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20 years riding, never stranded on the side of the road..


Tpoppa

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...then I bought a Harley.

Actually, can't really blame the bike, 90% sure the battery failed.  How it failed was kind of weird.

I knew the battery was on the way out.  After sitting for 4-5 days it would weakly crank the starter.  It wouldn't start this morning.   Put it on a tender for about an hour and it fired up.  After about 20 minutes the battery light would come on over 3k...if I backed down to lower rpms the battery light would go out.  I guess I was expecting just the opposite.  It sputtered to a halt when I was riding around 4.5k, I was hoping the charging system would give it enough juice at that speed.

I'm pretty sure the charging system is ok.  I rode it about 250 miles a few Sundays ago without issue. 

The battery will still take a charge on the tender, but my theory is that it's barely taking a charge.  When running, I think power is being pulled faster than being recharged.  Sound right?

I plan to replace the battery and test the charging system.    

 

 

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Put the battery on a real charger, not just a tender.  Figure out how many AHs it takes and slow charge it to mostly full, then take it to your local AP dealer and have it tested.  If the battery is "good" and takes a charge, then I'd look to your charging system.

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1 hour ago, Tonik said:

FI?

Many FI systems will fail if the battery drops below a certain voltage....even if the charging system is working correctly.

The engine light was coming on with the battery light.  That could have been it.  FI was definitely low on pressure.

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1 hour ago, Tonik said:

FI?

Many FI systems will fail if the battery drops below a certain voltage....even if the charging system is working correctly.

The Concours will give you FI fault code when the battery is about to crap out.

Edited by 2talltim
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1 hour ago, Tonik said:

FI?

Many FI systems will fail if the battery drops below a certain voltage....even if the charging system is working correctly.

My old f4i wouldn't run with a low battery. Fuel injection would throw all kinds of fits.

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1 hour ago, Tpoppa said:

At idle it's putting out 13.8-14.0 volts.

At 3k, volts drop to around 12.2.  I'm guessing that means the battery has limited capacity and it's dropping from the load from ign & FI.  Sound right?

 

Yes

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