post because it's happened to me twice. Then I had the recall on the wiring harness (have you done that?) and I installed the VFRness (changed the 30A to a 20A fuse). And yeah, new battery. Last thought...don't put your new battery on a tender all the time! You'll shorten the life of the battery significantly.

[Bent]

A couple of thoughts...I was sure it was the 30A fuse when I read your first post because it's happened to me twice. Then I had the recall on the wiring harness (have you done that?) and I installed the VFRness (changed the 30A to a 20A fuse). And yeah, new battery. Last thought...don't put your new battery on a tender all the time! You'll shorten the life of the battery significantly.

Thanks for the input! The recall doesn't apply to the 2006 models. I'm positive of that. I think the issue was either caused by corrosion in the 30 amp fuse area (no D-grease or anything used) or a weak battery, or both, but, like I said, I'm not an electrical genius.

I don't even own a battery tender. I thought the right kind keeps the battery charged then charges only when the battery starts losing charge again. My old battery never had a tender on it for it's over 50 month life. The bike seldom sits over 3 weeks at a time, year 'round.

[2thdr]

A couple of thoughts...I was sure it was the 30A fuse when I read your first post because it's happened to me twice. Then I had the recall on the wiring harness (have you done that?) and I installed the VFRness (changed the 30A to a 20A fuse). And yeah, new battery. Last thought...don't put your new battery on a tender all the time! You'll shorten the life of the battery significantly.

Thanks for the input! The recall doesn't apply to the 2006 models. I'm positive of that. I think the issue was either caused by corrosion in the 30 amp fuse area (no D-grease or anything used) or a weak battery, or both, but, like I said, I'm not an electrical genius.

I don't even own a battery tender. I thought the right kind keeps the battery charged then charges only when the battery starts losing charge again. My old battery never had a tender on it for it's over 50 month life. The bike seldom sits over 3 weeks at a time, year 'round.

Duh! I was thinking 6th gen instead of looking at 2006. PM a guy here named "Tightwad" about electrical questions...he really knows his stuff as well as many other helpful folks. The CEO of this site saved me big bucks on a speedo problem that looked electrical but was actually mechanical fixed with a $7 part! You might ask Tightwad about his VFRness: an add on harness that beefs up the charging circuit on these bikes. Good luck!

[Auspanglish]

Just a couple of pointers... I was told by an electrical engineer that wire-brushing the metalic quick-connectors can remove a coating of quality conducive material and the metal underneath is shite... so go real light if you must... another thing is that every time you disonnect and connect these babies, the female part loosens up and this leads to arcing and heat issues... so it pays to crimp them a little to tighten up the connection with the male.

Definitely see to it that they beef up the cable section for the 30A fuse assembly for posterity...

And +1000 to checking out the other usual suspect connectors when you get her back, the mechanics may have looked things over but not touched a thing...

I tend to use contact cleaner and a special anti-humidity spray especially for electrical applications... which I trust does not hamper conductivity. (Anti-H2O it's called)

May the force be with you.

:biggrin:

[spud786]

A couple of thoughts...I was sure it was the 30A fuse when I read your first post because it's happened to me twice. Then I had the recall on the wiring harness (have you done that?) and I installed the VFRness (changed the 30A to a 20A fuse). And yeah, new battery. Last thought...don't put your new battery on a tender all the time! You'll shorten the life of the battery significantly.

Thanks for the input! The recall doesn't apply to the 2006 models. I'm positive of that. I think the issue was either caused by corrosion in the 30 amp fuse area (no D-grease or anything used) or a weak battery, or both, but, like I said, I'm not an electrical genius.

I don't even own a battery tender. I thought the right kind keeps the battery charged then charges only when the battery starts losing charge again. My old battery never had a tender on it for it's over 50 month life. The bike seldom sits over 3 weeks at a time, year 'round.

Bent , while I had a battery tender, I never used it on my original vfr battery, until it started getting weak, that was around 2 years and 42,000 mile .

I changed it out at that time

[Bent]

A couple of thoughts...I was sure it was the 30A fuse when I read your first post because it's happened to me twice. Then I had the recall on the wiring harness (have you done that?) and I installed the VFRness (changed the 30A to a 20A fuse). And yeah, new battery. Last thought...don't put your new battery on a tender all the time! You'll shorten the life of the battery significantly.

Thanks for the input! The recall doesn't apply to the 2006 models. I'm positive of that. I think the issue was either caused by corrosion in the 30 amp fuse area (no D-grease or anything used) or a weak battery, or both, but, like I said, I'm not an electrical genius.

I don't even own a battery tender. I thought the right kind keeps the battery charged then charges only when the battery starts losing charge again. My old battery never had a tender on it for it's over 50 month life. The bike seldom sits over 3 weeks at a time, year 'round.

Bent , while I had a battery tender, I never used it on my original vfr battery, until it started getting weak, that was around 2 years and 42,000 mile .

I changed it out at that time

Thanks Auspanol. I definitely plan to deal with other connectors....hoping I don't do more harm than good. I'm still not convinced I need to use a battery tender as often as I ride. If I'm wrong, somebody correct me. While you're at it, please correct me on all my other weaknesses...... :biggrin:

Good thing Honda didn't have anything to do with putting men on the moon. They are going to be building small jet planes in NC soon. Anybody want to go for a ride?? :blink:

[Tightwad]

Unless you have a serious electrical drain, there is no need to use a battery tender on a bike that gets ridden more than an hour at a time, at least every couple weeks. What you want to avoid is trips that are only short in length, or extended time at idle. If the bike is going to sit for more than a couple weeks, through the tender on it. If it will be more than a couple months, or subjected to extreme temperature changes, take the battery out of the bike and put it somewhere temperature controlled, where it can be charged as needed.

[Bent]

Unless you have a serious electrical drain, there is no need to use a battery tender on a bike that gets ridden more than an hour at a time, at least every couple weeks. What you want to avoid is trips that are only short in length, or extended time at idle. If the bike is going to sit for more than a couple weeks, through the tender on it. If it will be more than a couple months, or subjected to extreme temperature changes, take the battery out of the bike and put it somewhere temperature controlled, where it can be charged as needed.

Thanks TW. My bike almost never gets started and ridden less than two hours. I don't ride in town, so not much idle time. If I need to idle much, I just turn it off. My garage stays between 68 and 50 degrees year round. It's kind of in the side of a mountain Although, it's hot as hades outside right now if I were riding..... :blush:. . I'll go get a tender because it will sit now and then, but not often. Starting to think I need a spare bike.....again.....

[Bent]

Bike is back in it's stall in the garage and hopefully fixed. Time will tell. Rode it approx. 50 miles after I picked her up this afternoon and no problems or drama. Going to leave the house early tomorrow before it gets too hot and ride a quick 200 mile twistie route. I need to ride a motorcycle.... badly.... :491: :fing02:

The new YTZ14S Yuasa does crank over the engine quicker. It's the battery of choice IMHO. :blush:

I feel like a "whole man" now with the VFR back in it's garage real estate. My VFR is kind of like a loyal pet dog..... :laugh:

Thanks everyone for your input and advice. :491:

Bent :smile: