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Chasing electrical failure GS1100ES

glib

glib

Forum Mentor
Past Site Supporter
My battery is 3 years old now and it has run down a few times so I just ordered another one due to arrive any day. I tried to start the bike last weekend and the battery was too low. I put it on the tender and tried again the next day and even though it was charged according to the battery tender, it failed completely. So I ordered the new battery. Today I went out to check it and the battery tender is now saying not charged and still trying to charge it but it had only 12.1 volts--after five days. Real problem now is, nothing is coming on--even with the 12.1 volts--no headlight, no cluster lights--nothing.

I get power to the soleniod and to the fuse box--all fuses ok--but I don't know how to follow it from there or what I should see at the fuse connections. Nothing looks burned up. Just no power.
 
Disconnect (unplug ) the r/r ,see if this new battery will recharge with your tender. If it then checks out,Leave r/r unpluged and recheck battery next day.
 
A quick note on the Tender... I left mine connected for most of the first winter I got it (the Tender). In the spring I began having starting issues. With the riding season beginning, I only used the Tender occasionally and it would show full charge quickly At the next start, the bike would have trouble cranking. Turns out that the Tender cooked nearly all of the water out of the battery during the winter. After I refilled the battery, the tender typically took much longer to show as full. I guess a dry charge goes quickly. Perhaps the Tender was defective, but after that I used it sparingly.

Sounds like your isseus are bigger though.
 
Not knowing much about electrical, now I am even more confused. In short, the new battery arrived today and when I put it in the bike came back to life. I can’t understand how a battery showing 12.1 volts would fail to even turn on the headlight. It should have cranked at least poorly, right? Now I’m concerned that there is some gremlin waiting to pounce.

The old battery is maintenance free, btw.
 
Battery voltage is nothing more than a pressure (think of a hydraulic system as an anology). It's current (or flow) that makes everything happen. A very bad battery may have a voltage, but it is unable to supply the necessary current to turn the starter over, or even light the headlight. EE101. Glad it works now.
 
What he said... there are instances when battery voltage could check out ok without a load, but drop significantly under a load. Not sure about bikes, but in the auto world they make testers that put the battery poles asross a resistive load for testing it’s output. Was the old battery, well... old? I typically get 4ish years out of the old school lead/ acid ones.

edit... just re read that its 3.
 
glib said:
Not knowing much about electrical, now I am even more confused. In short, the new battery arrived today and when I put it in the bike came back to life. I can’t understand how a battery showing 12.1 volts would fail to even turn on the headlight. It should have cranked at least poorly, right? Now I’m concerned that there is some gremlin waiting to pounce.

The old battery is maintenance free, btw.
Click to expand...

Batteries can fail in very odd ways and sometimes instantly. I had a cheap 1 year old battery in my GS1000 and it started out the day perfect. It started the bike after sitting for a week or so from cold very well and later in the day would take almost zero load for it to fail. The LED volt meter would show just over 13 volts with the key on but hit the starter or even turn the lights on and instantly zero, not even enough to power the LED voltmeter. Key off and try again, same thing. Least bit of load would cause something in the battery go open and totally fail.
 
dorkburger said:
What he said... there are instances when battery voltage could check out ok without a load, but drop significantly under a load. Not sure about bikes, but in the auto world they make testers that put the battery poles asross a resistive load for testing it’s output. Was the old battery, well... old? I typically get 4ish years out of the old school lead/ acid ones.

edit... just re read that its 3.
Click to expand...


That is exactly how you test a battery.
 
Ok that makes sense then. The battery had run down while sitting a few times and wasn?t the strongest prior to this failure. I guess it?s time had come.
 
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