OK, I've had a troll through most battery related threads but I thought it best to post something fresh... The bike has been getting sluggish to start & finally a week or so ago the battery just seemed to give up the ghost. I bought a new one, the yellow Motobatt one, compatible with my Optimate etc... Put the new batt in Friday, fired her up, which she did with gusto! Amen I thought, job done. Used the bike 3 or 4 times & remember starting her on Sunday and thinking 'umm that seemed a bit of effort'. Had to go to the shops yestarday (Monday) started ok, came out the shop, battery flat!! In the middle of a poxy shopping complex! I left it 15 minutes and tried it again... it started, just! I left the battery on Optimate over night for work and started fine this morning... I am no mechanic and if it was I car I would say 'Alternator' but being a bike I just said 'bollocks' .... Does anyone have any ideas on what to look for, I don't have meters for this or that but I do have a Halfords box spanner if that helps! Thanks....
Start by putting a volt meter on the battery, not running and then running. Check the voltages for each. If the voltage is above say 11.8v when not running and the bike doesn't turn over fine, potentially a bad connection. If it starts then you want to see around 13.5- 14v with it running. Could be anything, including something as simple as a bad earth.
As Dave V has said, check the connections on the battery and make sure the are clean and tight. Check your ground wire. Then perform the above voltage checks and see what v readings your getting.
Not sure which Bike you have, but the stator is a known weak point on the 04-07's. Some were lucky enough to get a revised one from Honda FOC, but may have had to buy the new one, and they are not cheap. As already advised, a quick check with a voltmeter will confirm if its charging or not, and there are links on here on how to check the stator/RR.
Sorry guys been sinking at work and have just been going through the motions with the optimate until I sort it. Anyway, coming back from work yesterday after my epic 7 mile round trip which started with a supposedly fully charged battery (started fine), about a mile from home the bike starts coughing really bad and i'm fighting to keep any revs at all.... turning into my road I'm revving the be-jesus out of it just to get it to the drive.... turned in, everything stopped, went out and I coasted to a stop on the drive... Got off, turned the key back on after turning it off, nothing !!!! not even a nuetral light, went indoors, kicked the dog ! I'm gonna take this peice of shite to Farnham Honda and bloody well leave it there till they fix it FOC !! I've had enough !!
04-07 bike? More likely the stator/flywheel issue. If it's popping and farting it's probably taken the reg/rec with it too.
I'm in the same boat here, got an rr5, I've had it checked and the charge is not returning to the battery. Ive read in places that an upgraded should be used to replace the original. Anyone got the details of which kind to buy?
You,ll be needing the later 06/7 stator and flywheel , these don't give as much hassle as the 04/5 type which are made from butter. However it,s possible that the rec has fried the stator by over charging if it's already got the 06/7 stator fitted. It,s possible to get good readings from a burnt out stator so I always whip the cover off and give it a visual check and then check the readings . I always check the voltage at 1500 rpm ,holding it there for several mins so that I can see that the voltage does,nt start to ramp upwards and beyond the 15v mark ( I had 929 do that,a proper bastard intermittent failure )
I've been reading about this for nosy of the day and the long term fix is as you say to change the flywheel and stator. I think I may just go short term and replace the bits like for like. I am taking things apart tomorrow to see what I find.
