Last year I rewired my bike, install a shorai battery, and had no issues. This year I am having issues with the starter. Sometimes it works but it hasn't for the past few days. I checked the starter relay and if I bridge the poles it doesn't start ( I believe that means that the starter relay selinoid is good.) The battery is pumping out 13.+ I double checked the positive and negative connections and all looks good. I'm starting to think it's the starter. Anyone have any thoughts?
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Starter issue
- Thread starter Captmilk
- Start date
Connect a digital VOM across the battery terminals to read voltage. Watch how low the voltage reads as you push the starter button. If the battery is good, the voltage should not go below 10 volts. If it goes below 10 volts, then the battery does not have the capacity to supply the high current needed by the starter motor.
Mine did the same thing...would work, and them intermittently, then not at all....turns out, the seal had failed on the starter motor and over time it filled with oil. Ultimately, I replaced it. But once I cleaned my old one, it worked great...so they can be saved. 
Quickest way to check the starter motor is to connect a jumper wire to it directly from the positive side of the battery (under the bike the starter motor only has one terminal= positive with a big black wire attached to it, the starter grounds through the bolts holding it to the engine) Make sure the bike is in neutral before you touch it with any juice... and if it spins, your starter motor is fine. If it doesn't, it's bad. You could use your car battery (with a jumper from the positive to the starter motor, and connect the negative to a good ground on the bike) if you are wondering if your shorai is at fault.
Here's one link to a recent thread that shows how to test the start/starter switch, etc.
http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41771
Quickest way to check the starter motor is to connect a jumper wire to it directly from the positive side of the battery (under the bike the starter motor only has one terminal= positive with a big black wire attached to it, the starter grounds through the bolts holding it to the engine) Make sure the bike is in neutral before you touch it with any juice... and if it spins, your starter motor is fine. If it doesn't, it's bad. You could use your car battery (with a jumper from the positive to the starter motor, and connect the negative to a good ground on the bike) if you are wondering if your shorai is at fault.
Here's one link to a recent thread that shows how to test the start/starter switch, etc.
http://www.xs650.com/forum/showthread.php?t=41771
FLEA
XS650 Guru
just been through same thing ,battery read good but starter didn't work ,replaced battery and all good..sometimes when battery is on the way out it can give a false reading ,mine finished up not even wanting to kick start but still showed 12.4 volts
No, its not really a false reading, its just a meaningless reading. A motorcycle/car/truck battery cannot be judged on the terminals voltage alone. That's why we have something called a Load Test. A battery that is worn out internally, maybe having a shorted cell, etc., can still read 12 volts, or even 13 volts if someone had a charger on it recently. Once you put a heavy load on that same battery, the terminal voltage can drop to 5 or 6 volts. Commercial load testers use a very high wattage resistor, but a starter motor on our bikes also functions as a load test, because they draw 75 to 100 amps.
When someone posts about their starter being weak or not cranking, it has a very good chance of being a dying or dead battery. Yes, starter motors can fail, but they fail much,much less often than batteries. A starter motor can last 30 or 40 years or more, but a battery seldom lasts longer than 10 years, and usually less.
I tested the batter after clicking the starter and it stayed at 13.+ I tested the starter side wire while clicking the start button and it was 12.876 after clicking the start button and 0 when not. The battery side eire is also at 12.876
Those readings show that there is no current flow going to the starter motor. You could also check the large cable and terminal at the starter motor itself, in case it was badly corroded causing high resistance. If that connection is good, then its time to drain the oil and remove the starter motor.
There should be plenty of starter motors for sale, since so many lads prefer to use the kick starter.
FLEA
XS650 Guru
agreed rg.. was just doing a simple explantion as a lot of people just put a multi meter on the battery but you explained it extreamly well
