Battery Maintenance

[brentg]

Over the winter I bought a used 2014 Husqvarna FE350. I am new to the world of fuel injection and batteries and no kick start. Yesterday my bike died at the top of Razorback ridge. There really wasn't any warning. It was running, then I stopped, then it wouldn't start. No slow turn over, no click, no nothing. We checked fuses and connections and couldn't find anything so I decided to bump it and head home. It took forever to bump and it would run for a while and then die again. I did manage to coast / ride it back. When I got home I pulled the battery and charged it a bit. Bike fired right up. I’m going to put in a new battery and I am going to get the starter tested before I ride again. My questions are related to maintaining these things. Do you guys use battery tenders? How often do replace batteries? Do you carry jumper cables of some sort? Anything else I should have asked before getting stranded in the bush?
Thanks.

[wheels13]

Test your charging system after you put a new battery in it or a battery that is know to be good, system might not be charging or overcharging.

[giantjoe]

Is it actually charging? Can you use the old (farmer's truck) method of removing the positive terminal while running to see if it's creating electricity (keeps running)?

[brentg]

I just checked the charge system and it seems to be working. Hooked a meter across the battery terminals. 12.6V sitting, 10.5V starting and 14.2V above idle. I reved it a couple times and let it drop back to idle and it pretty much stayed at 14.2V. It actually seemed to start better than it ever has. Maybe just a combination of dirty terminals (they looked clean, but I brushed them anyways) and a weak battery?

[Brass]

For reference, I only get 1 1/2 - 2 years from a stock battery. Vibration seems to kill them pretty fast. The stock version isn't very expensive, I'm not sure it's worthwhile going to a fancy super light weight battery or not, maybe it is for bikes without a kick start?

[brentg]

That's good to know Brass. Guess my battery death isn't atypical. I was thinking maybe I needed the expensive battery, or maybe a kick start kit. I think I am going to get this instead.

http://thepowerall.com/index.php?route= ... uct_id=101" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Might be worth keeping in my pack and would also be handy around the campsite.

[axel99]

Bikes have a couple of electrical subsystems that are supplied power by various coils on the stator (ignition and lighting). All current coming off the stator is AC. You can indentify the ingition coil windings by the finer copper wire. The AC lighting subsystem is further broken down to a seperate DC circuit by a rectifier.

There is also a voltage regulator on the fronside of the lighting electrical system that prevent the AC or DC voltage at higher RPM exceeding about 14v. Looks like you regulator and rectifier are working properly. Don't bother fooling around with the starter yet, it most likley fine.

I think the fuel injected bikes use a capacitor to gather enough current at turn over to fire the fuel pump so the battery can be dead and bike will still bump or kick start fine, I really am not sure about this. Just makes sense to me on FI bikes.

I set up a pigtail with a cheap keyed 2 terminal molex connector on my battery tender. Placed the connector in the airbox. Pooly maintained lead/acid batteries sulfate if left in the cold to run down over the winter. I think you will find there is a small but constant draw on the battery when the bike is not running (not that this is the problem). The new light weight batteries have awesome performace and easily chop 2-3 pounds of weight where it makes a difference. I usuall get a year out of a lead/acid and my shorai is going on 2 years and I hope to get 3 or 4 years out of it on a 450EXC. It would be unacceptable to me, If the bike is not designed to run with a dead or disconnected battery.

I think the battery is toast or you are running to many accessories (fan, heated grips, cigarette lighter, tassimo, portable DVD player, curling iron) at the same time.

[brentg]

I think the battery is toast or you are running to many accessories (fan, heated grips, cigarette lighter, tassimo, portable DVD player, curling iron) at the same time.

Great info and thanks but if you think I'm going to ride without hot coffee, cold beer, wavy hair and a good movie you had better think again! I mean come on, did we lose a war?

[Brass]

Someone correct me if I'm wrong but isn't a fully charged bike battery supposed to be 13.xx volts? I just replaced the battery in Anne's bike that was at 12.3v and wouldn't hold a charge more than a day. The stock battery was only about $55.

[cedric]

Axel I recall reading about guys rigging up a small harness to throw in the fanny pack to provide a capacitor to allow starting their efi KTMs in the event of a shorted out/toasted battery.

[axel99]

Axel I recall reading about guys rigging up a small harness to throw in the fanny pack to provide a capacitor to allow starting their efi KTMs in the event of a shorted out/toasted battery.

I guess, what makes sense to me...is not reality . Did some digging and it looks like the KTM FI pump need 9v minimum to start and run and there is a capacitor in the harness.
So a shorted battery can mean a long walk. Guess the FI bike riders better keep thier batteries well cared for. All the more reason to ditch the lead\acid or upgrade to kickstart and a carb.

[brentg]

Just replaced the battery. Brass, you are right about the voltage. My new Antigravity battery measured 13.6V. When starting the voltage barely changed and when running it slowly climbed to about 14.1V before stopping there. I opted for the more expensive and higher AH battery. I probably would have just gone OEM on a 2T, where worst case scenario is remembering how to kick. On a FI 4T though, I don't ever want to do the long walk of shame again.

Axel, that 9V to run also sounds exactly right. I had to be coasting downhill at a third gear pace in order to bump it and it took a couple of seconds before it would go. It would go for a while, then it would die. When it died, it felt exactly like running out of gas. Probably because that is exactly what was happening.

Lesson learned. I now have a new addition to my maintenance routine because I am not planning to go back to a carb

[malcolmzilla]

Brent, did you get the Antigravity locally? Have had new Shorai's go DOA twice now.
They are warrantying it but for the 570 with no kicker I'm leery now. Also time to fab some light booster cables.
Thanks.

[brentg]

Brent, did you get the Antigravity locally? Have had new Shorai's go DOA twice now.
They are warrantying it but for the 570 with no kicker I'm leery now. Also time to fab some light booster cables.
Thanks.

I got the 8Ah antigravity at Cycleworks. They have a bunch of them. As for boosters, check out the link I put in an earlier post. It's called a powerall. About the size of a couple of cell phones and they claim it can boost a truck. I ordered one yesterday.

[DavidNorona]

Get an earthx, they can't over charge or over discharge, need no special charger and last a long time. i use them in my sleds and dirt bikes and they work awesome