1981 gs1100 battery dies at idle

[sean doan]

ok every one. pretty much i have a whole new charging system on the bike and i barley rode it last year because of the starter clutch being out. i let it sit out in the cold and my battery went to ****. well i got a new batter i charged it it said full charge. its winter and i just went out and fired it up and let it idle for about 10minutes i reved it up a couple times seemed to be running nice with great throttle responce. i let it sit for about ten minutes and my battery was to dead. i dont have a volt meater but can get one. im hoping it might be due to it was idiling at 1000 to 1500rpms most of the time. is that to low to charge the battery and actually make it die? oh yah i cant really ride it right now cause theres lots of snow im just trying to get it ready for spring. im hoping im all right to go.

[bonanzadave]

i dont have a volt meater but can get one.

Its the only way you'll ever know. A good charged battery should read close to 13vdc. With the Bike running at or above 1500rpm the battery voltage should be over 14vdc.

[sean doan]

i might run out and try running it at 2000 for a while. i got the battery from wall mart and you have to fill it your self and it was a litlle smaller then my old one. maybe its the combo of my low idle and that.

[chef1366]

With a new battery (charged up right the first time) and a new charging system you should not be sitting on a dead battery just by ideling for a few minutes. Get a multimeter and go through the stator papers.
Check the new battery first, As stated it should be close to 13V fully charged.

[SqDancerLynn1]

Check the charging system again !!! The bike should run for at least an hour just on the battery

[Matchless]

If the battery was fully charged and you idled with the lights on and your charging system does not put out some current to the battery at idle, your lights alone may be pulling about 6 Amps and together with the ignition and any other load it could flatten a small 14Ah (the largest) quite quickly. If you have a faulty regulator that is discharging the battery instead of charging it.....
Fully charge the battery and get a voltmeter over it while the bike is running to see what your bike is doing to it

[duaneage]

Get a meter and you'll probably find the RR is not charging the battery.

[twr1776]

sean doan 1981 gs1100 battery dies at idle ok every one. pretty much i have a whole new charging system on the bike and i barley rode it last year because of the starter clutch being out. i let it sit out in the cold and my battery went to ****.

What parts did you replace in the charging system? If the bike sat outside there is a good chance you have some corroded electrical connections. I would suggest going through the harness first and cleaning up all the connections and grounds before even testing the system. New parts will just get burned up unless you make sure all the electrical connections are good.

[argonsagas]

Check the charging system again !!! The bike should run for at least an hour just on the battery

Valid point. When I bought it my 1100G had freshly-charged battery installed for me to drive it home....I drove it for almost two hours before parking it, and then finding it would not start.

[sean doan]

i dont know how to do all the test to really check and im not to sure how the whole system works ive searched alot of forums on here. could my walmart battery be the problem if its kinda small? also the run and off switch on my bike i have it wired up so that switch dont work because something went rong and i had to push down on the run buttong to keep it running. could that be my short. so theres 3 wires coming out that switch one is for the start button. the other two i cut and twisted all off them together and it made it start. could that be wrong and how could i tell if thats a short. after reading another thread im going to a test can i just put the volt meater on the battery and see how many volts is going into it when running? maybe its because i would start it up for about five minutes and it doesnt get the full charge back in it after it starts the bike.

[lucabond]

When you got the new battery do you follow the directions about letting it sit for an hour before charging ? And did you charge it at 2 amps or less ?

[sean doan]

i dint remember my batter saying let sit but i did find out when i got a volt meater i found it wasnt charged all the way i did that and my charging system is now ok