Well, my Slo-Ryd left me stranded yesterday a little over an hour from home. I had been experiencing started stall lately but it always started on the second attempt. I knew the battery was a few years old from the looks of it and came with the bike when I got it in March. We stopped for a drink and scooby snacks and I got starter stall, on the next try it kicked in, disengaged and re-engaged causing that dreaded starter ring grind noise but it started. I was parked across the lot and moved over to where the rest of the group was getting geared up to leave. I shut it off and about 5 minutes later when we were ready to go, click, click, click. Took off the seat and I could hear one of the relays fore right of the battery buzzing like crazy. Rechecked the battery terminals by loosening and retightening them down and now as soon as I hit the button, zilch....I lost everything, no headlight, indicator for neutral, oil etc. Oh boy....no fuel pump prime means I can't even attempt pop starting it. I think the circuit breaker reset.
A kind passerby in an old retired ambulance offered a jump start. Connected the cables and it fired right up, however as soon as I removed the cables it died. That relay was buzzing again. Being Memorial Day, everywhere I called was either closed or didn't have a battery in stock. Time for AAA to the rescue.
Instead, my best friend offered to break off the ride, go back home and get his truck and another friends alum Reese ramps instead of having a flatbed hack come get my bike. 2.5 hours later he was back and we got set up to load the bike. I left one of the ramps along the side of the truck and wouldn't you know it a passing car hit an 8' long piece of bright aluminum sitting clearly in plain sight and didn't even stop. One borrowed mangled piece of scrap metal is now 20' down the road:bigsmiley19:
We get it loaded and back home. I called my local Autozone and they were open and surprisingly had an Magna ETX30L in stock for $139. A little research came up as being made by Deka/Eastern Penn Mfg. Cool, I'll pay the price at this point. Ended up being a $350+ day with the battery, new ramps I have to go buy to replace and fuel offering to my well appreciated buddy.
Installed the battery and it fired right up and voltmeter check at the terminals indicated 14.6v at idle. At 2000 rpm though it looks like the voltage drops down to about 13.8v and rises back to 14.6-14.7v when I let it return to idle.
A few things....is that normal charging output? Is there a reason it would die as soon as I removed the jumper cables? Should I follow the charging system check in the self help section and read the stator output, voltage regulator etc. Bike is running perfectly fine and I can't believe it starts with liitle effort now spinning over much quicker than before. I know that old battery was on it's way out anyway.
Hoople any suggestions or are the above tell tale signs of wonky things that'll happen when a battery is dead/damaged. I figured it should've stayed running off the stator/generator for lack of a better word other than alternator like a car does after you jump start them. Like I said, all seems normal now. Thoughts.......
A kind passerby in an old retired ambulance offered a jump start. Connected the cables and it fired right up, however as soon as I removed the cables it died. That relay was buzzing again. Being Memorial Day, everywhere I called was either closed or didn't have a battery in stock. Time for AAA to the rescue.
Instead, my best friend offered to break off the ride, go back home and get his truck and another friends alum Reese ramps instead of having a flatbed hack come get my bike. 2.5 hours later he was back and we got set up to load the bike. I left one of the ramps along the side of the truck and wouldn't you know it a passing car hit an 8' long piece of bright aluminum sitting clearly in plain sight and didn't even stop. One borrowed mangled piece of scrap metal is now 20' down the road:bigsmiley19:
We get it loaded and back home. I called my local Autozone and they were open and surprisingly had an Magna ETX30L in stock for $139. A little research came up as being made by Deka/Eastern Penn Mfg. Cool, I'll pay the price at this point. Ended up being a $350+ day with the battery, new ramps I have to go buy to replace and fuel offering to my well appreciated buddy.
Installed the battery and it fired right up and voltmeter check at the terminals indicated 14.6v at idle. At 2000 rpm though it looks like the voltage drops down to about 13.8v and rises back to 14.6-14.7v when I let it return to idle.
A few things....is that normal charging output? Is there a reason it would die as soon as I removed the jumper cables? Should I follow the charging system check in the self help section and read the stator output, voltage regulator etc. Bike is running perfectly fine and I can't believe it starts with liitle effort now spinning over much quicker than before. I know that old battery was on it's way out anyway.
Hoople any suggestions or are the above tell tale signs of wonky things that'll happen when a battery is dead/damaged. I figured it should've stayed running off the stator/generator for lack of a better word other than alternator like a car does after you jump start them. Like I said, all seems normal now. Thoughts.......