Member Contributer scubastevemccall Posted May 29, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted May 29, 2014 Hey Guys, I'm new to the site and any help would be good. I have owned my 2004 VFR800 for the last few month, but seem to be having a problem with the battery going flat. previous owner replaced the battery a week or so before i got it and i have just had to replace it again (1 week ago). worked perfectly for the first few days. but when i went to start it yesterday it took a fair bit longer to start. is there something that i may need to look at? common faults? any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks in advance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Cogswell Posted May 29, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted May 29, 2014 Sounds like the typical charging system issues. Scrounge up a DC voltmeter and see what the voltage is across the batt terminals at idle and 5000 rpm. It should be in the 14's - at a minimum high 13's. There are a number of pinned threads on common charging system problems in the electrical forums. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer scubastevemccall Posted May 29, 2014 Author Member Contributer Share Posted May 29, 2014 Mate I have just done this test. Before I started the bike I was getting around 11V and with the bike running I get between 14.2-14.5V. once I switch the bike off I watch the volts drop down slowly. Like something is using the power. Any suggestions?? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bad Boy Posted May 29, 2014 Share Posted May 29, 2014 Your charging voltage above 14V is normal but your battery at 11V is drained. You need to charge the battery to above 12.7V. Your charging system is showing normal numbers and should be charging the battery when engine is running. Possible causes: The bike is sitting too long unused and the battery is slowly going dead with time. Use a battery tender. There is a drain on the battery when the bike is off. Check with amp meter. Bad connection to the battery. Check connectors. Bad battery. Have it charged and load tested by dealer. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted May 29, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted May 29, 2014 Had a R\R do the same thing. and WELCOME !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer scubastevemccall Posted May 29, 2014 Author Member Contributer Share Posted May 29, 2014 Hey Guys, this battery is only 7 Days old, and i have ridden the bike 4 out of the 7 days. i just don't know what could be draining the battery once the bike is turned off. thanks in advance for your help.. Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted May 29, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted May 29, 2014 Mate I have just done this test. Before I started the bike I was getting around 11V and with the bike running I get between 14.2-14.5V. once I switch the bike off I watch the volts drop down slowly. Like something is using the power. Any suggestions?? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Charge it back up in the bike and when you park it for the knight unplug the R\R and recheck in the mourning . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Cogswell Posted May 30, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted May 30, 2014 To expand on Bad Boy's suggestions, remove the negative battery cable from the battery. Set your meter to DC amps. Then clip the negative lead from your meter to the negative battery terminal and the positive lead to the cable you just removed. If there is a drain, you will get a reading. Keep moving down to lower and lower scales on the meter. The clock draws maybe a few miliamps, but you shouldn't see anything more than that. If you do get a significant amperage draw, start pulling fuses one at a time until the reading goes to zero. You'll then have the circuit with the culprit and you can do further tracing of the problem. If you have no current drain while the key is off, you probably have a bad battery which a test will confirm. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer scubastevemccall Posted May 30, 2014 Author Member Contributer Share Posted May 30, 2014 Guys thanks very much for your help. I'll let you know how I go. Cheers. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer scubastevemccall Posted May 31, 2014 Author Member Contributer Share Posted May 31, 2014 Right I have teated the electrics as you said. The only fuse that is drawing any current was the clock at. And it was only 2.29 MA. Only thing I did not do was to remove the R/R. And test the battery over night. I'm guessing I just have a shit battery. Will go back to the honda dealer and get it replaced. Thanks very much for your help . Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DDO-VFR Posted May 31, 2014 Share Posted May 31, 2014 The odds are probably >95% that your stator is done for. This is a VERY common failure of older VFRs of your generation. Mine did this (was an '06 after 7 years and 70k miles) The R/Rs failing is more typical of the generation before yours, but not impossible. Lastly, check around the complete charging path for overheated connectors, showing tell-tale burned / darkened plastic. If your charging system makes 15V on a discharged battery, the battery is seriously dead or the charging path has a high impedance somewhere (burned connector contact). Good luck Brian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted May 31, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted May 31, 2014 Anytime .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loop Posted July 12, 2014 Share Posted July 12, 2014 The battery goes dead on my 5th generation after about 2 weeks of not being started or ridden. Charge gets up to about 14.5-7 at 5000 rpm but it's usually less than 12v on start up. I put it down to the clock draining it....maybe it could be a problem with the stator or something else? I have a small digital volt meter wired in on the dash to keep monitor of it. Also the r/r is a 6th Gen unit with the 5th Gen leads grafted onto it.Been running that way for the last 18,000k's :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Member Contributer Switchblade Posted July 12, 2014 Member Contributer Share Posted July 12, 2014 The battery goes dead on my 5th generation after about 2 weeks of not being started or ridden. Charge gets up to about 14.5-7 at 5000 rpm but it's usually less than 12v on start up. I put it down to the clock draining it....maybe it could be a problem with the stator or something else? I have a small digital volt meter wired in on the dash to keep monitor of it. Also the r/r is a 6th Gen unit with the 5th Gen leads grafted onto it.Been running that way for the last 18,000k's :) Charge it up and un plug the R\R and see if it holds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loop Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 The battery goes dead on my 5th generation after about 2 weeks of not being started or ridden. Charge gets up to about 14.5-7 at 5000 rpm but it's usually less than 12v on start up. I put it down to the clock draining it....maybe it could be a problem with the stator or something else? I have a small digital volt meter wired in on the dash to keep monitor of it. Also the r/r is a 6th Gen unit with the 5th Gen leads grafted onto it.Been running that way for the last 18,000k's :) Charge it up and un plug the R\R and see if it holds. Thanks for your reply. If i do that and it holds longer does that point to a r/r problem? I should add that after a charge up the battery holds a full charge and is fine again until the bike is left unstarted for 2 weeks again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spud786 Posted July 13, 2014 Share Posted July 13, 2014 You should be able to go much longer than two weeks, something is draining the battery or the battery itself. a quick battery test is to leave the key and lights on for about 3 or 4 minutes, coming off a full charge. Then try to start the motor. Once a battery gets towards end of life it wont pass that test. If it does then you have to look at the draining issue. 2.5 ma is max drain for clock and such, but im not sure what is actually normal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loop Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 Well,i just left the bike for 2 weeks while away and disconnected the battery this time. The battery charged up in less than an hour instead of the usual 8-10 hours. The volt meter was showing 11.1v when i turned the key on,so the headlight was on as well. I forgot to mention i have a Garmin GPS power cord hard wired to the battery that is never turned off but has a rubber plug over the connector plug to the GPS when not in use. Could that be draining the power? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TNRabbit Posted July 30, 2014 Share Posted July 30, 2014 11.1 is low even for under load. Sounds like your battery might be on it's way out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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