GN250 dies when electrics turned on. Help!

[El Lanzo]

Hey guys, don't know too much about bikes so need some help :/

so i just bought a Suzuki GN250 2004 which has done about 9,000km. First time i fired it up, i accidentally left the choke on for too long i think. Was trying to start it for a while, gave up, and then figured it must be the spark plug, so i changed that.

I tried starting it normally, wouldnt fire up, tried with choke and it worked (was just wondering if that was normal with a new spark plug?), then i just let it idle for a bit.

A few days later,i tried again, i think the battery had almost died. Had to push start it, which worked. Rode around a bit at night with stuff working fine. Went down to a car park just to practice my starts, bike died. Push started again, rode around some more (and i think the lighting looked dimmer?), and it would just cut out after a while.

After this, i had to keep push starting, but whenever i tried to chuck on the electrics, such as lights, or even a quick indicator flash, i could feel it about to die. Basically had to ride the 2 minutes home with no lights which wasn't too pleasing (not to mention dangerous).

Will probably take it down for a full service to cycletreads and change the crappy front tyre tomorrow if i have the dosh, but im afriad it'll cut out again as i try to ride down there lol.

Does anyone know wtf is goign on with my bike?

[reggietheduke]

hi mate sounds like your charging system not working start bike and put a volt meter across battery should have 13.5 to 14.5 volts probably regulator/rectifier kaput good luck check fuses also connections at battery and voltage regulator/rectifier wiring

[El Lanzo]

I dont get why the bike would die just because it cant power lighting though? :S

[onearmedbandit]

Instead of using the charging system to run the accessories, and keep power to the spark, it's relying on the battery to do so. So every little light etc drains power from your spark, causing your engine to almost die.

[Conquiztador]

I dont get why the bike would die just because it cant power lighting though? :S

The alternator is charging the battery, feeding lights and feeding your electrics that make the spark. If battery is too low on voltage, then when you turn on lights there is not enough umph in the alternator to charge battery, run lights AND give decent spark. Buy a $30 battery charger from Repco, charge up the battery while you sleep and you be laughing. Note: also check that the battery has right level of water in it.

If you charge up the battery and a little later same happens you are in for a new battery. Around $100 or so.

Good Luck

[El Lanzo]

wow thanks heaps for the replies. Didn't know it had to continously generate a spark, thought it just needed the initial spark (dunno if thats right? lol).

I'll go and get a charger tomorrow. I hope a good charging is all it needs :D

Cheers!

[El Lanzo]

What exactly battery charger do i need? Was looking online, and there seems to be a lot of variation, not sure which one i need.

Also, would it definitely be a battery problem, or could there be something else at work?

[Conquiztador]

Any of the cheaper 12 volt ones will do. They will not give too many Amp/hour charge and so there is no chance of killing the battery. (The lower the Amp/hour the longer it will take to charge the battery, but for a bike battery that is what you want, as the high A/h ones will charge it too fast and the chance of damaging it is high).

Disconnect the + wire from the battery to make sure you do not damage any electronic/electrical gizmos on the bike (unlikely and I have often charged with battery fully connected, but later model bikes I tend to be more careful as they have computers etc), then connect the charger to the battery.

Once the battery is charged three things can happen:

1. You are all sorted and everything works sweet.
2. Nothing changed. Battery is dying, get a new one.
3. Initially all is well, but after some riding same thing happens. Either battery is on its way out, you have a electrical problem that drains the battery, or your charging setup is not performing as it should. You get your self a new battery as it is something you can do. If still no joy you might want to ask someone with electrical knowledge to mesure up the bits as it is not too tricky to diagnose where the problem is if you know what you are looking for.

My money is on that chinese battery dying.

[El Lanzo]

hahah yeah i would probably agress based on the quality of the front tyre. Thanks heaps man!

[rogson]

Before buying a charger disconnect, clean and reconnect the battery terminals - and then see how it runs/behaves.

[notme]

http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=44070&d=1160988189

Follow the chart, it will give you the answer. You could end up buying a charger or new battery or whatever when you don't need to...