Electrical Issues

[Archeon]

Hi All,

Unfortunately my first post here has to be one asking for some advice

3 Weeks ago I bought a 2007 FZ6 S2, and until yesterday it ran like a charm and I loved every second.

Yesterday morning, after sitting for about 30 hours, I turn the key and...nothing, no electrics at all.

So what I did:

1) Checked fuses - All OK
2) Removed battery, charged it, stuck it back in, and everything comes back to life, so dead battery.

The question is, why?

I have taken the bike to a mechanic today, who did a running voltage test on the bike and everything is charging as it should (so not the regulator, as this was the next best guess).

Another interesting fact, is when the bike was serviced just before delivery, they found the old battery was low, and replaced it with a brand new one.

So, essentially the mechanic has sent me away with a diagnosis of "If it does it again, let me know". This is not an ideal situation when this is my way to get to work every morning.

So the question is, can anyone think of anything that I might be able to do in order to avoid my battery dying on me again.

Currently I have a few of theories

1) Something was loose, there was an earth leak and taking everything apart and putting it back together has fixed it (I can dream right?)
2) The battery is faulty
3) Something is draining far more power than it should (immobolizer?)

Other potentially useful information -

- It has an aftermarket alarm fitted, the wiring of which in the words of the mechanic was "shoddy" - I am considering the implications of removing this as a possible culprit.
- It has heated grips (that were NOT left on over night!) but the wiring again is awful...

I would welcome any suggestions or ideas of what I can do to avoid a similar situation.

Regards,

Simon

PS - I have had a read over the charging system thread, and some useful information there. I guess the biggest question mark at the moment is if the old battery needed replacing because of a fault with the bike, or if the battery was just at the end of it's life. With a new battery it should (in theory) rule out things such as the terminals not being on tight enough (they would have been put on fresh when changing the battery). Very odd situation and was kind of hoping it was my regulator, just so I knew for sure...

 

[tosh23]

If the mechanic has checked the charging system and it happens again then it probably is the battery.. The fact that the wiring is untidy dose not mean its faulty . If however after you have put a new (fully charged) battery on it and the problem still persists then I would start stripping the accessory's off..
If you have a multi meter then do a leak down test on your immobileiser and grips...good luck...tosh

 

[FinalImpact]

IMO old batteries that sit can and will die without out warning. I know nothing of your bike but sitting for say 3 months with a tiny drain on the battery can kill them. So lets right off the original as being old.

If you have an amp meter you could disconect the battery and place the meter in the loop. DO NOT TURN ANYTHING ON or you will nuke the fuse in the meter. If after it settles you find the alarm is drawing more than few milliamps, it should be removed.

If you have no meter, you might just pull the fuse on the alarm. OR - > Another option is the use of a small lamp. Disconnect the Neg Bat lead. Place the lamp between the battery negative post and the bikes negative battery lead. If the lamp lights - your system even though its off is drawing too much current and will drain a battery.

Other things to check are the connections to the regulator rectifier (RR). ALSO - DO NOT JUMP START from a Running car as damaged to the RR will result.

If your bike is idled too much in warm temps and has the dual headlight mod, that can drain more from the battery than the charging system puts into it. Best solution there is long spirited rides!

Oh - Welcome to the Forum! :welcome:

 

[Ben sIII]

It could be as simple as you just had a bad connection and when you put the battery back on did it up right? When you put it on the charger did you actually check it was dead, or just plug it in and walk away?

 

[Motogiro]

:welcome:to the best forum on the WWW!

One thing to consider as part of the collective picture when you end up with a dead battery is the FZ6 needs 2000 plus rpm to make any significant charging.
If you have grip heaters, are they active when the bike is running? The charging system on the FZ6 has never been as robust as needed and when adding ancillaries you need to manage turning them off and allow the charging system to top off the battery.
Most batteries even when installed new need a few hours of charging to bring them to their full capacity before they are actually put into surface. If this is not done the battery suffers in it performance for the rest of it's use. To know if a battery is good it should be fully charge and properly load test to see whats it depth of charge is.

Please let us know how this turns out!

 

[Archeon]

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the comments.

In regards to "did I check the battery was actually dead" - Yes I did, The meter has a built in check and confirmed it was dead, after 30 minutes I plugged it back in to the bike and got a tiny amount of life, then went and charged it to full.

In regards to the bike - The recharged battery went in on Sunday, I have ridden it yesterday morning/evening and today to and from work.

Every time worked like a charm. Interestingly on Friday night before it died over the weekend I did notice all the electrics go off when I tried to start it (it did start) - this may have been the early warning sign it was about to die that I will certainly be looking out for again. (I read a trick that you can hit the engine start switch while the tachometer is sweeping and if it drops to 0 rather than finishing its sweep the battery is low).

I am considering removing the fuses from the backup alarm (after market) that was fitted that I don't use anyway, just to potentially rule that out.

In terms of the heated grips, I had used them that week, and was probably idling a fair amount (heavy traffic) - so it could simply be the grips had sucked the battery dry, and my commuting couldn't charge the battery enough over the next couple of days to survive a weekend of immobilizer drain. This combined with the early warning signs indicate to me that the battery was slowly dying, rather than an overnight discharge.

This would also potentially tally up with the battery being low before I bought the bike, as I tested the heated grips before i bought the bike - perhaps they are faulty and just drawing far more power than they should.

Regards,

Si

 

[Archeon]

For those interested I just heard back from the mechanics where my bike is currently living.

Apparently the 3rd party alarm system, which has it's own battery backup is intermittently drawing a huge current, direct from the main battery.

My theory is that the backup battery is old (from 2007) and probably now dying, and sucking the main battery dry to try and stay alive.

I am having the alarm removed and hopefully will be the end of this.

Regards,

Si

 

[Motogiro]

For those interested I just heard back from the mechanics where my bike is currently living.

Apparently the 3rd party alarm system, which has it's own battery backup is intermittently drawing a huge current, direct from the main battery.

My theory is that the backup battery is old (from 2007) and probably now dying, and sucking the main battery dry to try and stay alive.

I am having the alarm removed and hopefully will be the end of this.

Regards,

Si

That backup alarm battery is probably behind a diode. This keeps the alarm battery isolated in case someone compromises your bike battery or the bike battery fails. If the alarm battery is defective you could just replace or remove it. The alarm will still use a small amount of current from the bike battery but won't draw the extra current the defective backup battery is drawing. If you're leaving the bike for long periods without running it then I would disconnect the alarm.

An alarm with a transceiver is constantly poling for an encrypted signal from it's pager but after a month of not running the bike the battery should still be good to go.

Just replacing the alarm back up battery should resolve the extra current draw.