dead battery, or worse?

[Milo_357]

Hello everyone,

Just a quick question.   I haven't had the chance to ride as much or work on the bike as much as I'd like over the last 12 months due to a move.  I know I've dropped off the planet.  Recently took a trip to St. Augustine, and it appears though that the ride may have taken it's toll on my bike.  Went to go for a ride this morning, and though I have the battery on a maintenance charger, the battery was barely there.  Faint lights.

Then the weird thing happened.  I could hear some kind of humming from in the motor, and the tachometer started running up like I had rev'ed the motor while it was running.

Any ideas what is going on?   I'd appreciate the advice.  I'm yanking the battery later and getting it check it see if a cell died or something.

Milo

[Bob_Roller]

Check the battery, it's probably in need of replacement .

How old is it ?

If you decide to get a battery, get an AGM type .

Radio Shack has an AGM battery that fits our bikes, it's a 22 AH battery, no shipping charges .

http://www.radioshack.com/product/index.jsp?productId=11909407

Don't know about delivery time for them, you can contact your local Radio Shack store they may be able to give you more info on it .

This company has them for a lower price, but you are paying for shipping, usually from the Chicago area, for me it's $15 shipping to Phoenix .

http://www.staabbattery.com/product/UB12220-V.html

I also saw AGM batteries at a Walmart store about a month ago, don't know if they have anything that would fit the R65 or not .

[montmil]

Hiya, Del.

"LTNHFY" Stoopid, I know, so... Long Time No Hear From You.

Here's another perfect fit fo rthe R65 and you won't find a better price no whar else.

http://www.gruberpower.com/12-volt-18-amp-hour-ah-battery

I also looked at Wally World but there ain't no Wally World prices fo rthe bike batteries! Way too high, IMO.

[Luca]

I get my batteries from batterystuff.com.  Haven't had to send a battery back, but it sounds like their customer service is good.

the cheaper AGM is a "Scorpion" brand... I think it's a rebadged Yuasa.  $90, shipped free, and theyre quick.  USPS priority.  I ordered a battery for a Kawasaki Vulcan Friday morning.  It will be on my doorstep today.

255 CCA, 20 Amp/hr.  Great cranking, and a 1 year warranty, which is better than a lot of what's out there.  Not as cheap as some of the other stuff out there, but mine has been very good to me thus far, and it seems that a lot of people out there also stand behind them too.

[nhmaf]

My 3 year old "universal" battery on my R65 died this week.   It seemed perfectly fine last week, but dead as a doornail when I tried to start the bike up after rebuilding the forks, etc.    I was going to order the Scorpion battery from batterystuff.com as they had good reviews and pricing, but they were out of stock-grrr!

I ended of ordering this one from EME - cost me $69 plus shipping, bringing it to a total of $95 - and it is an AGM with 12month warranty.   At least it was in stock and I wasn't in the mood to spend $140 on an Odyssey..
 
http://www.euromotoelectrics.com/Battery-BMW-R-K-BAT-12V20P-p/bat-12v20p.htm

[bruce_launceston]

Those battery cable kits on the EME battery site look excellent quality and a great price, The only thing is the negative lead seems to be about 2.5" too long to fit neatly on an R65.

[tvrla]

 Went to go for a ride this morning, and though I have the battery on a maintenance charger, the battery was barely there.  Faint lights.

Then the weird thing happened.  I could hear some kind of humming from in the motor, and the tachometer started running up like I had rev'ed the motor while it was running.

Milo

I'm guessing the engine never started? Not enough juice to crank the engine? If that's the case, definitely get the battery checked first thing.

Some of these new fangled batteries hold a charge so long they really don't need a tender. If I know one will sit a while I just disconnect the negative lead. Six months later, reconnect, and starts right up. I've run into problems with the tenders and had batteries die while on them - who knows if it was the tender - but haven't had one of the newer ones die since going this route.

[nhmaf]

Milo, if the battery isn't putting out sufficient voltage for the instrument lights and relays, the relay(s) can chatter as well as the ICU will struggle to come up to operating voltage - the ICU may end up itself turning on/off as it tries to reach operating voltage, creating pulses on the coil which is picked up by the tachometer as ignition pulses -> displaying as if the motor is revving up.

My dying battery last week displayed just this sort of behavior.   The battery voltage was at 12.8V resting, but as soon as I turned on the key and started to draw a few hundred milliamps of current, the battery voltage would drop to about 5 volts...

[Bob_Roller]

Hiya, Del.

"LTNHFY" Stoopid, I know, so... Long Time No Hear From You.

Here's another perfect fit fo rthe R65 and you won't find a better price no whar else.

http://www.gruberpower.com/12-volt-18-amp-hour-ah-battery

I also looked at Wally World but there ain't no Wally World prices fo rthe bike batteries! Way too high, IMO.

If you do order a battery from Gruber and they ask you what it will be used in, just tell them an alarm system .

A coworker that has a side business of repairing Harleys, ordered 10 batteries, told them it was for use in a motorcycle, the response was, that they don't have batteries for use in motorcycles .

I just checked the Walmart online store and the batteries are a bit overpriced and not available at their stores, for the R65 .

The Gruber price has dropped about $2US, since I ordered two for my oilhead last December .

We regard batteries about like you would an airfilter, replace them every two years in this incessant desert heat .

The battery cost about as much as an airfilter for an R65 !!!!!!!!!!!!!

[georgesgiralt]

Hello !
check the charging circuit first.
Put a DVM at the battery and it should read around 12 V engine stopped.
Unplug the regulator, start the engine (the voltmeter will read around 12V ). Using a bit of wire, joint the D+ and DF wires on the regulator plug. Increase RPM to 1500 ~ 2000 RPM.
The voltmenter at the battery should rise up to 15 ~ 16 V if the charging circuit is good. Stop the engine replug the regulator and redo the test. If the voltage does not rise, the regulator is faulty (it will regulate at around 13.5 ~ 14.5 V).
If the two tests above are correct, the battery is toast.
Easy, cool and simple.