Electric Start Kills The Battery

jasonsed

jasonsed

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I'll start by saying that I'm new to the XS650 and motorcycles in general, but I'm doing my best to learn what's what. I thought I had things worked out and my 1976 XS650 running a few weeks ago, but now I'm having trouble with it again. I first thought it was the charging system, but today I measured the voltage at the battery at about 12.5 when off, 13.1 or so while idling, and then 14.1 or so at around 3000 RPM. Does this increase in voltage alone mean that my charging system is ok? I have found that when I try the electric start I will hear a click and then it seems like the battery gets really weak. My neutral light will dim or turn off completely and the electric start button will no longer respond at all. If I turn the key off and then back on sometimes I'll get a strong neutral light again and sometimes weak/nothing. Can anyone give me an idea of what I should check next based on this information or do you need more details? Thanks for any info!
 
Do you know how old the battery is? Charging looks about right, but battery could be weak. It should be okay to jump it with a car battery (car engine off) to check for that. If starter doesn't turn, don't keep doing it. I haven't heard of a starter locking up. They can fill with oil but will still turn slowly, with a good battery.
 
Check connections and wires, a common problem area is the ground strap from battery to frame. But bad connections can hide in many places. On the bigger wires remove the connector from the bolt, wiggle and pull on it a bit, any looseness or gray corrosion dust falling out means you need to replace connector or wire.
 
I am actually shopping batteries online now just to see prices, but was told that the battery was fairly new when I bought the bike a few months ago. I have a charger that I leave it on and it seems to keep charge nicely. After everything was "dead" when trying the electric start earlier tonight, I used my meter and found the battery still sat at 12.5V, so I don't know why nothing seems to respond at all. The positive terminal is quite corroded, so I will try cleaning that up tomorrow just in case.
 
gggGary said:
Check connections and wires, a common problem area is the ground strap from battery to frame. But bad connections can hide in many places. On the bigger wires remove the connector from the bolt, wiggle and pull on it a bit, any looseness or gray corrosion dust falling out means you need to replace connector or wire.
Click to expand...

Thanks. I'll check on that tomorrow as well.
 
Even new batteries can be bad. Charge the battery. Do you have a multi-meter? If not you should have one. Now hook the test leads to the battery terminals. Crank engine while watching the meter. Volts will drop while cranking. It shouldn't drop below 10 volts or so. If it drops more than that, take your battery out of the bike, charge it completely, take it to a place that sells batteries and ask them to load test it.
This test tells you if your battery has the cranking amps needed to run your starter.
Leo
 
Have your battery load tested to rule it out. Or you could test at home...generally speaking, a good battery shouldn't fall below 9v when you hit the starter button...if yours does, I would suspect a bad battery.
 
Brassneck said:
Have your battery load tested to rule it out. Or you could test at home...generally speaking, a good battery shouldn't fall below 9v when you hit the starter button...if yours does, I would suspect a bad battery.
Click to expand...

Will do. I'll take it to the battery place tomorrow for testing. Currently when I try to start it nothing at all happens and the meter just sits at about 12.5v.
 
Hmm...no clicking on the starter relay? It could be the starter button itself as they can get corroded. Pretty easy to clean if you do need to address that. You could try bypassing the starter button and then just jump the starter relay. You'll get a few sparks, but will be straight power to the starter...see if it cranks without issue.
 
Brassneck said:
just jump the starter relay. You'll get a few sparks, but will be straight power to the starter...see if it cranks without issue.
Click to expand...
That's a great idea. Assuming the starter is ok, that will tell you if the problem is the battery or the wiring.
 
jasonsed said:
I am actually shopping batteries online now just to see prices, but was told that the battery was fairly new when I bought the bike a few months ago. I have a charger that I leave it on and it seems to keep charge nicely. After everything was "dead" when trying the electric start earlier tonight, I used my meter and found the battery still sat at 12.5V, so I don't know why nothing seems to respond at all. The positive terminal is quite corroded, so I will try cleaning that up tomorrow just in case.
Click to expand...

Hi jason and welcome,
first, a PO will tell you anything that will complete a deal, regardless of the truth.
But as you say the battery holds it's charge OK my best guess is the bike has electrical continuity problems.
Don't just clean that corroded positive terminal.
Take apart and clean every single last one of it's electrical connections and reassemble them with smear of dielectric grease.
Then see what happens.
 
You can do a voltage drop test on the starter circuit with your voltmeter in just a few minutes. Connect one lead to the battery positive post and the other lead to the cable connection on the starter. Set the meter to read volts, now watch the meter when you hit the button. The meter reading will correspond to the voltage drop through the circuit, the lower the number the better. Then move the leads to either side of the starter solenoid cable terminals, that will give you a picture of how good the starter solenoid is internally. Don't know what the official specs would be but just measured mine, from the battery terminal and the solenoid out terminal, it shows about .55 volts while cranking.
 
Well, it looks like it was the battery causing my issues. I took the battery to the Batteries Plus place today and it tested fine, but even after being on the charger all night it was only showing 12.5V. I decided to just go ahead and buy a new battery since they said I can return it within 14 days if it didn't help. When I tried the old battery before I removed it today there was no neutral light at all, no headlight, no turn signals, and the horn only made a faint noise. I connected the new battery and right away the neutral light was strong and everything worked. The electric starter sounds like it will work fine as well. Thanks for all the quick responses and now I have some new things to try if I ever start to have issues again. I really hope the battery was the main source of the problems I've had with the bike since buying it and now I can finally just ride it instead of trying to figure out why it seemed to act differently every time I put in the key.
 
jasonsed said:
I am actually shopping batteries online now just to see prices, but was told that the battery was fairly new when I bought the bike a few months ago. I have a charger that I leave it on and it seems to keep charge nicely. After everything was "dead" when trying the electric start earlier tonight, I used my meter and found the battery still sat at 12.5V, so I don't know why nothing seems to respond at all. The positive terminal is quite corroded, so I will try cleaning that up tomorrow just in case.
Click to expand...
Check water level in all cells - malfunctioning chargers can boil water out.
 
Probably not, but keep an eye on water levels in your new battery - must always be above the tops of the plates. I had a malfunctioning float charger that ruined a new battery.
 
I don't like float chargers. They use the batteries internal resistance to control output voltage. This can often over charge a battery.
If you must use a float charger, Don't just hook it up and leave it, hook it up for four hours then unhook and check battery voltage, if still low give it another four hours and check voltage. Repeat till charged.
There are many chargers our there that are safer for your battery. These better chargers have "Smart Technology" They don't rely on battery resistance to control charge voltage. They use an electronic circuit that continuously reads the battery voltage.
Some even have different charge rates. It starts charging at 1.5 amps till nearly charged then drops to about 250-500 milliamps to top off the charge, then shuts of. It still reads the charge if left on so if the charge gets low it starts back up to keeps the battery at full charge, like stored over the winter.
Battery Tender is a popular brand. I like the Schumacher SEM-1562A , About half the price as the Battery Tender and works the same way.
Leo
 

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