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New user
Posts: 3
| This should be a warranty repair since I've only had the Vision since last November and bought it new, but I'm curious to see if anyone has any ideas as to what happened.
Haven't been able to drive the bike much over the winter, but have kept the battery charged and have ridden it some. Today I started it up and had ridden less than a mile when I noticed the voltage was at about 12 volts. By the time I got where I was going (5 miles)it was showing 11 volts. I had to shut it off, wondering if it would restart. It restarted just fine, with no indication of the battery being discharged.
I started back home and the voltage kept dropping. It got down to 9 volts, the bike started running rough and then died about 100 ft. from home.
I'm charging the battery, but can't believe that is the problem since it had plenty of charge to start the bike. It sounds like the alternator may have gone out, but would that cause it to run rough and then die with a charged battery?
Got any ideas? |
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Visionary
Posts: 1365
Central Maryland | It does sound like the bike is running off of the battery, and it is not being recharged by the stator. Motorcycle electronics will do very quirky things with a low battery.
Terminals tight on the battery?
Edited by willtill 2014-03-21 5:05 AM
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Visionary
Posts: 8144
New Bohemia, VA | yeah, don't ride it until you get it fixed! Could be a cable, but it sounds like either the regulator or stator. You don't say what year, mines an '08 and the regulator went at 98,000 miles. Don't run your bike with low voltage, you can cause a lot of expensive things to fail. |
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New user
Posts: 3
| The plot thickens. The bike is a 2013. I fully charged the battery overnight and took the bike out. Started with about 12.5 volts. By 10 miles it looked like it was down to 12 volts, 14 miles-11.5 volts, 16 miles -11 volts and the battery light came on. I made it back home at 17 miles. Still running OK and the battery will start the bike. Does look like the charging system isn't working and that apparently that doesn't show until the battery voltage drops significantly. Does seem to drop pretty quickly. |
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Tourer
Posts: 573
Central Illinois | Get it back to your dealer and let them deal with it. A failed charging system is their problem, not yours. |
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Visionary
Posts: 3773
Pittsburgh, PA | How tight are those battery terminals ? |
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Visionary
Posts: 1632
Jasper, MO | Oldman47 - 2014-03-21 8:20 AM
Get it back to your dealer and let them deal with it. A failed charging system is their problem, not yours.
Yep.
Ronnie |
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Visionary
Posts: 4278
| when you first turn the key on the Voltage gage will tell you the power of the battery.
When you start the bike it will tell you if the stator and voltage regulator is charging.
When you see 9 volts your regulator or stator is not working.
You don't say where you live or what year your bike is. Thats a No No
Call dealer and have them come get it and fix it your covered under warranty if its a new Vic |
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Glendale, AZ United States | It has been my experience that folks get too carried away with the battery tender, which can and will fry the battery. |
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Visionary
Posts: 1632
Jasper, MO | Vladezip - 2014-03-22 2:38 AM
It has been my experience that folks get too carried away with the battery tender, which can and will fry the battery.
There's a big difference between a trickle charger and a battery tender. You are 100% right if you're talking about a trickle charger. If left on constantly, they will fry the battery. A true battery tender has circuitry that automatically stops the charger and stays in "float mode" until the battery voltage drops below a set level, then it turns back on and restores the charge, then goes into "float mode" again. They will NOT kill a battery and will extend the life of it considerably.
Unfortunately, there are trickle chargers on the market that are sold as a "battery tender". If it does not have the automatic switching circuitry, it's just a trickle charger. Buyer beware.
Ronnie |
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Glendale, AZ United States | rdbudd - 2014-03-22 10:34 AM
Vladezip - 2014-03-22 2:38 AM
It has been my experience that folks get too carried away with the battery tender, which can and will fry the battery.
There's a big difference between a trickle charger and a battery tender. You are 100% right if you're talking about a trickle charger. If left on constantly, they will fry the battery. A true battery tender has circuitry that automatically stops the charger and stays in "float mode" until the battery voltage drops below a set level, then it turns back on and restores the charge, then goes into "float mode" again. They will NOT kill a battery and will extend the life of it considerably.
Unfortunately, there are trickle chargers on the market that are sold as a "battery tender". If it does not have the automatic switching circuitry, it's just a trickle charger. Buyer beware.
Ronnie
I have never had the need to hook one up since I have the luxury of riding all year around living in AZ so I'm not an authority on the subject by any means, but I think if you start the bike up every couple of weeks you should be in the clear 
(fried battery.jpg)
(fried battery.jpg)
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Visionary
Posts: 1632
Jasper, MO | I agree, you don't need one at all if you can run the machine every couple of weeks. Here, we have to put our bikes up during most of the Winter. Where I find the battery tenders to be most useful is for a couple of classic cars that sit a lot and for my lawn and farm equipment that sits a lot. For those, a good battery tender is a money maker, saving batteries that would die an early death otherwise. I've got about 3 or 4 of them that I rotate around to different machines during the off-season.
I just serviced my riding lawn mower in preparation for the season. It started right up. I've had a battery tender on it all Winter, and the battery is 5 years old this season. Before I started using battery tenders, I was lucky to get two years out of a mower battery.
Those pictures how exactly what happens when you leave a manual charger on constantly. I learned my lesson the same way.
Ronnie |
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Visionary
Posts: 4278
| If you live in winter country where you can't ride Do Not start your bike it does know good. It will cause condition in the motor it will break down your oil
Letting bike sit does no harm. True battery tenders are great and your battery will last |
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Visionary
Posts: 1365
Central Maryland | ...or just bring your battery(s) inside for the winter. |
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Cruiser
Posts: 80
| Lotsofwheels;
It's already been asked, but have you checked your battery cable terminals, are they tight? It could be something that simple.
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New user
Posts: 3
| The battery was fine, all terminals and connections were fine, and it was on a tender, not a trickle charger. Some times I would take it off the tender for a few days and the ride it if there wasn't salt on the roads(that didn't happen much this winter in Chicago). The bike seemed fine all winter, but didn't get ridden all that far at any one time.
Anyway, the regulator/rectifier went bad. It could have only been one of a few things, but this still came as rather a surprise since wouldn't have expected one to go bad this early. |
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