Cold cranking amps

flo3flo

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Hayle, Cornwall, UK
Had the bike on trickle charge over night. (Optimate 6)
Went for a ride today and on first start, the starter motor didn't sound as rapid as it used to.
After a two mile ride to the petrol station, I turned the bike off to fill up (5 minutes)
Started it, but now the starter motor sounded even worse. It was noticeably more hesitant between turns. It still started on a single press.
I suspect that the battery is beginning to die.
Any thoughts.


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flo3flo said:
Had the bike on trickle charge over night. (Optimate 6)
Went for a ride today and on first start, the starter motor didn't sound as rapid as it used to.
After a two mile ride to the petrol station, I turned the bike off to fill up (5 minutes)
Started it, but now the starter motor sounded even worse. It was noticeably more hesitant between turns. It still started on a single press.
I suspect that the battery is beginning to die.
Any thoughts.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Check battery contacts, if OK then buy new battery and try that :D
 
Checked the contacts. They appear fine.
The multimeter readings are:
Off : 12.7 volts
Key on : 12.4 volts
Starter cranking : 8.0 volts
S
Engine running : 14.3 volts.



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Cranking volts are down by at least 2 volts so you may well have a failing cell in the battery. Repeat the engine cold start, switch off immediately and check the battery voltage. If its showing 10.5 to 12.5 you have one cell that's just gone flat with the effort of starting the engine.
 
Batteries are just one of those things that you gotta think, do i really want to be worrying about this?

Once they start to fuck up, best to get a new one for peace of mind. Motobatt yellow :thumb:
 
If it starts fine with a jump lead of another battery (donor engine NOT running) you'll have proved your bike battery is weak. If there's no difference, you've proved it's not the bike battery so need to check the heavy cable terminals (positive and earth).
 
Bendy toy said:
If it starts fine with a jump lead of another battery (donor engine NOT running) you'll have proved your bike battery is weak. If there's no difference, you've proved it's not the bike battery so need to check the heavy cable terminals (positive and earth).
Click to expand...

Still, not necessarily. I've had it on a previous bike where the battery showed normal voltage, optimate reported it as fine, but as soon as you tried to draw any power through it, it would just collapse - jumped it from another bike, a car, a different car... nothing. Swapped the battery... Fine.
 
BigDan said:
Still, not necessarily. I've had it on a previous bike where the battery showed normal voltage, optimate reported it as fine, but as soon as you tried to draw any power through it, it would just collapse - jumped it from another bike, a car, a different car... nothing. Swapped the battery... Fine.
Click to expand...

Occasionally a battery cell will go short circuit - the current from the donor battery will just flow through the short, not the starter motor, until such time as the cell fuses or the donor battery goes flat. Could be messy.
 
To be fair I've had that but the symptom was bright lights until hitting the starter then nothing.
The battery looked fine on Optimate but had almost no charge capacity and can even short out the donor when trying jump leads. Optimate on charge went to green lamp very quickly.
When one cell goes down you sluggish starting and sometimes the engine turns over but volts have dropped too much to drive the ECU. Again the Optimate can quickly show its all ok. It can't test cells individually.
 
A multimeter will not tell you what CCA it is putting out, you need to go to a local garage and get a proper tester on it. If the battery is fubar'd the tester will know within seconds and display "Replace Battery" in the digital read out. Sorted. Everything else is just fannying around.
 
When checking for a dud battery by jumping from another battery.....disconnect the dud one first.
 
BigDan said:
Batteries are just one of those things that you gotta think, do i really want to be worrying about this?

Once they start to fuck up, best to get a new one for peace of mind. Motobatt yellow :thumb:
Click to expand...

Absolutley - no point in arseing about :)
 
Sgt Bilco? More like Captain Sensible! I ordered one too on that advice/recommendation. Good enough for you blah blah.

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Fit a Shorai or Ballistic.
10% discharge after 12 months.
No need to trickle charge.
Whack's the engine over harder for longer.
MUCH smaller.
Put it by the ABS block under the petrol tank and forget about it. Use the old battery box to carry a spare fuel can for when the fuel strip goes titsup.
 
Resold the cheap stuff before opening the motor.
It could also be carbon build up from the brushes and needs a good clean inside. New brushes are not costly.
 
Nippy Normans supply Touratech, Wunderlich, Desert Fox and many other makes of accessories.
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