No nothing

[NotaGoth]

Ok.. First off...

Yesterday CBobR road over my way so we could go out and do the Bays Road.... Sweet.. Checked I had enough fuel.. Checked my oil.. Everything was sweet... Got all geared up, went to start the bike.. And nope.. Nothing... Not even a cough...

Mum came out and had a look, tried kicking my bike over.. Again.. Nothing.. Yes the key was on btw!!! Checked my lights, nothing... No lights on the little display... "Your batteries dead" Gah!!!!! After my tanty I called Wayne to let him know what had happened... He came round and erm.. Managed to kick my bike over which is normally fairly easy for me to start... at this stage I had no light on the display to let me know if I was in nuetral etc etc..

Sweet we're on our way... Got my gear on.. Got to the bottom of my driveway, by this time my bike had cut out... Managed to get it going again and off we went...

Just as we turned off onto the Bays Road I Noticed my indicators weren't working... Fantastic!!!!!!! Kept riding... The lights on the display started to show but barely.. You'd have to really squint to actually see it..

Got my bike back to my partners place safely..

He's pulled the battery out and checked that it was ok... It was lacking water, all cells were low and one was very low.. Its been topped up, and put on the charger over night.. Put it back in the bike this morning.. Turned the key.. No lights on the display... Kicking the bike over... Wallah!!!!!!!! Bright green light to say its in nuetral.. Headlights.. Yup.. Thats great!!!

Indicators..................... Mmm seem they are stuck on the no blinky thing... Noticed at this stage the headlight had started flickering.. Light on the display started to go low.. Turned the throttle... Everything starts lighting up and going bright again with no flickering...

We're gonna check tonight to make sure the batteries holding its charge to completely iliminate that problem.. Specially since the battery had lack of water in it..

CBobR mentioned it could be wiring.. I'll be honest that the bike was out in the recent heavy rain that we had.. So I've been told to give it time to dry out incase theres water in any of the connections..

It just doesn't seem like the bikes getting a regular flow of electricity... Best way I can expain...

Any thoughts or help would be appreciated before I push my bike off our retaining wall...

[MSTRS:Me]

I'd say that the battery is one step removed from being toast...BUT...the magneto/generator/alternator thingy is also in a sad state. Get it checked for voltage output.
See, the thing is, the battery is only a storage device and the volts have gotta come from somewhere to start with.

[What?]

Assuming the battery is OK, check the earth strap - that's the big cable from the (-) end of the battery - to where it attaches to the frame. It might be loose. If that's cool, check the wiring from the (+) battery terminal to the ignition switch for loose connectors or broken wires. Also check that the main fuse is not loose in it's contacts.
If no problems found, the next step is to by-pass the ignition switch and see if that helps matters (and check the pins on the bottom of the ignition switch as these sometimes get pulled loose as a result of a the wiring loom being too short to cater for full steering lock)
I suspect that you will find the problem somewhere in those 3 bits - if not, take it to a shop. As MSTRS says, the reg/rec could be stuffed which has, in turn, stuffed the battery.

[MSTRS:Me]

Just got told that Chickadee's RG runs perfectly with no battery at all, and has done for ages. Seems to me that the (alternator?) responsible for creating the lecky is faulty

[Coyote]

MAKE SURE you have a fuse above the battery and that it isn't broken. I ran my RG without a fuse there (as I didn't know better) and I blew the regulator and CDI. I was lucky enough that there was a CDI and regulator from the one seller on trademe. Got both for $100 after Wellington Motorcycles said it'd cost $760 for a new CDI alone

[Coyote]

Just got told that Chickadee's RG runs perfectly with no battery at all, and has done for ages. Seems to me that the (alternator?) responsible for creating the lecky is faulty

Let this be a warning:

A wee bit of theory :

A bike alternator , in the absence of anything else , will produce some very high voltages . 20 to 30 volts typically.

We only want about 13 and a bit to run things and charge the battery.

Normally the alternator current (after being turned into DC) is fed to the battery. The battery is a big "sink" that "absorbs" the current. To make sure that the battery doesn't get over charged, there is a voltage regulator. This "shunts off" any voltage once the battery is fully charged.

When you run without the battery , all the alternator current is directly fed through to the regulator. Do that for too long , and the regulator gives up the unequal struggle and dies. Now, the whole 30 odd volts is fed into the bikes electrical system. The CDI unit (and other stuff) that is designed to run at 12 volts is suddenly getting hit with 30 volts. So after a bit, it too dies.The DCI unit will usually be the first to go, since it is full of transistors and other delicate whizzy stuff. No CDI unit, no spark. Or feak and weeble ones. Bike, him no go.

(Purists will note that I've simplifed things abit. It's a bit more complex, but that's the general idea)

This is what happened to me

[crashe]

Hmmmmm ...
Bike wouldnt start... SNAP.
Jump start it and then it runs fine... SNAP.
Bike won't start... SNAP.
Check battery and the water levels.... OOPSIE.
No water or very little water in the battery... SNAP.
Add more distilled water to the battery... SNAP.
Bike runs well... SNAP.
Bike wont start... SNAP.
Buy new battery....... bike works wonderfully again.

If the water gets too low in the battery you are farking up the battery cells.
Well thats what I got told.

Cost me a new battery and charging it for 16 to 20 hours (cheers inlinefour for the battery charger).
Added in the acid myself, as I brought it home on the back of the bike... in the backpack. The shop didnt want me to have a accident and end up spilling the acid every where. Easy as to put in the acid.


Memo to oneself *check the battery level every month* not like once in 4 years.

[HenryDorsetCase]

the battery seems to be the culprit for my bike not starting also. Its one of those sealed jobs and looks very new indeed. the lesson for me was just cos it looks new and shiny doesnt mean its working well. Wonder if we can get a buy one get one free deal on batteries anywhere.

[cowpoos]

my 2c....sounds nothing like a battrey playing up....sounds like a lose earth conection or another connection of sorts...

[NotaGoth]

I'd say that the battery is one step removed from being toast...BUT...the magneto/generator/alternator thingy is also in a sad state. Get it checked for voltage output.
See, the thing is, the battery is only a storage device and the volts have gotta come from somewhere to start with.

Got a call from my partner about an hour ago... A guy he works with is into bikes and apparently used to ride with my old man back in the day..

Gonna ride out there tomorrow so the sparky can check the battery and the voltage output...

We did start to wonder if it was to do with the alternator/regulator.. Only based on what a car of Dans did when the alternator crapped out... Similar thing with the lights, display etc etc..

[NotaGoth]

Assuming the battery is OK, check the earth strap - that's the big cable from the (-) end of the battery - to where it attaches to the frame. It might be loose. If that's cool, check the wiring from the (+) battery terminal to the ignition switch for loose connectors or broken wires. Also check that the main fuse is not loose in it's contacts.
If no problems found, the next step is to by-pass the ignition switch and see if that helps matters (and check the pins on the bottom of the ignition switch as these sometimes get pulled loose as a result of a the wiring loom being too short to cater for full steering lock)
I suspect that you will find the problem somewhere in those 3 bits - if not, take it to a shop. As MSTRS says, the reg/rec could be stuffed which has, in turn, stuffed the battery.

First thing we did when we popped the seat off was check for any loose or broken wires.. Will have a good look again this afternoon incase there is something that we may have missed...

Fuse isn't loose in its contacts..

By pass the ignition switch and check the pins... Ok something we haven't yet been told to check.. Will do that also this afternoon and see what we come up with..

Trying to avoid the shop just incase its something simple... If we can't find anything thats definately where its going..

[NotaGoth]

MAKE SURE you have a fuse above the battery and that it isn't broken. I ran my RG without a fuse there (as I didn't know better) and I blew the regulator and CDI. I was lucky enough that there was a CDI and regulator from the one seller on trademe. Got both for $100 after Wellington Motorcycles said it'd cost $760 for a new CDI alone

Fuse looks in good form..

[NotaGoth]

Let this be a warning:

This is what happened to me

So if the bikes running sparky would be able to pick up on wether there is to higher voltage output...? Which if so would mean that this is whats going on..?

This in turn if its a possibility it may not be a good idea to ride it all the way there to be checked..?

[Paul in NZ]

Before you do any electrical diagnosis....... On anything.... You MUST start with a battery that you know is 100% up to the job!

A simple battery charger and a cheap hydrometer is a great investment (get a little hydrometer the car ones need too much fluid to work)

Cheers

[NotaGoth]

Before you do any electrical diagnosis....... On anything.... You MUST start with a battery that you know is 100% up to the job!

A simple battery charger and a cheap hydrometer is a great investment (get a little hydrometer the car ones need too much fluid to work)

Cheers

I did hit the books last night and it did state anything electrical start with the battery first.. Have charged it but don't have a hydrometer to check it with and I can't get into town as I have no transport.. Will definately invest in one though..

We did wonder if the batteries poked... Mums done the same thing... Forgot to add water.. had to be replaced cause it wouldn't hold its charge anymore..

EDIT:

I had been for a ride earlier in the day.. When the battery was put on the charger it was low.. Sign its not holding its charge?