has anyone ever had a battery just completely die??? one minute seems to have power and then completely let go, nothing, not even enough to bring the dash lights on???

so it should read 13.8 volts with the leads still attached and the engine running?? if thats right then am i correct in assuming if it doesnt then its a charging system problem, and if it does the battery is at fault???

many thanks for all the help

 

Bad cell in the battery. You can check to make sure by taking the caps off of the battery and putting the leads from your multimeter in each cell. Put the red lead in one and the black in another. they should all read the same. for the end ones place one lead in the cell and one on the post.

When the tach jumps all over the place it means the battery is shot usually.

KongBastard

 

cheers mate, thats was really what i wanted to hear, my local bike shop have just said much the same, start with the battery first, they'll have a new one for me this afternoon and once its fitted they said to run it up there and they would multimeter it for me to make sure its charging okay, will still get a multimeter asap tho, have been putting it off for years but it would come in handy to have one

the battery is supposed to be a sealed unit tho, looks quite old and I've flattened it a couple of times with the parking light on and had to bump it, so its feasable that its had its last, we've just got the start of the cold weather as winter kicks in.

 

Check the regulator/recitifier and it's connections as well. They are a known issue on these bikes. Your melted connectors for the 3 yellow wires coming from the alternator is a bad sign as well. What is a chocolate block? Is it some kind of aftermarket electrical connector? It is critical that those connections are good, tight, and dry as your alternator feeds AC power to the regulator/ rectifier which rectifies the AC power to DC power and regulates the DC power to around 13.5-14.5 VDC. If any of the previous components or their connectors are bad then the battery does not get charged.

 

okay guys many thanks for all the replys, think i've got in nailed now, changed the battery and took it up the shop, they put it on the multimeter and all was fine, guess the change to cold weather killed the battery

i did notice tho that the rear parking light now doesnt work now tho, i never use it so not too much of a worry but i'll have to trace the fault in time, I have OCDs about things that arent fixed so it wont be broken for long!!

balistic - yeah its an electrical connecter block mate, chocolate block is slang lol

 

The parking lights that come on when you put the ignition switch in the 'park' position are powered from one of the fuses in the fuse block. That fuse is only for those lights in that park position. Check your fuses. Rode my bike today, only because I bought a kickass new jacket. Had to try it out. Even though you got the battery issue sorted out, I would still take the seat and gas tank off and check the connectors for the R/R that are there. Peace of mind if nothing else, maybe pull them apart, clean and put some dielectric grease in them.

 

Cheers mate will check the fuses again, unless one has blown since i checked them last its a wiring problem, the rear loom has been messed round with by a previous owner and i have had to play about with it once before when the brakelight stopped working

The connection to the R/R from the altenator is what is chocolate blocked, the other red wiring plug was checked the other day and is fine

put the fairings back on in the dark with a torch ready for work tomorrow, think i used more zip ties that fairing bolts

 

i know it doesnt help now, but mine was doin the same thing, jump it off car, runs strong take the cables off and it starts missin and dies, the battery wouldnt charge past 10 volts so i figured it was a bad cell, thank goodness for warranties, got a new battery and she sprang to life