battery help please

[FZ6drummer]

lately my bike has been acting up, and i think it may be the battery. whenever i press the ignition button, the bike sputters for a little while before actually turning on, and right before it turns on, the gauge cluster shuts off and on. it never used to do this before. i ride it everyday, so the battery should be charging. at this point i'm just not sure though. i've thought once or twice now that it might not even turn on.
any thoughts?

 

[Motogiro]

lately my bike has been acting up, and i think it may be the battery. whenever i press the ignition button, the bike sputters for a little while before actually turning on, and right before it turns on, the gauge cluster shuts off and on. it never used to do this before. i ride it everyday, so the battery should be charging. at this point i'm just not sure though. i've thought once or twice now that it might not even turn on.
any thoughts?

Before anything check your connections at the battery. Loosen them and re-snug them to see if that makes a difference. On of my neighbors was going to buy a battery for his Ducati and I checked the battery connectors and one was loose. Not uncommon on bikes because of the vibes. He's never had a problem since.

Cliff

 

[chimneydoc]

Along with checking for loose terminals I would also clean them while you are at it. Getting to your battery is very easy. Un bolt your tank then just shift it back and it will swing right up. Put the hinge bolt back in and use bunge cords to hold it up like in BD43's head light mod. Be careful not to swing the tank up too far with all the connections.

Doc

 

[steveindenmark]

If your battery is going or not charging properly then it will click, click, click really fast when you push the start button. Is that what is happening?

Steve

 

[FZ6drummer]

i haven't heard any clicking. i am very familiar with that sound, my cager does it all of the time
the sound of the engine starting is just very slow and drags on for a while before actually starting.

 

[macem29]

I had an FZ600 that did that too, it was the battery just starting to fail...
the instrument cluster will blank out like you say because the effort of
cranking is pulling voltage down to a level that the power distribution relay
is not staying energized, like the others say, check the cables and connections,
also check water level, fill it up and put on charge...you can try to get it load
tested, but if a few hours of charging don't bring it back, it's toast