Anyone having battery/electrical issues?

[blholtz]

Is anyone else having any problems with the electrical system. Not sure if I have an anomoly on my hands or what.

I have had issues with it losing charge a month or two ago, had the battery checked and it was bad. Rplaced it and all was good for about a month to a month and a half.

Now I'm back to the same thing: Two weeks ago after it sat for a week went to fire it up and no JUICE. Got it started at a race by jump starting, let it run for a while and all was good for the rest of the day.

The following week fired it up in the garage too warm up the oil before doing an oil change and again all was good.

This Saturday went to a race fired up all was good till half way through the first moto, I high sided a berm, got stuck and it stalled while I pulled it off the berm, went to fire it back up and again no JUICE. Got it jumped again and let it run and had no issues in the second moto.

This morning went to another race, (harescramble actually) fired up t

his morning cold, ran the parade lap came back, topped off the tank and went to the starting line. For those that don't know Harescrambles are dead engine starts. The starter threw the flag and again now JUICE.

So that blew the race and the whole morning.

Got it home in the garage, grabbed my volt meter and the battery had 12.53 volts, put it on the charge on a 2 amp charge for an hour and the battery read 13.18 volt and now has held constant at 12.92 volts.

The charging system is working fine it pushing about 14.5 volts at the teminals, which as far as I can remember is perfect.

Also checked to see if there was an amp draw on the battery with the key in the off position and nothing not even a microamp.

Thought it was the battery again, but it seems to be holding a charge.

Thought it might be the starter getting hot from the engine but this has happened to me both with a hot and a cold engine so that is out.

the only other thing is maybe the ground to the engine is not making good contact I am going to check that as soon as I submit this but can anyone else think of what I might be missing.

[tlronny]

Yes my friends had his battery replaced under warranty not long ago due to irregular starting.
Dont truly know what the fault was as it is working fine now but have heard that the auto decompression in the cams is sometimes not right and creates undue pressure on the starting system ?

[blholtz]

that would make sense as to why it happens with a hot or a cold engine I'll have to check the manual and see if this theory is the culprit.

But please everyone keep thinking and lets see if we can figure this out.

[blholtz]

Well nothing in the manual as to how the auto decompression work just that if it does not move freely replace the whole assembly.

Still could be the problem but the question is what is the fix?

[AL Elks]

Yep, I brought it up to my service manager when they were doing the frame recall. He said it started up for them.

If I let it sit for 2 weeks in a row it won't sart. I'm taking that baby in and they are definately changing the battery.

[blholtz]

Well this is the second battery in the machine so this one does not fall under the warranty.

I think that I might have smoked the other battery by leaving on a old battery charger that had no shut off on it.

The issue is that even this second battery is not starting the engine. I have checked everything electrical that I can think of.

The thought of the auto decompression not working right seems to be a serious possiblity. But the it looks to be centrifigal in nature so unless it sticks or something.

Unless I am missing something.

[AL Elks]

It wouldn't be the decomp. I have a high compression in my LTZ and it turns over just fine with the stock battery. The LTZ doesn't have a decomp on it (Hotcams).

I can hook jumper cables to it off of a portable jump battery I have and it fires right up.

[blholtz]

Kind of the same way i have been leaning but I can not find anything electrical that would cause the engine not to start.

I can't find anything that will explain the problem with the battery.

[tlronny]

The cams problem is purely intermittent in nature so it doesnt show up all the time - thats the trouble !

[AL Elks]

But that wouldn't explain what keeps killing a battery that has only been sitting for 2 weeks.

The problem some are having is that the decomp isn't working and it's hard to turn over and it's breaking a part in the starter.

[blholtz]

But if the decomp isn't working and the starter is can't push the piston past the comression stroke it would resemble the battery being low without enough charge to turn the engine over.

The only draw back to that scenario is the fact that if you hook a jump box, not jumper cables, it will turn the engine right over.

[AL Elks]

Not sure about yours but mine is definately a battery issue. If I hook my jump battery (one of those that is portable and has an air compressor also) to it it fires right up every time. If it was the decomp it woud still turn over slowly but that's not happening.

Also after I ride it for a while I never have a problem.

[blholtz]

That's what mine is doing as well. The part that kills me is the fact that it did it to in the middle of a moto when the engine had been running hard and the charging system was doing its job.

[416exbadasrider]

i have trouble starting mine when it gets hot sometimes
i have to keep turning it over and it will start but then i give it gas and it dies then i let it sit for a couple minutes and it fires right up
i dont know if it could be a battery issue cuz i left my key on one night and came out then next day and the battery was dead so i cought it in gear and rode it till the batery charged and ever since then it does it could i have hurt the battery maybe?

[kbass24emtp]

Originally posted by AL Elks
Not sure about yours but mine is definately a battery issue. If I hook my jump battery (one of those that is portable and has an air compressor also) to it it fires right up every time. If it was the decomp it woud still turn over slowly but that's not happening.

Also after I ride it for a while I never have a problem.

Looks like you need a new battery. One thing you might want to try is to see if the battery has a draw on it while it is off. Also I really don't know how it works, but also turn the run switch on your handle bars to the off position. My old 300ex would sometimes eat up a battery while sitting and after turning off the key and the run switch, it never killed the battery while sitting again.

[blholtz]

Ok more info on this.

I checked everything possible on the machine to find a problem, found nothing.

I recharged the battery and left it set disconnected form the bike for two weeks and it held a charge. Put the battery back in the quad and tried to fire it up and it did not have enough power tp turn the engeine over.

Had the battery checked and even though it held a full charge it would not put out enough amperage to turn the starter over.

So the theory on the problem must be the correct answer and I am still working on it.

1. I have had bad luck with two bad batteries.

2. The vibration and beating the quad takes is killing the battery.

3. The charging system is over charging the battery and
destroying the battery.

Going to do some checking in the shop manual today to see if I can find away to check the voltage regulator if it even has one that is, not even sure if it does yet but still working on it.

Any one else in this boat with me.

[rummerd]

I would think if your voltage regulator was bad, you would be blowing light bulbs or at least have some pulsing going on(lights bright then dim)

[blholtz]

not a bad idea if not for one thing, my lights have been disconnected since I got the quad.

But that would be a quick check to see just plug them in and test it.

I found the info needed to test the rgulator/rectifier, will let every one know how things go as soon as I get the chance to get at it and check.

[dvx rider1]

I've just noticed the exact same problem, thought maybe I had left the switch on the first time it happened, now I just charge it before I race. I'm gonna try keeping the run switch off and see if that helps.