Dying battery in Traffic

[DaveOTZ]

Helloooooo...

OK so I checked the sticky about the charging system...

So I preface this with I commute to New York City everyday...
This happened once before...
1st time traveling in Rush Hour traffic, first time the bike got hot for an extended amount of time, very stop and go traffic coupled with a couple of stalls as I had the bike about a month... It stalls and doesn't restart, I bump start it it drives fine I drop it at the shop where it still wont start. They trickle charge overnight and check my system, they say its putting out all that it should I think 12.7... The guy told me the battery is fine but a bit old that I should replace it, I order a new one from the local shop and install it... 3 months no problems...

Today I drove my wife into midtown (very heavy traffic) then to school, I noticed the start was a little rough, so I decided to take it on the HWY (my luck some muckity muck is clogging up traffic, so I go north) I try to find a gas station Im getting low, (SIDE NOTE: when the bar started blinking It went from regular odometer to trip odometer, if thats a safety feature this bike just got cooler) I finally find a station, battery is dead get some gas bump start and the engine light comes on at every red light unless I rev over 4K... Finally get home let the bike cool just pulled the battery... and lettign it charge

Im fairly certain it will hold the charge and the bike will be fine till I get another heavy traffic day... but, here are the mods (all by previous owner)
-Speedo Healer
-Dual Headlight (I read that there is no significant draw)
-Heated Handgrips (switched by key)
-Lighter (not switched, barely used, never causes a problem)
-fender eliminator with LED lights signals

Is the Speedohealer necesary? Could it be a culprit?

Wires look solid but not pretty
I will double check the grounds...

Its an 04 FZ6
Finally, the question I dont want to ask... the bike is great on longer HWY trips (great for normal commute too) for heavy city driving... Is the FZ wrong? Am I just abusing it on the NYC streets?

THanks
Daver

 

[manas12]

I don't have answers to your electrical questions, but I do have a couple of answers for you none the less.

(SIDE NOTE: when the bar started blinking It went from regular odometer to trip odometer, if thats a safety feature this bike just got cooler)

Not a "safety" feature, but yeah, it does do that. This way you can keep track of how many miles you have done on reserve. Once you fill up, this should switch back to the regular odometer.

Is the Speedohealer necesary? Could it be a culprit?

The speedohealer is necessary if have changed the stock sprockets to aftermarket ones with a different number of teeth. The speedohealer then corrects the speedo readings which will be thrown off by the mod.

-Manas.

 

[necrotimus]

Others I'm sure will give you more detailed feedback but are you keeping your rpms up? I think the general agreement is above 5k rpms you will be getting the full ability to charge. Below that and a coupel stalls or leaving the lights on might be a problem.

If that isn't it then you may have a short.

 

[Boneman]

Wow, that's quite a comute story!

I comute in traffic too, but only for about 30-40min. it's true that the charging system on your bike needs higher revs to charge (unlike a car) so if you are basically idling through traffic for long periods of time it is feasible that it might run down...but it should be able to handle it.

When you first said "It stalls and dosent restart", does it try to start and just makes a clicking sound or nothing at all?

The mods you listed shouldn't cause any unessicarry drain on your battery and your electical system should easily be able to handle it all. I'm assuming you have the heated grips off and still having the battery problems? Heated grips can draw a lot from your electrical system.

I can't see the Speedohealer being the problem at all.

One thing you can try if you have a multi meter and know how to use one, it to measuer the current (AMP) draw on your battery. To do this you need to set the meter to measure amps and usually requires moving on of your meter probes to a different output in the meter or else you can cook your meter. Then you have to put the two probes in series with your 12VDC+. Easiest way I did this was I have a fused wire coming off my battery POS (+) terminal. remove the fuse and put each probe on either side of the fuse holder connections - so you are 'bridging' the gap with the meter. The meter is now in series witht he bike's 12VDC +. Now just turn on the bike (don't start it) and see if there is any current draw on your electrical system. This is just a check to see if anything you wired in is accidentally drawing power from you battery.

If you can, then try starting your bike and see what the reading is. You can watch it for a while and see if it amps fall rapidly. If so, then either you charging system or the battery is pooched.

 

[DaveOTZ]

When you first said "It stalls and dosent restart", does it try to start and just makes a clicking sound or nothing at all?

It'll try to start then drift into clicking...(typical low battery stuff)

One thing you can try if you have a multi meter and know how to use one, it to measuer the current (AMP) draw on your battery. To do this you need to set the meter to measure amps and usually requires moving on of your meter probes to a different output in the meter or else you can cook your meter. Then you have to put the two probes in series with your 12VDC+. Easiest way I did this was I have a fused wire coming off my battery POS (+) terminal. remove the fuse and put each probe on either side of the fuse holder connections - so you are 'bridging' the gap with the meter. The meter is now in series witht he bike's 12VDC +. Now just turn on the bike (don't start it) and see if there is any current draw on your electrical system. This is just a check to see if anything you wired in is accidentally drawing power from you battery.

Im gonna try this after the weekend...

the battery is pooched.

THIS IS CLASSIC!!! "pooched" is soon to be the latest "mod" to my vocabulary...
Cant wait to use it with my patients, "You'd be able to do your old job if your tendon wasn't pooched"

Sorry I've always driven beaters and I know I need to make myself laugh or it'll kill me...

The only thing about the revving is when the guy checked my system he told me I was producing enough to handle it all in idle... Im thinking I may have an off and on ground problem that becomes a problem when its all hot and then the fan runs like nuts... Ill change my antifreeze while Im at it in case its dirty...

THANKS GUYS!!!

 

[DaveOTZ]

Hey ... Sorry for the poor form posting to my own thread...

so I was thinking if I get the bike to run cooler then the fan wont have to work as much or as hard...

So I know im pretty much due for a new air filter... (that will help a lil right?)
Ill swap out the anti-freeze...

Is there a fan upgrade? or any way to get this bike to cool down??

Most riding is @ 3 bars, traffic goes to four and the fan drives it back down to three, reached 5 a few times today...

Thoughts??

 

[Fz6Sa]

In your normal typical day-today driving, what is you average RPM?

The bike does not really charge until it gets to 5000RPM and above, - so if most of your driving is done below 5K then the battery will slowly be drained.

If you still have your original battery inn,- it also quite likely that the battery just don't hold the charge it used to any more, - it would now be 4 or 5 years old, and a replace would serve the bike well.

 

[DaveOTZ]

In your normal typical day-today driving, what is you average RPM?

The bike does not really charge until it gets to 5000RPM and above, - so if most of your driving is done below 5K then the battery will slowly be drained.

If you still have your original battery inn,- it also quite likely that the battery just don't hold the charge it used to any more, - it would now be 4 or 5 years old, and a replace would serve the bike well.

I replaced the battery in February... I've heard that about lack of charge till over 5k, but when the vm was hooked up I was getting 12.7 @ idle...

I usually don't get above 3rd gear now that Im more comfortable with the bike... so a lot of the trip is above 5k just a lot of stop and go... That day just had a lot of traffic and heat...