Dead Battery?

[hutru01]

So I haven't ridden my FZ8 is a few weeks (been out of town, rain, etc). I go to start her up the other day and nothing, no electric, etc. I went and got a batter tender thinking that would solve the problem. It was on the battery overnight and I went and tried to start her up today and nothing but the buzzing noise underneath the seat (I am assuming is the fuel pump). Is it normal for a battery to die like that? I only have a little over 1000 miles on the bike. Any ideas?

 

[BLAZEX09]

I`m no expert but If you have had it sitting for a longer time (a few months) without a tender, the battery can get a bad cell, or not work at its optimum capacity. I also know that my battery tender will not charge a completely dead battery. Though if your hearing stuff under the seat the battery probably still has some juice.

Try jump staring it with your car (leave the car engine off)

None of that probably helps, and like I said I don`t know much about this stuff so take it with a large grain of salt.

Good luck.

 

[hutru01]

When I heard the noise, the tender was hooked up....without the tender, nothing happens. At most, I hadn't started it for a month. (And it had not been on a tender during that time)


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[hutru01]

Well, I hooked up the car battery with some jumper cables and she started right up. I let it run for about 5 minutes to possibly charge the stock fz8 battery. The second I took the positive lead of the jumper cable off the fz8 battery, it died and wouldn't start without the juice of the car battery. So, 1000 miles and I killed the battery somehow. Well at least now I have a battery tender for when I get a new battery for the Fz8. Better the battery than anything else I suppose....

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[BLAZEX09]

Maybe take the battery to a shop get them to test it. The alternators on most bikes are generally made to maintain a battery’s level of charge, they are not that great a recharging a dead battery.

Lol, it would be good to have someone else jump in here with more expertise but, yeah maybe jump the bike again, let it run for closer to 15min then shut it off and try the tender. That might get enough of a charge in the battery to let the tender do its thing.

That`s what I would try anyway. Though I’m not sure if running it that long connected to the car battery is a good idea. If that doesn`t work I would get the battery checked and go from there.

 

[hutru01]

Alright guys, so I got a new battery. I have ridden several times since I got it. I go out this morning to start my bike and the electrical comes on, tach needle does its normal sweep, but when I go to start the engine, I am getting this buzzing noise below my seat (around the battery area), and of course it will not fire up. What do you guys think the problem could be? A short? Is it grounding somewhere?

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[FZER]

Alright guys, so I got a new battery. I have ridden several times since I got it. I go out this morning to start my bike and the electrical comes on, tach needle does its normal sweep, but when I go to start the engine, I am getting this buzzing noise below my seat (around the battery area), and of course it will not fire up. What do you guys think the problem could be? A short? Is it grounding somewhere?

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If you have a volt meter get me a DC volt reading off of your battery. If you jump the bike off and it still runs when you take the cables off read the battery then too.

 

[Harrywz]

Alright guys, so I got a new battery. I have ridden several times since I got it. I go out this morning to start my bike and the electrical comes on, tach needle does its normal sweep, but when I go to start the engine, I am getting this buzzing noise below my seat (around the battery area), and of course it will not fire up. What do you guys think the problem could be? A short? Is it grounding somewhere?

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It could be the starter solenoid making that noise.

 

[hutru01]

I will see what I can do about getting a volt reading. I am going to disconnect it this afternoon and see if I can trace down the issue. I mean I do have an aftermarket tail light and HID setup.

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[FZER]

My first thought is the alternator. New batteries sometimes need to be charged prior to use too. Lots of varibles....

 

[Crazywb23]

Alright guys, so I got a new battery. I have ridden several times since I got it. I go out this morning to start my bike and the electrical comes on, tach needle does its normal sweep, but when I go to start the engine, I am getting this buzzing noise below my seat (around the battery area), and of course it will not fire up. What do you guys think the problem could be? A short? Is it grounding somewhere?

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The buzzing your hearing is the solenoid try to engage the starter without enough power to fully close the circuit. As far as the battery going dead, it is definitely a short. The real problem is finding it. Start with the wiring that completes the starter circuit. Ignition to relay to starter to battery, also check the alternator, rectifier, battery circuit. There is 2 wires (pos. & neg.) touching somewhere keeping the circuit live. Its a needle in a haystack. Wish you the best of luck....

 

[hutru01]

I figured out what the problem was.....at least I think. The Y connection plug that goes to the battery maintainer (coming from the battery) I think was causing a short due to the cover being off the exposed metal portion of the plug. I put the cover on and secured the plug so the cover wouldn't come off and it started right up. I hope this makes sense to someone. If not, I can take a picture of what I am talking about.


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[FZER]

I figured out what the problem was.....at least I think. The Y connection plug that goes to the battery maintainer (coming from the battery) I think was causing a short due to the cover being off the exposed metal portion of the plug. I put the cover on and secured the plug so the cover wouldn't come off and it started right up. I hope this makes sense to someone. If not, I can take a picture of what I am talking about.


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I'm thinking you are talking about a battery tender plug that has one metal male connector exposed and one female enclosed in plastic. The cover wouldn't make difference unless the exposed connector was touching metal. I leaning towards your new battery was low on juice when you got it and it just needed a good initial charge. OEM battery just died maybe.
Ring Terminal Harness - Accessories - Batterytender.com
Is this the connector?

 

[hutru01]

I'm thinking you are talking about a battery tender plug

That is exactly what I am talking about. Either way, its firing fine now.

 

[hutru01]

Well, dammit. It did it again this morning. This shit is pissing me off. I am thinking about just taking it down to my bike mechanic down the street and have him look at it.

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[hutru01]

This battery is new, so it can't be a dead battery. The buzzing noise is from not getting enough juice from the battery in order to start the bike. Therefore, I think something is draining my battery. Between the Motodynamics Smoked LED Taillight and my HID setup, my bet is on the HID setup. HID bulbs require a good amount of juice to start.

With the HID setup, I have a high / low. I installed a toggle switch for the low beam. For the high beam, it runs on a constant 12V, BUT it doesn't cut on unless the high beam is switched on.

Here is the thing that concerns me, the oem high beam switch will turn the light on if the light switch is flipped up to high (with or without the key in the ignition). I am thinking that is what is draining the battery, even though the light might not be coming on, but the 12V is constantly transferring juice to the ballast for the high beam (just in case it is engaged). Anyone have any thoughts here?

 

[hutru01]

Well, a couple hours later, I tapped the positive leads from the ballast (hi beam/low beam) into the positive end of the starter relay. I decided to take the female disconnect out of the plastic plug that goes into the starter relay. That was a ton of fun! I did that so I could connect all the wires to one female connector and then put it back in the plug. From there, I just plugged it back in and she starts fine. The lights now will not come on unless the key is in the the ignition and turned to the ON position. Even then, I still have a toggle switch that controls the low beam.

Live and learn.