MasterOfPupets
Junior Member
So, I had a weird issue when I took my bike out yesterday for a couple hours. A bit of background:
Run a Battery Tender Junior on the bike for about 2 months to get ready for the season. Also installed a USB port so I could charge my phone/use it as a GPS.
Bike starts out running fine and I plug my phone in and go. Most of the roads I'm riding on are low speed limit (30 or 35 mph) so my revs stay pretty low the whole time since this is just a nice leisurely ride to knock the dust off. I'd say most of the time I'm running at about 3000 RPM in third gear. Probably about 2 hours in at a stop on a hill the bike stalls (could have been my fault, but I don't think it was) so I start it again and take off. Then the bike starts acting funny. At my normal low-RPM cruising speed it starts running very choppy, like the cylinders are missing. When I get on the gas a little it seams to have no problems, but at a cruising speed I can't maintain a good speed, it just feels like I'm bouncing the throttle when I know I'm not. The check engine light also comes on any time I come to a light and sit and idle.
So, needless to say I found the fastest way home once this started happening.
Got the bike home and checked the code for the check engine light. Comes up as Code 46. I google it and found on here that it is a problem with electrical for the FI system, usually a charging issue. So, I parked it and plugged in the Tender. Showed a red light (meaning less that 80% charge) and I walked away to let it charge. Came back a few hours later and he tender had a blinking red light (meaning it wasn't charging for some reason.) I was confused but went ahead and unplugged the tender and let it sit for a while since I was working on something else in the garage. After about an hour, I figured I'd plug it in again and see what happens. Damn thing started charging again (solid red) so I let it be. About an hour later I came back and it was blinking Green (over 80%) and this morning it is showing solid green (charged) and I fired it up. Seams to be idling fine again.
I plan on taking it out some this weekend since the weather should be nice and seeing if I run into the same issue without the phone plugged in.
My question:
I know people say that the bike actually doesn't start running off the Stator until it hits a higher RPM (4000ish if I'm not mistaken) but would running it the way I did with a phone charging really run the battery down that quickly? I'm just trying to figure out if the problem is with the components (battery not holding a proper charge, Stator not properly charging) or with my riding (cruising at 3000RPM, never going above 6000 - Pussy riding since I really don't want to hear it from my wife if I get a ticket.)
Any thoughts from the more experienced people out there? I do have a multimeter, but electrical isn't really my thing. Not sure what I should test for.
Run a Battery Tender Junior on the bike for about 2 months to get ready for the season. Also installed a USB port so I could charge my phone/use it as a GPS.
Bike starts out running fine and I plug my phone in and go. Most of the roads I'm riding on are low speed limit (30 or 35 mph) so my revs stay pretty low the whole time since this is just a nice leisurely ride to knock the dust off. I'd say most of the time I'm running at about 3000 RPM in third gear. Probably about 2 hours in at a stop on a hill the bike stalls (could have been my fault, but I don't think it was) so I start it again and take off. Then the bike starts acting funny. At my normal low-RPM cruising speed it starts running very choppy, like the cylinders are missing. When I get on the gas a little it seams to have no problems, but at a cruising speed I can't maintain a good speed, it just feels like I'm bouncing the throttle when I know I'm not. The check engine light also comes on any time I come to a light and sit and idle.
So, needless to say I found the fastest way home once this started happening.
Got the bike home and checked the code for the check engine light. Comes up as Code 46. I google it and found on here that it is a problem with electrical for the FI system, usually a charging issue. So, I parked it and plugged in the Tender. Showed a red light (meaning less that 80% charge) and I walked away to let it charge. Came back a few hours later and he tender had a blinking red light (meaning it wasn't charging for some reason.) I was confused but went ahead and unplugged the tender and let it sit for a while since I was working on something else in the garage. After about an hour, I figured I'd plug it in again and see what happens. Damn thing started charging again (solid red) so I let it be. About an hour later I came back and it was blinking Green (over 80%) and this morning it is showing solid green (charged) and I fired it up. Seams to be idling fine again.
I plan on taking it out some this weekend since the weather should be nice and seeing if I run into the same issue without the phone plugged in.
My question:
I know people say that the bike actually doesn't start running off the Stator until it hits a higher RPM (4000ish if I'm not mistaken) but would running it the way I did with a phone charging really run the battery down that quickly? I'm just trying to figure out if the problem is with the components (battery not holding a proper charge, Stator not properly charging) or with my riding (cruising at 3000RPM, never going above 6000 - Pussy riding since I really don't want to hear it from my wife if I get a ticket.)
Any thoughts from the more experienced people out there? I do have a multimeter, but electrical isn't really my thing. Not sure what I should test for.