battery problems...

[DSH]

Would really appreciate any input and suggestions on how to diagnose what's causing the problems as well as how to fix them. Below is the synopsis:

This saturday I was participating in a group ride with my '01 R6. During this ride I experienced an issue w/ battery power. Upon stopping for lunch after 1.5hrs of riding and some rain, my bike wouldn't turn over. My voltmeter indicated a low charge. I thought it peculiar as I'd been riding for a good 1hr at least. After doing a rolling start I was able to travel another 20mi, as I slowed to make another stop I noticed my speedometer was blanked out. The bike wouldn't start again, I noticed the headlights were dim and the guy trailing me said he noticed my brakelights were flickering as I approached the stop. One more rolling start and I was off and moving…400ft later the speedo blanked out, I had the throttle cracked wide open but I was getting no acceleration. The bike just went dead on me.

Upon returning home I charged up my battery to 12V, stuck it back in the bike and it started. I watched the voltmeter as the battery was off, 12V, with engine one, 12.2V, then I started revving the engine to about 3k and the voltmeter showed that the battery was taking a charge. WTF!?!?!?!??!!?

Some theories I have: 1) before the ride I had disconnected my after mkt alarm. I don't know how it works or what cables I really should disconnect but I was remembering how some car alarms will prevent you from starting the engine if you don't have the right wires removed/connected. 2) rain shorted something out or caused some connection issues therefore affecting the battery power. 3) battery is old 4) alternator/regulator/restrictor needs replacing.

Mostly I'm afraid that the alternator/regulator/etc needs replacing. It's not something any of the shops here can get done for me to be ready for Pocono this w/e. I want to say this isn't the cause mainly due to the fact the voltmeter is showing that I'm taking a charge when I revved the engine. I bought a brand new battery yest, found a shop in CT 1hr away that's open on SUNDAYS. The other possibility is that the hackjob done w/ this after mkt alarm is somehow, somewhere affecting power supply. What do you think? Pls help.

[Cakes206]

When you took the battery out to charge it, were the + and - cables tight?

[DSH]

When you took the battery out to charge it, were the + and - cables tight?

if you mean tightly secured to the batter then yes, embarrassingly enough i've experienced that and have been very careful to tighten up the screws. thx

[RCM78]

What was the voltage at the battery when you revved it to 3k??

Sounds like a typical rectifier regulator problem...

[DSH]

What was the voltage at the battery when you revved it to 3k??

Sounds like a typical rectifier regulator problem...

voltmeter read 12.6 after revving.

if it is a rectifier regulator problem, what course of action would you advise I take? thanks

[Shelly]

I had a somewhat similar problem w/ my bike not starting out of the blue one day. I traced wire coming from ignition switch and reseated the connection and that did the trick for me :) might've gotten knocked loose somewhere along the way for me. Just my 5 cents but hope it helps. Here's my thread I posted up and got some other pointers for things to check...
http://sportbikeaddicts.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3191
~Shel

[Shelly]

You can also get some advice from Ron @ WCW too...

[DSH]

You can also get some advice from Ron @ WCW too...

Thank you Shelly, I did read your post re: problems starting. Was helpful.

[Cakes206]

voltmeter read 12.6 after revving.

After or during? I think it should read 14.something during the revs.

[DSH]

After or during? I think it should read 14.something during the revs.

during the revvs it read 12.6. i'm sure if i let it rev for more than 5min it'd go to 13V. i turned everything off, went to get a drink of water, came back and when i powered it back on the voltmeter read 12.2V.

[ImmaSquashYou]

Your system is NOT charging properly. It should read somewhere around high 14's i believe. At least thats in the car. I had a dead battery, i believe it was like frakenstein where its been dead n brought back to life. I had problems starting it because it wouldn't hold the charge for a long time n when i idled for too long, it just killed the battery. But it would be fine if i just keep on riding without the battery sit for too long. BTW, you have a stator n rotor, not an alternator. Main difference between these things is that the alternator charges even when ur in idle, and stator and rotor does not, only after 3k rpms. I havent' dealt with stator/rotor problems on hand, but they shouldn't go bad. like rcm said, probably a rectifire problem. All that a stator n rotor is made of is wires and a magnet that spin n creates a field of energy, but i don't go into exactly how it works since it'll probably take days

[Cakes206]

during the revvs it read 12.6. i'm sure if i let it rev for more than 5min it'd go to 13V.
It should jump up to 14.whatever pretty quick. Also, check all your igntion saftey cut off connections, i.e. side stand switch, clutch lever switch, red kill switch, bank angle sensor...it seams like you were having the issue when the bike was moving? vibrations + loose connections can = headaches.

[DSH]

Your system is NOT charging properly...

Thanks, that's really good to know. How do i determine exactly if i need to replace the rectifier? Should i just head over to my nearest yamaha mechanic? any suggestions for one w/i 15min of 06831? thx

[ImmaSquashYou]

well, in a car with alternator, there is a voltage recgulator and a alternator brush. The alternator brush is usually what needs to be replaced. THe rectifier is basically what that is in a sense (not really tho). but i would def go to the dealership and tell them that its not chraging due to the rectifier and ask them how much is it going to be replaced. Or if u have a hanynes manual, see how hard it is to do urself. buy the part and see if that fixes it. I don't believe that any other wires such as the kill switch n everything might come into play since u are testing this over the battery terminals. then again, i might be wrong. I would check to see if the wires to the stator/rotor are ok. rectifier should be a cheap part, but then again, its the labor that is expensive.

[Cakes206]

How do i determine exactly if i need to replace the rectifier? Should i just head over to my nearest yamaha mechanic?
SHould be able to put a meeter on connection out of the rectifier.

[Shelly]

no prob, NE time, I always appreciate gettin' others advice so it' nice to try to give back if/when I can :)

Thank you Shelly, I did read your post re: problems starting. Was helpful.

[ffejtable]

As everybody else said when revving the engine, the volts should be 13.5v+, really depends on the bike/car, and any service manual worth anything should have that in there.

Its probably the regulator/rectifier.... If you know anybody with the same bike perhaps you could borrow theirs for a few to see if it fixes the problem.. :)

[DSH]

Thx Jeff. Not a bad idea, unfortunately I know no one that rides up here in CT.

I spoke to Ron this morning and he thinks it's a regulator/rectifier problem. He says it's an easy thing to fix on your own. I hope that's the case.

[RCM78]

Yup, Go buy a new reg/rect and replace it. You should be good to go...

[Ripp53]

before you go out and buy anything i have a little fault finding chart that you can use to check your charging system. give me your e-mail and i'll send it to you. i would have up load it but the file is to big

[DSH]

Thanks everyone for all your helpful input on the subject. Tuesday night i struggled through 2hrs of traffic to get to Libby's Motorworld, http://libbysmotoworld.com/directions.htm, the only store in the tri-state area that had the regulator/rectifier in stock. All other shops were going to charge me 100+ in next day shipping. Ron couldn't even guarantee that i'd get it in time through him.

Last night I remove my tank and had a hell of a time disconnecting the regulator/rectifier, upon closer examination one of the prongs on the cable connection looks to have burnt out and MELTED the plastic thus fusing the two parts together. How something like that happens I've no clue. Why I didn't have the foresight to try disconnecting the regulator/rectifier BEFORE going to buy the new part I have no good excuse. i'd like to take comfort in rationalizing that the oversight was inevitable, as I was so pressed for time but in all honesty, it was just plain stupid of me.

so there i was last night, sitting on the cold floor of the garage, the buzzing of flourescent lights above me, hating myself and despising even more the shady russian that sold me this troublesome bike. I soon recounted all the good times had on this, my almost first bike. Images of Pocono East, VIR, country roads and girls in bikinis streamed past my mind's eye and I began apologizing to the R6 for calling her "troublesome".

I don't believe anyone would have this cable in stock, although i will be calling to check today, so as a quick fix i thought i could fashion some rudimentary way of connecting the new regulator/rectifier to the power source. considering that one prong was burnt to hell, covered in melted plastic and any exposed wiring corroded like crazy, i was thinking of how to make it all work. i plan a quick trip to the hardware store today to find the wiring parts i need. i'll keep you posted on my misadventures.

[Ripp53]

i had the same problem on my bike.here is what to do.

go to the auto part store and get male and female wire connector.
match up the wires.
after you see what wire go towhat wire.cut the wire and the matching wire.(only do 1 set at a time so you don't mismatch the wires)
put the wirer connects on them then put them togetter.
repete as needed for the rest of the wires.

[DSH]

i had the same problem on my bike.here is what to do.

go to the auto part store and get male and female wire connector.
match up the wires.
after you see what wire go towhat wire.cut the wire and the matching wire.(only do 1 set at a time so you don't mismatch the wires)
put the wirer connects on them then put them togetter.
repete as needed for the rest of the wires.

Cool, thanks for the suggestion. Think i should go and get a new cable connector as well for future replacement? Any suggestions on what i can do to protect the connection from burning up and melting to hell again?

[RAC]

Throw some headlight bulb grease on it.

[DSH]

Throw some headlight bulb grease on it.

hehe...bulb grease...

[RAC]

It will work.

[Cakes206]

The alarm might of been the cause, or part of the cause. Is there any other aftermarket electrical stuff on the bike? I can see how it happened to ripp...his bike is like a rolling light show, lol.

Tip for when splicing wires, be sure to use solder and shrink tubing.

[RAC]

The alarm might of been the cause, or part of the cause. Is there any other aftermarket electrical stuff on the bike? I can see how it happened to ripp...his bike is like a rolling light show, lol.

Tip for when splicing wires, be sure to use solder and shrink tubing.

I go through a shit load of solder and heat shrink. Great stuff!!!

[DSH]

Yamaha OEM regulator/Rectifier - $79.99
Gardner Bender 16-14 gauge Vinyl Insulated Female Spade Terminal - $0.97
12in of 16 guage vinyl insulated wire - $0.34
Hitting on cute cashier whilst she handles my 12 inches of cable - Free
Ideal Wire-nut Wire Connectors - $1.22

Spending 2hrs fabricating a new connection for your Regulator/Rectifier that was burnt to hell all thanks to one overweight, greasy Russian and then accepting it was all a blessing in disguise because you actually learned a little something more about motorcycles...

Priceless

[Shelly]

Agreed...you can never learn too much :)

...Spending 2hrs fabricating a new connection for your Regulator/Rectifier that was burnt to hell all thanks to one overweight, greasy Russian and then accepting it was all a blessing in disguise because you actually learned a little something more about motorcycles...

Priceless

[DSH]

Once again I wanted to thank you guys for your helpful comments. I made it to my trackday on Saturday and despite the rain, was able to ride, learn and have a great time w/ friends.

[Cakes206]

Once again I wanted to thank you guys for your helpful comments. I made it to my trackday on Saturday and despite the rain, was able to ride, learn and have a great time w/ friends.
Cool deal :thumbup: