Battery Drained at MSF ERC Saturday

[crowelor]

I wanted to share my experience with others in case they might be thinking about doing an ERC or will be in similar circumstances with their FZ6.

I took the ERC here in Houston last Saturday. We were on the range from 12:30-4:45PM with the bikes running a good portion of that time. The temperature was about 90 degrees. As anyone who has taken an MSF course can attest to, there is a lot of idling, and by 3:00PM, my battery was drained. I have the dual headlight mod, so that was pulling more power than stock, and I also have a set of auxiliary LED lights, but I think those only pull about 1/10th of a halogen lamp. I found a post on another forum that indicated the heat could have had something to do with it since the fan was also running the majority of the time.

We had to push-start the bike for the last several rounds of exercises, and doing a few extra laps around the range didn't recharge the battery. I thought I was going to need a replacement, but fortunately the ride home charged it up again and when I got home, I put it on the tender overnight. It seems fine now.

I was talking to a fellow member on Sunday and he said he thought the break-even point for our bike was around 2500RPM, and I was well below that most of the time the bike was on, so it makes sense the battery was drained.

So if I were to be in a situation like that again with a lot of idling, I would probably turn the bike off most of the time I was sitting in line waiting to start an exercise instead of idling so much.

 

[Motogiro]

Yes, you need at least 2000 RPM to start charging the FZ6.

 

[FinalImpact]

Ouch! That's unfortunate the vehicle (bike) couldn't handle it. Thanks for posting and I do hope this saves someone else!

A quick excerpt:

Roughly 4 hours at 90F outside, fan on a the majority of the time.
W/dual headlight mod and a set of auxiliary LED lights.

I was talking to a fellow member on Sunday and he said he thought the break-even point for our bike was around 2500RPM. . .

As for the that last part about RPM. I can't answer but with a DMM we could measure and see. It seems reasonable though.

 

[FinalImpact]

Yes, you need at least 2000RPM to start charging the FZ6.

A typo correction I suspect. . . but it's all better now! :thumbup:


I started to respond to this hours ago but got pulled away and Cliff chimed in!

 

[Motogiro]

A typo correction I suspect. . . but it's all better now! :thumbup:


I started to respond to this hours ago but got pulled away and Cliff chimed in!

Thanks!

I thought I had 3 zeros but the last one musta fell off into the ethernet!

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

When I tested my voltage output in an earlier lower idle thread, I found the voltage was just running even (output was the same as the battery at rest) at 1350 RPM's with the dual headlight mod, no fan running. At my idle setting of 1,000 RPM's it was draining the battery sitting/running.


I think, in that particular instance, (fan running), unplug at least one headlight (both would be better if allowed), and make sure the idle was at least 1350..

 

[crowelor]

I think, in that particular instance, (fan running), unplug at least one headlight (both would be better if allowed), and make sure the idle was at least 1350..

That's a great suggestion.

For myself and anyone else that's not too educated on electrical matters, simply unplugging the connectors going to the bulbs will do what you're suggesting right? Meaning I wouldn't have to unplug any connectors further back. If there's nothing on the end of the wire using the power, it won't drain just because power is being sent down that wire? If power is even sent down that wire when nothing is plugged in, I don't know if the bulb completes that circuit so if it's not there it won't send anything down the wire.

I'm really showing my ignorance on this matter, so I apologize if these are elementary questions, but hopefully the answers will help me and others.

 

[VEGASRIDER]

It happens, I've had others die during the ERC, so it's not just the FZ6.

 

[pookamatic]

An electrical circuit is just that... a circuit. Break it anywhere and the electrons have nowhere to go.

 

[FinalImpact]

An electrical circuit is just that... a circuit. Break it anywhere and the electrons have nowhere to go.

But are you sure? Cliff said they . . .

fell off into the ethernet!

:spank:

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

That's a great suggestion.

For myself and anyone else that's not too educated on electrical matters, simply unplugging the connectors going to the bulbs will do what you're suggesting right? Meaning I wouldn't have to unplug any connectors further back. If there's nothing on the end of the wire using the power, it won't drain just because power is being sent down that wire? If power is even sent down that wire when nothing is plugged in, I don't know if the bulb completes that circuit so if it's not there it won't send anything down the wire.

I'm really showing my ignorance on this matter, so I apologize if these are elementary questions, but hopefully the answers will help me and others.

Yep, just unplug it (or both). An additional 55+ watts each, at least..

 

[GTPAddict]

Same thing happened to me when I took the ERC. Right before lunch my battery was too weak to star the bike so I had to push it off. I rode around at lunch to charge it back up, and unplugged the headlights for the rest of the day and everything was good. The first part of the course the engine was either idling or only running a little faster then idle due to the slow speed maneuvers, so there won't be too much in the way of extra amperage to charge the battery.

 

[crowelor]

I have another question for those that have offered advice.

Should I be worried about my battery after this ordeal? Will it have a shorter life because it was drained and the bike ran so much after it was already drained?

I don't have a problem replacing it if this type of thing causes problems down the road, but I don't want to replace it if it has plenty of life left.

 

[GTPAddict]

This happened to me last year, can't remember the exact date but it was in the fall. I have not had any problems with the battery so far, and I ride just about every day year round. I never put it on a charger, just let the bike charge it back. This is not ideal, but I had an hour long ride from the place I took the course back home so it had plenty of time.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

Naw, you should be good.

If you want piece of mind, you can get it load tested to make sure but if its currently cranking over as usual, I wouldn't bother...

A long, slow, light drain is the best way to kill a battery..

 

[FinalImpact]

I have another question for those that have offered advice.

Should I be worried about my battery after this ordeal? Will it have a shorter life because it was drained and the bike ran so much after it was already drained?

I don't have a problem replacing it if this type of thing causes problems down the road, but I don't want to replace it if it has plenty of life left.

This may not be true of every battery, but most will live a long happy life after being depleted and recharged as you have done here. Freezing them and leaving them in a state of discharge for extended times does tend to kill them. I'd run it until it shows other signs of weakness.

PS - my 08 still has the original battery.

 

[tejkowskit]

I was worried about this happening when I took the course the other week! Towards the end of the day I noticed it was weak when starting. All the idling and starting and stopping drained it pretty good. My batter is 6 years old too :shakehead:
Thats a great idea to unplug the headlights though.. Luckily I made it through the day.

 

[TownsendsFJR1300]

I was worried about this happening when I took the course the other week! Towards the end of the day I noticed it was weak when starting. All the idling and starting and stopping drained it pretty good. My batter is 6 years old too :shakehead:
Thats a great idea to unplug the headlights though.. Luckily I made it through the day.

If you got 6 years out of it, you got your moneys worth out of it...