Street Trip conks out again

I stalled it at some lights on the way into work. Restart.... didn't.
Dim warning lights, reluctant starter, then nothing.

That'll be the new reg/rec failed, then.

While waiting for the RAC I idly tried the starter again, and it went.

Cancelled the RAC, got it home, stuck the multimeter on it, and it was
reading 14.08 volts at tickover and 14.30 volts at high revs. Seemed a
trifle high, but Rosners says that is absolutely within spec.

All seems fine. Baffled. Taking it out again. Prace bets now.

 

Sounds about right but it is only an indication of the voltage being
produced, not the amount of work it is doing and is suggestive of the rr
being fit for purpose.

<considers probabilities>

Did it travel more than 53 feet?

 

Using the patented Mavis Beacon "Hunt&Peck" Technique, The Older

Intermittent earth?

 

Indeed, or the battery on the way out Voxan Roadster stylee. That used
to be intermittent before it became terminal. At the Manx a couple of
years ago it would be fine one day and pretty much flat the next. On the
previous occasion it would be literally dead as a nit when you switched
on, or seemingly OK in a random fashion. On those though the batteries
get killed by the heat from the oil tank and rear pipe. Can't see that
happening on a the Street Triple.

--
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+
| Pete Fisher at Home: |
| Aprilia Shiver Yamaha WR250Z/Supermoto "Old Gimmer's Hillclimber" |
| Gilera GFR * 2 Moto Morini 2C/375 |
+-------------------------------------------------------------------+

 

Poor earth contacts? Poorly crimped connectors?

 

I dunno. It had a brand new battery when they replaced the r/r last
year. And it seems fine now. I took the long way into work (as in blat
round the M25 and in on the A12, just to put some decent miles on it).
My neighbour did suggest a dodgy earth, but buggered if I know where
to look for that.

Rosner's said they've had some "issues" with the 675 r/rs, but I knew
that last year when it went phut, because I had to wait 10 days for
the uprated reto-fit one to come in. And it wears that now.

I suppose the thing to do is wait and see if it does it again. I
*hate* intermittent electrical faults and I don't like riding bikes
with "will it, won't it?" hanging over my head.

<Thinks>

I mean, I own a Ducati, FFS. And, ironically, it's been the most
reliable bike I've ever owned, with the possible exception of the K,
but I've only had that a few years whereas I've owned the Duke for
nearly 14 years now.

 

Could indeed be an intermittent or just plain failed battery.

About the only way you'll diagnose this is to fit a voltmeter that displays
constantly whenever the bike is running. If it stops charging you'll suddenly
see the voltage drop from 14-ish to the low 13s or high 12s. Or you may see
high voltages (15+) which are boiling the battery dry. If you always see a
decent charging voltage yet the battery still has episodes then look for
either a wiring fault or a bad battery.

 

But fit the voltmeter where? Across the horn?

And when it dips then you need to stop and wiggle the wires whilst
watching the meter. Hopefully this will sort it out.

In reality it won't. Electrical gremlins are horrible.

 

From the clues we have so far I would start by looking close to the
battery for either duffness or a loose/corroded connection

I tried that once, it hurt.

 

<rummages in handy Ducati supplied list of reasons for non starting>

Sticky fuel pump relay?

 

Why would I do that?

Adding a voltmeter is quite popular for the sport touring crowd who add lots
of electrical load to their bikes. http://www.fjrtech.com/getdbitem.cfm?item=8

Agreed.

Fitting a voltmeter won't guarantee a diagnosis, of course. It's just a
way of getting more information about the state of the system.

 

Nah. The starter was very reluctant to turn, and the warning lights
went dim, and then it went dead.

<Thinks>

Could have been a dodgy starter relay, though. The battery terminals
seemed nice and tight when I put the multimeter over them.

 

Well across the pos of the horn and the earth.

It's a fused connection coming from the wiring. Connecting a new set
of cables for a voltmeter straight to the battery probably won't help
if the fault's in a wiring loom connection.

Yes... but this is to check the charger's working. TOG's problem
sounds like something's broken so the important thing is to measure
after the break, not at the battery (unless it is a faulty battery
which I'd think most unlikely)

As others have stated it's probably a poor connection somewhere. I
had a cracked terminal post clamp once which took bloody ages to find
since the crack wasn't easily visible. Vibration caused it to open
and resulted in misfires etc.

 

Did the engine stall because of poor clutch operation, or did it just
'stop' running at a standstill?

 

I'd say you'd be best off testing for volt drop. There are some clear
notes at:


http://www.aa1car.com/library/voltage_drop_testing.htm


Regards,

RB

 

It stopped because of rider error. I just fumbled the take-off.

But the re-start didn't happen, as detailed.

 

<fx: stamps feet>

No, seems pretty consistent here.

 

Useful site, that. Ta.

 

That'll be because it's a warm day and your airbox got toasted. The
little sensor in there told the computer to change the fuel mix with the
results you experienced. My 595 does this as well. In fact I think you
witnessed it do so on a French run a while ago.

 

So, changing the mixture results in dim warning lights and sluggish
starter. Riiight.