| Author |
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Jim2
| | Posted on Monday, June 13, 2016 - 09:04 pm: | 
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Wait 20 minutes and see if you have lights again. See if it starts. There is a resettable 30A Buss fuse (Bi-metallic thermal reset). Be careful not to arch, spark, and weld stuff. It can happen pretty easy around that fuse as it's the main point of power for everything and the frame it very narrow there. (at least on the M2, not super familiar with X1)
Make sure the positive on your battery isn't pointed down as it could arc to the battery strap. Mine has to contact the battery with the positive wire in the horizontal position or it can and has arced. I found that event a three or four degree droop was the difference between arching and not. I'm pretty sure I have fried a perfectly good and brand new battery when that happened. I've added additional heat shrink to help prevent this. |
Harleyelf
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 - 12:06 am: |
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You might have an intermittent short in the starter, or a bad ground on the battery cable where it meets the frame. |
Hootowl
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 - 09:11 am: |
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Yeah, sure sounds like a bad ground if the lights went out when you tried to start. Or, again, it could be the battery. A cracked post will do that too. |
Natexlh1000
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 - 11:17 am: |
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I had a couple of bad batteries that did that.
Measured 12.5V with no load but as soon as ignition turned on, dead as doornail.
Died like that with no warning too.
Cranked over normally in the morning, dead when ready to go home from work. |
Richx186
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 - 04:16 pm: |
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Just checked battery disconnected from bike 12.9, hooked it up to system without key in it drops to 10.7. So yea was cruzin yesterday, five mins into ride and after a 3 min warm up period I downshifted to get some torque action and she gave like a lil miss or something, accelerated good through that small pull, upshifted to fourth then fifth and just sat at 55 mph to wait for my buddy, maybe 15 sec go by at about 2800 rpms and starts braking up like crazy like the electrical system is turning on and off and firing the fuel injectors wenever it had power, slowly pulled over as it was dying and then it shut off, relays buzzing again and dash lights pulse on and off a lil, blinkers work headlights do not, horn faintly works. |
01x1buell
| | Posted on Tuesday, June 14, 2016 - 05:25 pm: |
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i am thinking it has to be a ground issue |
Harleyelf
| | Posted on Thursday, June 16, 2016 - 12:42 pm: |
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Have you examined the ECM for cracks and damage? |
01x1buell
| | Posted on Thursday, June 16, 2016 - 05:02 pm: |
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well we havent had much time but we did get the brand new battery load tested and it is shot. just under 2hrs off riding and it killed the battery. so that is a starting point. we are going to check the grounds first then go from there. has anyone ever experienced this before |
Jim2
| | Posted on Thursday, June 16, 2016 - 06:49 pm: |
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I had a very similar experience. Turns out I had several problems. The insulation on my stator wires was crumbling (inside the primary cover) and shorting out to engine case. My Voltage Regulator was shot. I had a bad ignition switch where the red positive wire was almost broken all the way through but still hanging on by two small strands of wire. Vibrations would cause the ignition to "touch more wire" from time to time.
Very hard to say what problem came first or which one caused what damage for sure. Maybe more than one did?
Along the way I blew up existing battery (literally), speedo sensor, blown headlight, blown blinker module, blown tail light bulb, blown up tachometer (I still need to replace this).
I replaced the voltage regulator and the blinker module, speedo sensor, headlight and battery. At this point I did not know that the stator or ignition switch was bad. The new battery died shortly. Measured good voltage but couldn't take a load.
Found ignition switch wire bad and replaced it. New battery again. Didn't last long again. Same thing.
Found stator wires bad. Replaced stator. New battery. All is well now and has been for some time.
During this ordeal I have checked every wire, connector, ground, etc. , and have put heat shield tubing over all wires from voltage regulator to stator.
When you do your stator checks with the volt/ohm meter do the complete check per manual. I think I originally half-assed my check and overlooked the shorted to case stator. The A/C voltage output from the stator with the voltage regulator disconnected was correct and did follow RPM in correct range as stated in the manual. The resistance between the two stator pins was correct according to manual. The resistance from stator pin to frame (either one) should have been my clue. Maybe a nicer meter with decent leads would have helped, I thought it was ok at first but it wasn't. If I remember right it's a small value and seems it would read one value one time and another value on re-check. I ignored it and chocked it up to bad meter leads. |
01x1buell
| | Posted on Thursday, June 16, 2016 - 07:05 pm: |
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Well thank you very much for that info. I replaced the VR last year. And just replaced the ignition. All the tests checked out fine. But again like you said maybe we overlooked a small details in the testing. |
01x1buell
| | Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2016 - 04:23 pm: |
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ok an update. turned out the stator was going bad. so we replaced it last weekend. everything tested great and no problems. was ridin for almost a week around 200 miles and then it died again. WTF NOW so the battery is good and now when we go to start it it just clicks. new ignition and i also jumped the ignition and tried that and noting. so now i have no idea what it could be except a bad VR that might have killed the battery. if the stator was bad could that have killed the VR?? |
Reepicheep
| | Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2016 - 04:36 pm: |
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I can't think of any obvious way a bad stator can kill a VR. A bad battery could hurt one though. And hooking a bike up to a running car is likely to hurt a VR. |
Hootowl
| | Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2016 - 04:55 pm: |
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Have you checked the solenoid contacts? (I mentioned this earlier, but don't see where you've said this has been checked.) |
01x1buell
| | Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2016 - 05:07 pm: |
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yes we did. well i didnt but the owner did. i believe that the bike is still killing batteries. i cant figure it out it is driving me nuts |
Jim2
| | Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2016 - 05:54 pm: |
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This is very frustrating.
If you do get another battery put electrical tape over the positive after you install it to ensure that there is no arching of the battery. I think the AGM's are very sensitive.
Hopefully your battery is under warranty and you can just get it replaced. |
01x1buell
| | Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2016 - 05:58 pm: |
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well i just went to take the battery out and i noticed that all of the acid was missing so there is a problem right there. |
Hootowl
| | Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2016 - 06:10 pm: |
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Are you not using a sealed AGM type battery? |
01x1buell
| | Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2016 - 06:20 pm: |
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well when the last battery fried from the stator i guess he got the cheap kind. not my bike so now i am going to add acid and charge and see what happens then go get the right one |
Reepicheep
| | Posted on Thursday, July 07, 2016 - 09:52 pm: |
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Check your grounds for the VR. It's a shunt regulator, so if the grounds aren't good, its not a regulator. |
Harleyelf
| | Posted on Friday, July 08, 2016 - 12:09 pm: |
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That acid went somewhere. Before you replace it, take the battery out and place it in an acid-proof container. Allow it to take a charge before replacing it in the bike or you might be creating a serious mess. |
01x1buell
| | Posted on Sunday, July 10, 2016 - 05:47 pm: |
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so i went and returned the battery and upgraded it to the right battery. so everything is fine. he was riding it and it killed the battery again. i have checked all aspects of the charging system and everything checks out fine. i just dont get it anymore. i am absolutely stumped and kinda getting pissy her. any other ideas the bike is not here anymore so i am trying to help him from the phone. thanks |
Harleyelf
| | Posted on Sunday, July 10, 2016 - 08:29 pm: |
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Time to check the charging system. Shorts to ground from the stator wires are common. If you have the correct AC voltage (28 - 54) at the stator and the correct DC voltage (14.3 - 15.0) at the battery when running, there is a short to ground somewhere. Try taking the headlamp fuse out and see if it still kills batteries. |
01x1buell
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 - 05:00 pm: |
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well i think we might have narrowed it down ( i hope) turns out that when the bike died he messed with (wires) in the front end bhy the steering stem area and the bike started and then died again. so that leads me to believe that there might be a worn wire in there or a broken wire who knows i can only hope |
Two_seasons
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 12, 2016 - 10:48 pm: |
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01x1...check each discrete wire by sliding between thumb and forefinger. If there is a break inside the insulator, you'll find it that way. |
01x1buell
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 13, 2016 - 06:02 pm: |
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i will do that this weekend thanks we gotta get this sorted out |
01x1buell
| | Posted on Tuesday, July 19, 2016 - 05:43 pm: |
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so i went through all the wires in the front from underneath the fuel tank to the end. i didnt really find much but some corrosion in the connectors under the tank no cracked wires . so i still have to figure out what would randomly cook the battery??? any other ideas. i am stumped here |
Two_seasons
| | Posted on Wednesday, July 20, 2016 - 03:34 am: |
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Yeah, my broken wire (broken inside the insulation) was underneath the tank.close to the steering head.
Have you checked the connections to the main breaker. It's right above the battery.
I would agree with the others, you seem to have a ground issue or something is intermittently shorting out. The wire bundle under the tank and close to the steering head is a lot of wires. With the gas tank turned sideways, watch just how much those wires move back and forth while you turn the handlebars lock to lock. And all those wires are old too. Wire insulation, over time, gets really brittle.
I'm there with you via the internet. Good luck and keep posting your findings. |
Richx186
| | Posted on Thursday, July 28, 2016 - 07:59 am: |
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If battery was cooking I figured I needed a new voltage regulator, figured old one was overcharging the battery, got a brand new one, bike didn't even make a mile and cooked 6th battery, is there anywhere I can take this bike to be looked at? I'm stumped. I mean the bike doesn't even have 20K on it... |
Reepicheep
| | Posted on Thursday, July 28, 2016 - 10:02 am: |
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Overcharging has to be a problem with the regulator or the associated wiring.
I'd hope a good independent shop would be happy to take a look at it. |
S1owner
| | Posted on Thursday, July 28, 2016 - 02:13 pm: |
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Does not matter what the shop works on as long as they have a guy that knows electrical!! Some say they do but are shotty at best. I have had luck around me with small independant owner shops |
