Right over the last couple of days my bikes been doing it now, switch the ignition on and hit the ignition and it just clicks like the battery dead, hit it 10 - 12 times and it fires up but the lights are dull, rev it and they brighten up, so ive charged the battery and its fine, i doubt its the startor motor as the lights are being affected, and cant see how the startor solonoid would dull down the headlights so im out of ideas and thaught id ask before i have to replace 4 or 5 parts to find out what was the problem part, so any ideas ??

 

Start doing the diags of the electrical system. Could be a poor connection somewhere. Could be the R/R. Since it affects ignition and running, I'd check and clean the connections at the starter relay / master fuse. Then grab the voltmeter and start checking everything (you can't rule out the stator till you can rule it out).

 

can you get a video of it by any chance?

 

There are several possibilities to what is causing the problem. You may have a bad spot on the starter or you may just have a bad battery. Your RR maybe be bad and your running exclusively on the stator. This puts a heavy load on the stator and can cause the stator to burn up if run for an extended period of time with a bad RR.
You'll have to pull out a multi meter and start probing around. The easiest one to do a is a take a voltage reading with the bike not running, it should be 12.4 or so volts. Then take a voltage reading with the bike running at 4k to 5k rpm. You should have a reading in the area of 13 to 15 volts. If you still have battery voltage or less, then you've got an issue with the charging system. Most likely the RR, but you need to go through the charging system to make sure nothing else was damaged. There is a three prong connector (look for yellow wires) for the stator under the seat and just forward of the battery. Look to see if this connection is cooked. If it is, you'll need to replace it. Also check the connector at the RR itself. This connector will show signs of overheating too.
Check the ohms of the stator between the yellow wires from the RR connector (If good). You should get .1 - 1. ohm (A&B, B&C, A&C). If you get a reading outside of this, your stator is bad. You will also need to make sure none of the yellow wires have continuity to ground. If you do, you're stator is bad. It also wouldn't hurt to put your battery under a load test just to make sure it's not bad. A bad battery can show 12v+, but will not hold up to a load. A bad battery can cause an RR to burn up because it's always working to charge the battery.

Green = - (Ground)
Red/White = +
Yellow = Charging Line

 

sounds exactly like what was happening to me... it was my starter motor...

 

Starter is shot no biggie

 

^ If that's the case, hardest part is getting to it. Once you're there, just a bolt and it slide right out. If you do replace starter motor with a used one, check to make sure the o-ring on the replacement motor isn't hard and flat. The o-rings on these things are in the are of 12 years old and the o-rings just get old. It's only a couple bucks to replace the o-ring if it's bad.

 

Sounds like way too general a problem to be making haphazard diagnoses with such little info and investigation done (i.e. bad starter). Imo, it doesn't sound like a starter problem at all... as OP seems to believe as well.

Do like Kuro said --charging system tests. You may just have a shoddy battery.

Also... if you're having to crank it 10-12 times to start it you may not even be having a problem. Our batteries certainly aren't the strongest things ever and cranking that much could easily drain a full battery. If you go out and ride it once it's up and running does she charge up fine? You may not have a problem at all, except the amount of cranking you're having to do to cold start the bike. I know I run my battery down pretty good to get her up and warm on the colder mornings and that combined with an old/weak battery may be what's getting you.

p.s. Don't go start switching out parts... as with most problems on our bikes, this could be symptomatic of any number of issues -- assuming there is an issue at all. Do your testing ahead of time and get a good solid idea of where you're either losing battery juice or not getting enough charge back to your battery or whatever your problem might be before you start throwing parts at it unnecessarily. There's nothing worse that throwing a few hundred bucks in R/R, Stator, Starter, whatever to find out you've got a poorly grounded wire somewhere. Do proper legwork up front.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5CZuKTrJpn8

The vid is just after i got home from a quick ride so its all warm its been sitting about 20 mins as i stripped some bits of the bike again.

I need a battery for my f4 so gunna get that next week and throw it in the f3 see if that help but my optimate trickle charger sais the battery is as if new and the batterys only 9 months old, and no its not been sitting i've ridden it every day even in the snow.

Starter solinoid is clicking so i personaly doubt it is that but i could of course be wrong, i've cleaned a few conections, not done them all yet, my bet is the starter motor but my doubts are caused by the fact it does eventually start were as my last starter motor that went wouldnt turn no matter how many times you tried.

Thanks for the suggestions before i pay for started motor, stators and R/R i will get a mate to test the charging system for me.

 

walmart sells an awesome motorcycle charger for 20 bucks, worked like a dream for me. the winter can be hard on batteries, but if your alternator is working fine and you ride it a decent amount you should be fine.

sounds like the starter to me.