Battery isn't charging?

[ridgerunner609]

For some reason when I go to start my bike it will usually start on the first 2 or 3 cranks but the battery almost feels weak. It will go to start and the whole gauge cluster will go dark like the batteries dead. But if I wait a few seconds and go to crank it, it will start right up. Is this a problem that anyone else has run into? I started it last week and it started fine, same problem as I mentioned and I ran it for about 15-20 minutes before I rode it about a half an hour. Today I rode probably 15 minutes each in 2 different short rides then I let the bike idle for about 20 minutes to see if the battery would charge up some. Is this a known problem with these bikes? Do they not have enough extra in them to charge a low battery? Thanks for any help you can give me.

[Captnpirate]

Try and do a load test on your battery. That will tell you if your battery is good or going bad. If you don't have a load tester, go to your auto parts store (like autozone) and they will do the load test for you. Good Luck.

[JohnC]

canpirate's right, but a couple of questions.

How old is the battery?
Is it the stock battery that came with the bike.
Has the stock battery been replaced with a below manufacture spec battery?
Are you storing the bike in a garage or shed, unheated, not attached to the house?
Are you keeping it outside?
How long, on average, do you go during the winter without riding?

Couple of things to consider.

I've seen new stock batteries go bad in a year while I was deployed, the wife was running the bike once a week for 30 minutes at idle for the whole time I was deployed. Expierance has shown me that the charging system at idle won't adaquately charge the battery on our bikes.

I've also seen batteries freeze, or seem to loose charge because of cold. Remember, cold cranking amps matter a lot, especially when the battery is fighting both ambiant temperature (the battery) and pushing reciprocating mass with cold oil (the bike). The starter will seem weak under these conditions.

Your riding habits during the winter also come into play. If you put up the bike or seldom ride, you might want to invest in a battery tender or a good low amp charger, then charge the batt periodically during non riding months and as soon as the weather warms up.

Sadly, my expierance with storage or not riding often and not periodically charging the battery seperate from the bike has cost me $$s a few times. By all means, get the battery tested, but invest in a tender or charger for the future. It'll save you money in the long run.

Now, whenever I park my C for any length of time, I pull the battery and set it up on a smart battery charger or at least connect a permenant pigtail to the battery and run a battery tender with the battery still in the bike.


Just my two cents.

[Captnpirate]

I put a pigtail on my battery and use a battery tender wheneverI am not going to be riding for more than a day. Just me. Lot's of things to check on and JohnC is right with his questions.

[jhorsf]

I asume you have checked your regulator charging system as they were thousands of faulty regs changed under recall

http://www.suzukimotorcycles.com.au/...igns/road.html


just a thought if your battery is good as i had mine done under recall

[ridgerunner609]

I do believe it's on the compression stroke that its dying but that shouldn't cause the cluster to go black and reset the clock on it should it? I store the bike in an unheated garage during the winter. However it's about a half an hour from me so I try to get it started at least once a month and more than that if possible. I bought it off a stealership at the end of december and they said they put a new battery in it before I bought it. I do intend to get a Battery tender for it I just haven't had a chance to do so yet. My intentions are to take the battery out tonight have it tested then charge it overnight and put it back in the bike and see what happens. Unfortunately in WV in the winter we don't get much riding time. To much snow and cold weather. What is the significance of it being on the Compression stroke? I usually get a couple (2-4) good cranks out of it before the battery really starts to give out and the starter sounds weak. Usually though it starts on the first or second crank. I'm guessing that it's either a bad battery or just weak. What's the story behind the rectifier?

[troutwilly]

I had the same problem when I first got my bike. I was just riding it around the neighborhood getting used to it. It would start right up when cold but would not restart when warm. Turns out it had a 14 Ah battery instead of an 18 Ah. I went with the G-Batt and no problems since. Sometimes sets for 4 weeks but always starts right up. I also changed the positive cable to a heavier universal one as I thought my original was flimsy.

[LASTREBEL74]

I was having the same problem this week. I checked fuses, wires, connections, and couldn't find anything wrong. I over looked the obvious. I had a loose ground on my battery.

[Lemiarty]

I've noticed that when you turn on the engine switch and put it in netural, you can hear a motor running. If it's cold outside and I don't wait for that to stop, it does exactly as you described. However, if I wait for the whirrr to stop, it starts right up.

[Bossmav]

I've noticed that when you turn on the engine switch and put it in netural, you can hear a motor running. If it's cold outside and I don't wait for that to stop, it does exactly as you described. However, if I wait for the whirrr to stop, it starts right up.

Plus 1

Also I feel you may have a bad battery, do the load test as Captnpirate said, that will tell you if its bad or not. I just got mine replaced last week it was fine on the charger but would die right away when put on the bike. I was luck it was still under the one year warranty for batteries plus.

[Larry L]

I was having the same problem this week. I checked fuses, wires, connections, and couldn't find anything wrong. I over looked the obvious. I had a loose ground on my battery.

First check for loose wire. If the connections are not tight, you can get those kind of problems.

[cruzin109]

I too have had this problem, my issue once was corrosion o the battery cables, the other time was the negative cable had come loose

[RadGen]

I just had my rectifier replaced last week after I found out about the recall.
I killed a battery last year and I,m sure it was the rectifier that caused it.