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Battery dead after riding


MisterBill

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Hi everyone,

After ten years, I have encountered my first electrical problem. Rode 220 miles last Sunday. Bike ran beautifully. Rode 17 miles Friday, stopped and turned bike off to set my GoPro camera. Went to restart, battery was dead, starter only got one click. Clock reset time. Fuel pump did come on. I had to bump start the bike. Fired right up, but decided to head home. Pulled in driveway. Left bike idle in neutral for 5 seconds. Motor died. Had to bump start again.

 

Something is draining my battery. It is only a year and 3 months old. Any ideas on where I should start looking? Any help is greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Bill Mersch, aka MisterBill.

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Well - without even looking at it.... the Gen 6's seem to eat stators.. especially the '06s and '07s.  Seems like Honda received a bad batch of stators from their supplier. 

- Its Drill time.... 

 

 

 

 

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Well, before pulling the alternator cover to check the stator might I suggest checking that condition of the starter relay connections. It is just aft of the battery.

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I'd be checking the battery too; even though it is only a year and a bit old, it seems odd that it worked cold but then would not work 17 miles later hot. I would have thought any decent battery would run the bike happily for many hours from a charged condition even without the charging circuit working. In my own experience, batteries are more likely to fail when hot, and the VFR batteries do live close to the rear headers. What is the resting voltage of the battery?

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Hi Bill.

Lots of good advice for you above.

What's intriguing is that with a dead battery your clock reset, yet your fuel pump would prime! Also if you were able to "bump start" the bike with a dead battery, unless the charging system was working then you wouldn't get home!

 

Charge and load test the battery to verify its health. Run the engine and confirm your charging system is working should be around 14.5 odd volts engine running. And yes the most common cause of charging failure is the Stator windings shorting to ground.

Do you have any other added accessories to your bike? It's a little unusual BUT depending on the quality of battery previously fitted, it may just be a random failure.

Check the state of the two 30amp main fuses. They can suffer from hi resistance connections causing discolouration and burning.

 

If you suspect something is draining your battery then an easy check is to use your multimeter in current/amps mode and connect it in series between the battery terminal and the battery lead you've removed (Ignition OFF). You shouldn't see anything greater than 2.5 milliamps according to the service manual 6gen.

 

Keep us posted with what you find. Good Luck.

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  • 2 weeks later...
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Well, I got around to checking the stator. Battery is good,was recharged and held charge. Put battery in bike, started it, not being charged, only showed 12.2 volts coming across. All connectrors and relays good. Pulled stator cover and this is what I found. Ordered new stator today.

20180903_190125[1].jpg

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That's one crispy critter Bill. Seems you've found the problem.

 

Good luck mister slippery tire.:ph34r:
 

Max The Careful Follower

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While your at it, check the r/r and the wires between it and the stator. Mine died at the spring ride and turned out to be fried wires at that connection. Good luck with it.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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Resolution. Thanks for all the advice. Checked starter relay - ok, checked all wire connections, - all okay, charged battery - held charge the next day. Problem was the stator - replaced with new one. Bike started and ran beautifully. Batter shows 14.05 volts coming across when running.

 

Tip: the stator wire was run underneath another wire. This made it very difficult to pull through to the other side. I cut the end of the wire at the stator and just pulled it through. I pushed a stiff wire through the other side making sure to go OVER the center wire. Just pulling the wire through from the stator to the other side only took about a minute. This was after it was routed up and towards the front of the engine.

 

And yes, Terry, no more slippery tires. Thanks.

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Hi everyone,
After ten years, I have encountered my first electrical problem. Rode 220 miles last Sunday. Bike ran beautifully. Rode 17 miles Friday, stopped and turned bike off to set my GoPro camera. Went to restart, battery was dead, starter only got one click. Clock reset time. Fuel pump did come on. I had to bump start the bike. Fired right up, but decided to head home. Pulled in driveway. Left bike idle in neutral for 5 seconds. Motor died. Had to bump start again.
 
Something is draining my battery. It is only a year and 3 months old. Any ideas on where I should start looking? Any help is greatly appreciated.
Thanks, Bill Mersch, aka MisterBill.
I had the same issue. I ran my battery dead once and it worked fine for a while after than but I had killed the battery and it just stopped holding a charge. Had to get a new one. Could also be an alternator problem.

Sent from my VS988 using Tapatalk

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