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Battery SLOWLY Dying

  • Thread starter Thread starter Legionnaire
  • Start date Start date
The old battery may have been worn out, did you have it load tested? That is the only way to tell. It may not be the battery, but it is a piece of the puzzle you must put behind you so we can move forward.
I paid $65 for my MotoBatt a couple of years ago. They are all the way up to around $80 now. Got it on FleaBay from a company down in Florida.
Have you tried jumping across the solenoid terminals yet?
Are all your grounds leading to your battery negative terminal?
The starter is grounded to the engine, the engine is grounded to the frame. The frame is grounded to the battery.
The R/R has its own ground wire that should go to the battery.
The solenoid needs to be grounded.
These are also other things, but it is a process. You really should follow our suggestions, we have all been down that road and we know the path to take. To bypass steps is to leave yourself open to failure because you skipped steps.
There is a method to our madness, we do this stuff all the time.
Best of luck, and let us know how it goes.
 
koolaid_kid said:
The old battery may have been worn out, did you have it load tested? That is the only way to tell. It may not be the battery, but it is a piece of the puzzle you must put behind you so we can move forward.
I paid $65 for my MotoBatt a couple of years ago. They are all the way up to around $80 now. Got it on FleaBay from a company down in Florida.
Have you tried jumping across the solenoid terminals yet?
Are all your grounds leading to your battery negative terminal?
The starter is grounded to the engine, the engine is grounded to the frame. The frame is grounded to the battery.
The R/R has its own ground wire that should go to the battery.
The solenoid needs to be grounded.
These are also other things, but it is a process. You really should follow our suggestions, we have all been down that road and we know the path to take. To bypass steps is to leave yourself open to failure because you skipped steps.
There is a method to our madness, we do this stuff all the time.
Best of luck, and let us know how it goes.
Click to expand...

Okay so I went to Autozone even called ahead about Load testing my motorcycle battery and I brought it in and said it was too small and can't load test it... is this just a bunch of BS?

So I just tried to jump the solenoid and it cranked nice and loud, but never turned over and even after a few tries my battery stayed at 12v

My R/R has 4 cables and they all are bunched up and lead into the wiring harness none of which ground to the battery, they aren't ground colors. It is also under the aluminum tray, and it SHARES the same screws that go through the starter solenoid, would that be an issue?

yd3qt.jpg


Right now the solenoid in on an aluminum tray (I feel like this isn't ground enough, please let me know, thanks)--->

zjZ1y.jpg


The all grounds into the negative battery terminal is something that worries me, I def think that some just go from their respected cables to a point on the frame, that is the same thing right? It is just cleaner/easier to make them all go to one point.

I am seriously so appreciative of the help, and am just so excited to wrap this project up it's been weeks! Sorry if I seem impatient I am here to learn!

:)
 
Legionnaire said:
So I just tried to jump the solenoid and it cranked nice and loud, but never turned over and even after a few tries my battery stayed at 12v
Click to expand...
VERY confusing here. :confused:

If it's "cranking", it's also "turning over", but you say it's not. :eek:

WHICH IS IT???

.
 
Steve said:
VERY confusing here. :confused:

If it's "cranking", it's also "turning over", but you say it's not. :eek:

WHICH IS IT???

.
Click to expand...

Wrong terminology hah! It is cranking, so I am making sure there is gas cause it can only be four things right?
 
I'm going to do a little interpretation here, Steve. I suspect he meant it turned over but never fired. Just my interpretation.
Your grounds are a definite issue. Aluminium is not a good ground.
Put a ring terminal on one of the mounting bolts for the solenoid and R/R. Since they share mounting you can use one bolt, but personally I would use one on each side so it physically touches the item. Use 16 gauge wire. Since we are checking grounds, look for the engine ground. There should be one running from an engine bolt on the top at the back of the engine to a bolt on the frame. Run your wires from the R/R and solenoid to the same bolt. Now run one wire from that bolt to the negative terminal of the battery. Now use your multimeter to check continuity from each ring terminal (R/R, solenoid and engine, to the battery. There should be continuity at each point.

And yes, they are giving you a bunch of bull. If they sell motorcycle batteries they must have a way to load test them.
 
Okay I will definitely put a ring terminal/wire on both bolts just to make sure. But I have two bolts on the bottom of my engine one runs to the negative terminal on the battery and the other cuts into the same wire and goes to the negative terminal. So do I want to put my R/R and solenoid grounds onto that same negative wire or ground them anywhere on the frame? Just saying because the bolt on the engine does NOT ground to the frame it goes from the engine to the battery.
When I check for continuity, what should I be looking for, like what sort of voltage?
I am going to a battery store instead to get it load tested ASAP! Thanks again man? seriously!
 
So I got my starter button to work miraculously... but now the battery is slowly draining again the second you turn the key. I actually got my bike to turn on too, but I need to tinker with the idle and probably replace the throttle cable. So happy things got to working, except the battery drain, it didn't do it and then it started to after literally changing NOTHING.

I am going to get it load tested ASAP in the morning.
 
Legionnaire said:
Okay I will definitely put a ring terminal/wire on both bolts just to make sure. But I have two bolts on the bottom of my engine one runs to the negative terminal on the battery and the other cuts into the same wire and goes to the negative terminal. So do I want to put my R/R and solenoid grounds onto that same negative wire or ground them anywhere on the frame? Just saying because the bolt on the engine does NOT ground to the frame it goes from the engine to the battery.
When I check for continuity, what should I be looking for, like what sort of voltage?
I am going to a battery store instead to get it load tested ASAP! Thanks again man? seriously!
Click to expand...
Sorry, I have been occupied and failed to notice this post.
It sounds like someone has been meddling with your grounds already. There is absolutely no need to have 2 ground wires from the engine to the battery. I suggest you start over. Since you have obviously been doing some wiring changes in order to move both your solenoid and your R/R, I will assume you are comfortable with doing the soldering, shrink wrap, terminal crimping tasks.
I suggest this (it will clean up all the grounds and be much neater looking):
Find a bolt on the frame that you will designate as the central ground location. You will be running all your grounds to this bolt, so you may have to get one a bit longer than is currently there.
Run a ground from your solenoid to that point.
Run a ground from your R/R to that point.
Run a ground from your engine to that point.
Now, using a larger gauge wire, run a wire from that point to the negative terminal on your battery.
Use ring terminals on all connections.
You have accomplished several things. You have cleaned up the wiring. You have run fresh wires/connections to minimize resistance. You are certain that everything important is grounded. You have created what we call the "star" configuration, which minimizes power loss through the frame.
When you check for continuity, simply put your multimeter in continuity mode. There is usually a little picture of a speaker emitting a tone. You can check by touching the red and black probes together. You will hear a beep. When you are in the correct mode, place one probe on the negative terminal of the battery. Move the other probe around and touch the bolts your ring terminals are attached to, such as the engine bolt, the R/R bolt, the Solenoid bolt and the frame bolt. You should hear a beep at each point.
Hope this helps.
And you are welcome. Hopefully this will help others who read this thread as well, which benefits GSR overall.
 
Legionnaire said:
So I got my starter button to work miraculously... but now the battery is slowly draining again the second you turn the key. I actually got my bike to turn on too, but I need to tinker with the idle and probably replace the throttle cable. So happy things got to working, except the battery drain, it didn't do it and then it started to after literally changing NOTHING.

I am going to get it load tested ASAP in the morning.
Click to expand...
Congrats. A suggestion: let's use common terminology to avoid confusion. When you press the starter button and the starter begins to operate and the engine starts to rotate, that is called turning over or cranking. When the engine begins to run that is called starting or running. So, you got the engine to turn over and actually run. That is fantastic. You are almost there. :D
 
koolaid_kid said:
Sorry, I have been occupied and failed to notice this post.
It sounds like someone has been meddling with your grounds already. There is absolutely no need to have 2 ground wires from the engine to the battery. I suggest you start over. Since you have obviously been doing some wiring changes in order to move both your solenoid and your R/R, I will assume you are comfortable with doing the soldering, shrink wrap, terminal crimping tasks.
I suggest this (it will clean up all the grounds and be much neater looking):
Find a bolt on the frame that you will designate as the central ground location. You will be running all your grounds to this bolt, so you may have to get one a bit longer than is currently there.
Run a ground from your solenoid to that point.
Run a ground from your R/R to that point.
Run a ground from your engine to that point.
Now, using a larger gauge wire, run a wire from that point to the negative terminal on your battery.
Use ring terminals on all connections.
You have accomplished several things. You have cleaned up the wiring. You have run fresh wires/connections to minimize resistance. You are certain that everything important is grounded. You have created what we call the "star" configuration, which minimizes power loss through the frame.
When you check for continuity, simply put your multimeter in continuity mode. There is usually a little picture of a speaker emitting a tone. You can check by touching the red and black probes together. You will hear a beep. When you are in the correct mode, place one probe on the negative terminal of the battery. Move the other probe around and touch the bolts your ring terminals are attached to, such as the engine bolt, the R/R bolt, the Solenoid bolt and the frame bolt. You should hear a beep at each point.
Hope this helps.
And you are welcome. Hopefully this will help others who read this thread as well, which benefits GSR overall.
Click to expand...

This is perfect, this is exactly what I needed just an overall checklist to run through!

What is weird to is why are there 2 bolts on the bottom of the engine in the first place in I only need to use one wire to ground onto it? Also the engine bolts go STRAIGHT to the battery itself when from what you said they should go to the bolt first then the battery goes to the bolt and connects them all.

When you say "larger wire" how large should I go cause I have 6 gauge wires running from the engine to the battery right now. Or can I get away with an 8 or a 10?

I will get working on getting this all built, one more thing since the solenoid and R/R share bolts I just grounds both screws holding them down and since they share screws that grounds them both right?
 
I strongly suggest not trying any shortcuts. I prefer the ring connector to physically touch the item being grounded, hence two wires.
Why not re-use the 6 gauge wire that is currently going from the engine to the battery? Instead of it going to the engine, run it to the bolt. Then run an 8 or 10 from the engine to the bolt.
 
Last edited:
koolaid_kid said:
I strongly suggest not trying any shortcuts. I prefer the ring connector to physically touch the item being grounded, hence two wires.
Why not re-use the 6 gauge wire that is currently going from the engine to the battery? Instead of it going to the engine, run it to the bolt. Then run an 8 or 10 from the engine to the bolt.
Click to expand...

Okay well I will put on on the starter side and one of the rectifier side. Also it's a pre-made 6 gauge cable going from the engine to the bolt, so I am gonna leave it as is, cause it's the right size and I will go out and get a short 6 gauge for the bolt to the battery connection. I don't know if I can find a 6 gauge that short haha, and isn't it REALLY hard to make a 6 gauge cable manually?

The lights/blinkers also have a ground I have that on it's own ground or should I add it to the star?
 
koolaid_kid said:
Why not re-use the 6 gauge wire that is currently going from the engine to the battery? Instead of it going to the engine, run it to the bolt. Then run an 8 or 10 from the engine to the bolt.
Click to expand...
Personally, I would leave the 6 gauge from the engine to the battery. That is the one that is going to have to handle the starter current, which can easily be 50 amps or more.

Nothing else on the bike is going to exceed 25 amps, so 10 gauge is fine for that.

.
 
Steve said:
Personally, I would leave the 6 gauge from the engine to the battery. That is the one that is going to have to handle the starter current, which can easily be 50 amps or more.

Nothing else on the bike is going to exceed 25 amps, so 10 gauge is fine for that.

.
Click to expand...

Okay so leave it as is... then run a 8-10 gauge from the negative battery terminal to the bolt or a 8-10 gauge from the engine to the bolt?
 
Leave the one 6 gauge wire from the engine to the battery. Run one 10 gauge wire from the battery to the bolt. Run 2 10 gauge wires from the solenoid and the R/R to the bolt.
The bonus of the bolt is if you add more stuff, you can just ground that to the bolt as well, minimizing the number of connections to the battery.
Make sense?
 
koolaid_kid said:
Leave the one 6 gauge wire from the engine to the battery. Run one 10 gauge wire from the battery to the bolt. Run 2 10 gauge wires from the solenoid and the R/R to the bolt.
The bonus of the bolt is if you add more stuff, you can just ground that to the bolt as well, minimizing the number of connections to the battery.
Make sense?
Click to expand...

I made 12 gauge wires to ground the solenoid to the bolt is that too small? Or should I definitely go get some 10 gauge?
 
The solenoid itself will be well-grounded with a 20-gauge wire. You are only passing enough current to activate the magnet.

However, if you use that same wire to also ground the R/R, it should be at least a 12 gauge wire, if not a 10.

Since you already seem to have some 10 gauge wire handy, keep going with that.

.
 
Steve said:
The solenoid itself will be well-grounded with a 20-gauge wire. You are only passing enough current to activate the magnet.

However, if you use that same wire to also ground the R/R, it should be at least a 12 gauge wire, if not a 10.

Since you already seem to have some 10 gauge wire handy, keep going with that.

.
Click to expand...

I actually only have 12 gauge wire handy is that good for battery to bolt?
 
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