Bike Died on way home.

About a mile from my house I hit the turn signals and they wouldnt come on at all and I noticed the dash lights were really dim. I pulled bike up in driveway and opened garage door and it finally died with dim head lights and running rough. I pulled seat off and see I have some old cheap Wal Mart battery in there. It was also dry as a bone with no water left. So I am guessing its the battery. I have noticed that the lights dim when using the brake or turn signals the last couple of nights. I guess I will go grab a new battery tomorrow and hopefully she will fire back up.

I did add some water to the battery and the lights on dash etc got brighter and it tried to turn over almost. Before I added the water it wouldnt even try. So crossing my fingers it a craptastic cheap battery.

 

Buy sealed battery! Adding fluids acids are archaic.These days sealed batteries are dirt cheap.
I bought one from ebay new $40 free shipping.
Really happy with it.Holds juice real well and cranks strong.
YTZ12S for Battery Honda Shadow Interceptor Superhawk CBR1100XX Blackbird VFR800 | eBay
It was little short and I put some cardboard under.I got it in 3 days.

 

I am no expert but from similar experience check the reg/rec and not just fit a new battery, or that one will be toast also.

 

Don't just treat the symptoms - find the cause.

What cooked the battery? You may be yet another suffering from a duff RR.

I suggest you search on here for recent posts by Rubo - with a neat video showing how to check if your RR is working OK. Otherwise you could find your replacement battery will be cooked in no time.


Skimad4x4
Proud Member 6th Gen Militia #218 - European 1st Division

 

As the guys above said.. Check your R/R.. When it goes bad it can overcharge the battery and that can overheat it, and cause the fluid to evaporate.. Try to start somehow your bike, and than measure with voltmeter how much does it charge..

 

Measure your volts across the battery at 4000rpm and if you're above 14.4ish you're overcharging and the new battery will get cooked as well. A lot of R/R's are biting the dust this summer.

 

yeh and make sure you charge your new battery too! I use an Optimate Battery trickle (float) style charger. If you just fire that thing in there and dont charge it, you take 20% of the life of the battery away.

 

I will have to go buy a multimeter as I dont have one. That being said I just replaced the R/R last month with one from Wire My Bike. The battery is at least 6 years old I found the reciept in my service records from PO. And its clearly the cheapest battery you can get at Walmart not even sealed etc. Ill double check but I am sure its the battery.

 

Im gonna go with this one.

Also, FYI, batteries are severely under appreciated. a 6 yr old motorcycle battery, just now going out... sounds like was either expertly maintained, or a super awesome battery.

Pluggin my own thread, I know, its shameful...
Ghost talks about Batteries

 

I threw in the new battery after I peaked it on trickle and she fired right back up. I am going to check with my multimeter next. Do I set it to DC or AC when the bike is running sorry I am a noob when it comes to electrical stuff on bikes etc.

 

Hey guys well more bad news I guess. I got the only multimeter I could buy and its got an analog needle on it so its a bit tricky to read. I used DC when checking the voltage I hope thats correct. The battery appears to be around 12.5V but as soon as I start the bike it goes down around 11V. No matter how much I rev the bike it stays right there at around 11. I guess I will try and peak the battery again and see if its not just sucking up all the Voltage from the bike. But I guess I am not getting any charge or not enough.

 

looks like a classic case of regulator failure.Your battery is not getting any juice from the stator.
Read this thread carefully.Videos for testing and replacement R/R
http://vfrworld.com/forums/5th-gene...how-fix-common-regulator-stator-failures.html
PS Harbor fright has inexpensive digital multimeter.Less then $15.....

 

Ya I went ahead and followed my service manual. I kept my old OEM R/R and am glad I did. The bike does jump from about 12.5V to 13V with the old R/R. With the new one from Wire my Bike it seems pretty flat. First thing tomorrow I am going to go find a digital multimeter so I can be more precise in my numbers for you guys. I did check the old R/R Ohm and it seems in spec still.

I checked the plug into the R/R and it seems the Stator wires are really low resistance? I will double check tomorrow with a better multimeter but seemed like they were .1 - .3 Ohm if you when yellow to yellow on any mix of them. I will also pull off the mid fairing tomorrow and check the plug coming off the Stator.

Edit: After reading the guide I see less than 1Ohm is good on these stator wires. Will check further up the line. Is that 30A fuse buy the battery capable of causing this?

 

Out of boredom I went ahead and checked the Stator plug under the mid fairing it was clean and unburnt. I checked the AC Output from the R/R plug and it was from 20V to 50V+ on all connections. So right on.

So I dug through the manual some more an saw that 30Amp Main Fuse. I pulled that out of the rubber mount and pulled the connector to find it was cooked. So I am hoping the VFRness harness has this plug? And that this is the source of my issues with little to no charging since it seems this is the last stop before the battery.

 

Read the thread I started.http://vfrworld.com/forums/5th-gene...how-fix-common-regulator-stator-failures.html
lot more options.Nothing wrong with VFRness but if you really want bullet proof system you got to go with mosfet regulator and get solid Metri-Pack 630 plug.
link is in the thread.Just read the thread please.You'll find better options for less.

 

You will not get a new plug! if you go with that set-up, me thinks your gona get modified spade connectors to go on the end of your wires, at that point, you will plug in the appropriate colour wire to its matching spade (you did make a diagram of colours before you started right>?)

Your bikes looks like a nice low mileage unit, alot of current goes thru that starter relay, mine was totally fried, hence the new oem honda part. I cut back my wires and soldered and re-connected the wires to their home. No-Prob, no experience with that vfr-ness. I would check your connections from your stator as if that plug is fried and any of those wires touch each-other, your gona be fucked (as in, buying a new stator) I have a fairly new oem stator which ended up taking a shit way before the dreaded r/r decided to go.

Jeez, you know they call em a digital multi-meter for a reason! Where did you buy your analog one? Salvation Army? :tongue: You can get a half arse one for $20.00 me thinks. Your battery was older than god too, mines are at least at 12.60 with the bike off and key out of ignition. Bastardizing the Queens language is funnin...

 

Batteries should always be checked on DC - is the acronym for Direct Current. And AC is Alternating Current.

Heres a little googling to help if you like.
What does AC DC stand for

All batteries are Direct Current. Meaning when you turn on your key, there is power (electrons) being sent one direction... In your homes, and at work, there is AC current. Meaning the electrons travel in both directions.

Your battery puts out DC power. However your Stator puts out AC power.

Motorcycles used to have TWO little boxes in the electrical circuit, YEARS ago. One was a power rectifier.. the other was a power regulator. Some Genius got the idea to put these two devices into one electrical component. The Regulator / Rectifier, regulates the DC voltage, and rectifies the AC voltage into DC to help charge your battery as the engine (stator) turns. The R/R should put out anywhere from 13v to 14.4v DC.. (I.e. more than 12v DC), to effectively charge, and maintain your battery during operation.

Heres what the symbols look like (typically)

^ Looks like a spot on diagnosis right there. I'll add to Rubo's thread with this one... its a less technical version for the average rider.
Ghost says "Lets learn about R/Rs"


Edited* oh and by the way, just because Honda manufacturers are shifty and cheap, and expect the riders are stupid.. dont be. They are aware of key, potentially walk home failures that exist in bikes main systems. Lack of dielectric grease in the connectors of high amperage and voltage circuit bridges is an electrical engineering 101 no no. Do yourself a favor and get some dielectric grease, and put it in your connector when you replace it with the new unit. You'll thank me later. Oh yeah, and if you want to ensure you get the spade connector in good interference for a sure connection... you need to use a pair of needle-nose pliers and gently... GENTLY! twist each blade no more than 5° from co-planar. Anymore than 5° and now the interference is so great, it alters the pull force of the blade, as well as removes the pin plating so much that the bare copper is exposed.
..Little twist, and some grease... and you'll likely never have to replace a R/R again.

 

This is directly from the wiremybike site.

VFRness for 1990-1997 VFR. This item, similar to the well known VFRNess from the 5th and 6th Generation bikes helps resolves charging issues common with the VFR associated with poor wiring.

It features

12 gauge wires from R/R to stator plug, with new plug installed
10 gauge Positive wire from R/R to new Fuse Connector (20 amp fuse installed)
12 gauge wire for starter relay wire replacement.
10 gauge ground wire, 18" long to directly connect to battery. Poor grounding causes excess heat and is the main killer of R/R's in these years.
New R/R connector to replace OEM connector. This hard to find part is the most costly portion of the harness.
Also included is a Starter Relay repair kit. Although not a direct replacement(it doesn't cover the fuse anymore), this is the perfect way to kill 2 birds with 1 stone....repair the R/R wiring and the Starter Relay wiring at the same time! 4" wires (green, yellow, red) are included with butt connectors and heat shrink to repair the original starter relay wires(if needed). These wires come with the butt connectors soldered to one end already. Solder is also included.

All told this is the inclusive kit to repair all aspects of your charging systems wiring!



I'm just a messenger.

 

Thanks.

I got the analog because again thats all I could find at that time at night. It also works just fine. Just not as easy to get the .x Volts. I have two third gens and its pretty clear when my other one charges at revs it jumps a few V. On this one it just stays flat or goes lower under load.

I have to admit I have done alot with electronics in the past including soldering microcircuits but never rewiring anything on Cars or Bikes. I am leaning towards the VFRness because it seems to be plug and play. I understand there are some better systems out there but I dont feel I have the skill to install these and I dont want to damage the system anyworse due to my lack of knowledge I guess.

 

VFRNoob - With the VFRness, it is, technically, a plug and play. I'm not very mechanically inclined - oil changes are usually about as far as I go. So I understand where you're coming from.

When I did the VFRness (and R/R at the same time), my entire job was probably 3.5+ hours start to finish, however, I soldered the wires from the stator to the R/R because I felt more confident having it done that way. Mind you, I had to solder extension wires since my stator wires had been cut in the past and were too short, so I needed to solder 6 connections in lieu of only 3. I had absolutely no prior experience in soldering wires, so I really took my time. I also put heat shrink tubing on every wire before the connections, so after soldering, I could wrap each one up.

For what its worth, my readings have been rock solid over the last 1000+ miles or so since I did this. 12.8 to 13.1 at 1200rpms, and 14.5 to 14.7 at anything above 2000rpm.

I think the plug in connection is always going to be the most susceptible to failure with any electronics. Eliminate it, and the system is that much better. If you have experience soldering, I'd strongly suggest you consider doing at least the R/R wires to the stator.