Assault on battery

Arfamow

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I commute year round on my 2010GSA. At the weekend it is plugged into an Optimate in the garage. The battery is about two years old and starts the bike ok first thing, but should I stop en route for a short time or, heaven forbid, stall in traffic, it just doesn't want to know - it's as if the battery is flat. If I leave the bike to cool down for 5 minutes it'll start just fine. Anyone got any ideas?


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Take a DVM with you and measure the battery voltage before and during cranking. Or get your battery tested. That way you won’t have to throw parts at it and waste money.
 
If you are going to use it within two days why the optimate ??

Its probably cooked it for you!

May also be worth having a clean of the starter

Lots of commuting = lots of clutch action and likely clutch dust making things rough for the starter
 
Hot engine = less load on battery.

Starting fine from cold = battery ok

Struggling when hot suggests starter is failing. Do some voltage tests. If volts drop no more (or even less) on a struggling hot start compared to cold start it's not the battery.

BTW, my JMT lithium does not have the hard swing from stone cold that the old AGM had, but it always starts and second attempt does fling it over. It's a feature.
 
reckon your battery is on its last legs, and the optimate continues to support it and mask the symptoms.
 
Mine does exactly the same.
As Bendy says, there should be less load starting a hot engine but......
Its the first half revolution. Sometime it just won't go 'over the hump'.
Might be the fact that your trying compress hot mixture - giving higher pressures.....something like that.

Suggest you have a look at your battery. See if its the short version (there will be a 25mm spacer under it).
If it is swap it for a bigger one (Motobatt MBYZ16H/MBYZ16HD) or one of them there new fangled Lithium thingies.
Check cleanliness and tightness of connections.
Clean the starter motor.
 
Been there done that,

Exactly the same symptoms - if you leave the bike to cool it will start -

I added extra leads / cleaned & stripped the starter - new brush pack as well - and a new battery

it still failed to hot start -

Ran diagnostic checks with a helpfull tosser , who diagnosed starter / solenoid failure -

Replaced the starter - £160 for a recon OE starts as t should -- dosent sound great when warm starting, but does start.

The batterys ar'nt the best so an upgrade to a more robust type would help also
 
I also ended up with a remanufactured starter motor. £170 from Motorworks. It's not quite as snappy as the original used to be but it always starts hot or cold.
My original got fried when I had a fuel pump problem. Repeated hot starts trying to find the fault finally killed it.
 
I have the JMT lithium. Weight is under 1kg and it costs £65. Cold cranking amps are 240. The >5Kg Odyssey AGM is only 200 Amps.
The LiFePo starter batteries are not as compact as phone or computer lithiums but they are far safer for engine starting.
Don't be tricked by their seemingly weedy AmpHour capacity. A lead acid starter battery can only deliver 30% of its charge at full current. A lithium can give all of its charge at full current. So a 4Ah lithium is equal to a 14Ah lead acid or AGM = the same thing.
Lithiums are not damaged by standing unused but will be destroyed by an Optimate. Over voltage will kill them.
 
If you are going to use it within two days why the optimate ??

Its probably cooked it for you!

May also be worth having a clean of the starter

Lots of commuting = lots of clutch action and likely clutch dust making things rough for the starter

Good point, I think it all started one Monday morning after about 10 days of not using the bike. I just got into the habit of plugging it in on a Sunday to avoid it happening again.... But I will give the starter a fettle before opening the piggy bank for a new battery.


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I have the JMT lithium. Weight is under 1kg and it costs £65. Cold cranking amps are 240. The >5Kg Odyssey AGM is only 200 Amps.
The LiFePo starter batteries are not as compact as phone or computer lithiums but they are far safer for engine starting.
Don't be tricked by their seemingly weedy AmpHour capacity. A lead acid starter battery can only deliver 30% of its charge at full current. A lithium can give all of its charge at full current. So a 4Ah lithium is equal to a 14Ah lead acid or AGM = the same thing.
Lithiums are not damaged by standing unused but will be destroyed by an Optimate. Over voltage will kill them.

Thanks for the recommendation and details. I'm going to give the starter a check over and assuming all's well at that end there will be a battery on the shopping list....


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Been there done that,

Exactly the same symptoms - if you leave the bike to cool it will start -

I added extra leads / cleaned & stripped the starter - new brush pack as well - and a new battery

it still failed to hot start -

Ran diagnostic checks with a helpfull tosser , who diagnosed starter / solenoid failure -

Replaced the starter - £160 for a recon OE starts as t should -- dosent sound great when warm starting, but does start.

The batterys ar'nt the best so an upgrade to a more robust type would help also

Hmmmmmmm - thanks for the info, I'm going to follow the same route and check/ clean the starter before parting with any cash, but I'll brace myself for a recon starter...


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Will the bike start okay after a weekend where it has been left off the charger??

If no I would go for a new battery

Hmmmmmmm - thanks for the info, I'm going to follow the same route and check/ clean the starter before parting with any cash, but I'll brace myself for a recon starter...


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Hmmmmmmm - thanks for the info, I'm going to follow the same route and check/ clean the starter before parting with any cash, but I'll brace myself for a recon starter...


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Don't forget to clean your battery and starter connections.
 
Using the bike regularly obviously the starter gets more use. There's no need however to use an Optimate as your battery is not left standing for long periods. They are not perfect and can cook a battery.
I went for a lithium because costs are now reasonable and they are claimed to last longer.
 
Using the bike regularly obviously the starter gets more use. There's no need however to use an Optimate as your battery is not left standing for long periods. They are not perfect and can cook a battery.
I went for a lithium because costs are now reasonable and they are claimed to last longer.

Would that be the YTZ14S-FP JMT battery for a 2010 1200 GSA?


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I have the JMT lithium. Weight is under 1kg and it costs £65. Cold cranking amps are 240. The >5Kg Odyssey AGM is only 200 Amps.
The LiFePo starter batteries are not as compact as phone or computer lithiums but they are far safer for engine starting.
Don't be tricked by their seemingly weedy AmpHour capacity. A lead acid starter battery can only deliver 30% of its charge at full current. A lithium can give all of its charge at full current. So a 4Ah lithium is equal to a 14Ah lead acid or AGM = the same thing.
Lithiums are not damaged by standing unused but will be destroyed by an Optimate. Over voltage will kill them.

So, got to Friday evening and what better way to relax than running a few voltage checks...
Resting battery - 13.4v
Cold engine start - drops to 6v (!) But starts
Running on tick over 16v to 17v (!!) Does this indicate a knackered alternator/ regulator?

I wouldn't be happy to connect a lithium battery to this voltage as everything I've read says they die above 15v.....


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