Battery Troubles 02 R1

Hey Everyone,

Got a question for you all. 2 months ago I hoped on my 2002 R1 (5000 hard
kms) to go home from work and I had a flat battery. The bike simply would
not start. Put a new battery in and everything was fine. Today I again hoped
on my bike to go home and the same thing, flat battery. Got a lift home,
picked up the jumper leads and the beast started straight away.

Now, I ride 6 kms five days a week to work in the crap Sydney traffic at
crawling speeds most of the time and I think this has a lot to do with the
problem. Being a litre bike I believe that it simply does not have time to
charge the battery. Am I correct in this assumption?? Or do I have an
electrical problem? I did install a Cheetah (crap) alarm just before my
first battery problem, although I don't think this has anything to do with
it, or does it?? The alarm was going nuts when I returned to the bike,
turning on even after I disarmed it. The alarm is supposed to have a low
battery turn off or something!!

What's your opinion on this??

Cheers,
AlexV

 

Oh, yeah, it does.

Either rip the alarm out ('02 R1's are so yesterday; who steals them any
more), or start riding the bike a lot more.

 

Thanks for the reply IK. Why does the alarm drain so much battery? If I hook
up a charger to the battery do you think I can save it?

AlexV

 

It doesn't actually chug much power, but if it's running all day while
the bike's parked out on the street in the CBD, and all night in your
inner-city garage, it adds up.

Only one way to find out. Those gel-cell batteries Yamaha put in the
R-sisters are tough, so there's hope for it yet; the one out of my '00
model R1 had enough juice left in it to start another R1 after sitting
on concrete for something like five months.

All things considered, though, a couple of laps of Ye Olde Roade will
achieve the same effect as leaving the battery on the charger overnight,
and they'll do so in less time and with a higher fun coefficient.

If all you're doing is splitting traffic to work and back during the
week, and the round trip's only 12km, in your position, I'd think about
getting a scooter.

 

Just fucking walk!

-----sharks (or, well, ride a pushie.)

 

could be, running at low speed with the headlight on and all

twill...wot IK said
the alarm will draw 50mA or so, continued operation will run down the
battery, check current draw on alarm

The alarm was going nuts when I returned to the bike,

it may well have a battery back up siren, in the case of a flat battery
the siren will assume it has been disconnected and sound until its own
battery goes flat, unless you turn it off with the key

usually when battery runs down; there may be enough power available for
the alarm to turn off, then you try to start the bike, the voltage goes
right down, you release the starter cos it wont start, the volts come up
a bit and the alarm turns back on

not right up on current alarms, but it would be unusual for an alarm to
have a low battery turning off feature

get a trickle charger and put it on at night...or at work, whichever's
easier

 

Although I'm not familiar with the specs of your bike:
If you're riding with the headlight on at low revs & possibly your fan is
also coming on, on top of the alarm's power consumption, that would explain
the battery drain.
Either using a trickle charger overnight or a Day headlamp cover instead of
your lights may solve the problem.
Grump.

 

so is that 5000 k's of hard crawling?

ck

 

< applause>

Theo

 

Do you have a mulit-meter?
If so check the charging voltage across the battery with the bike at
idle will all things on.As a rule-of-thumb a standard 12v bike system
should show around 14v + a little.Both my bikes run at 14.2v on idle
with all gear on and these are 25 year old bikes but new-ish
batteries.

Check you motorcycle manual/troubleshooting section for correct
parameters etc.

I've also converted as many bulbs as possible to LEDS to help the old
charging systems,
http://www.geocities.com/sheppola/cx500/leds1.html

This sounds like a charging system/battery fault to me because even
short regular journeys should no flatten that fast IME otherwise every
commuter whether in a car or on a bike would have been complaining for
years,which they haven't.

 

~
No I measure mulits by hand.

 

Heh,Heh
Twerp ;-)

 

It's not necessary to measure them...

you can make a close estimate by checking the grottiness of the flannies.

G-S