Kawasaki ER6(ninja 650) 2013 - Battery not charging?

[Wadge]

Hi. The battery keeps going flat on my ER6. I usually put it on an optimiser but have forgotten to do so recently and it ran flat the other day when I was out and I stopped for fuel, assistance came out and it jump started immediately.

What I want to know is there any way I can test if it is the battery that isn't accepting the charge or if its the regulator rectifier/alternator or whatever else?

When the assistance guy was checking it he had the multi meter on the battery terminals and when he revved the engine the voltage was dropping, he said it should be going up. Thanks in advance.

[davebike]

Charge battery
Start bike
use good multi meter to check voltage across battery at:-

Idle 12/13v
revving at running speed 4/6k revs 14/14.8 v


higher idle volts suspect battery poor (high resistance )
no or poor increase in volts is charging problem

If bike has a charging problem after repair a new battery is a very good idea as using a bike battery deep cycle i.e. using bike with faulty charging system by charging up the battery as running may well dammage the battery
____________________
Dave
NC750Xdct + others at work !
davebike1@gmail.com

[Rogerborg]

If the voltage across the terminals is low with the engine running then either the reg/reg is hosed, or the stator isn't producing voltage, or that there's a problem with the wiring.

Unplug the reg/rec and have a look at the contacts. Are any of them burned or damaged? After that, you'll need to buy a multimeter yourself to diagnose it. £5 gets you a usable one. Don't just start replacing parts randomly in the hope you'll fix it, that can get expensive.

Hang on, if it's within the 2 year warranty, it's Kawasaki's problem. Don't mess with it.

If it's out of warranty, it should still be "durable" for 6 years. Batteries are arguably consumables. Stators and reg/recs are not (not even on Hondas). You don't ask, you don't get.
____________________
Biking is 1/20th as dangerous as horse riding.
GONE: HN125-8, LF-250B, GPz 305, GPZ 500S, Burgman 400 // RIDING: F650GS (800 twin), Royal Enfield Bullet Electra 500 AVL, Ninja 250R because racebike

[RhynoCZ]

3 yellow wires from the stator - AC around 60v when running.
Battery terminals - DC above 12v on its own; DC around 13.5v at idle (definitely above 12v).

1, Stator giving AC? - CHECK
2, Getting DC after the REC- CHECK
3, Getting DC 12+v after the REG - CHECK
4, Battery holding the charge - CHECK

The last thing to check is the wiring, but I don't think that would be the problem, speaking of a 2 years old motorcycle made in Japan. Damaged wiring causes short circuits. Be careful, especially with the 3 yellow wires and their connector to the rest of the bike. People tend to not give a feck about it, let the oxidation build up on it, which then burnes their connector and stator.

Anyway, if it's under warranty, don't touch a thing.
____________________
'87 Honda XBR 500, '96 Kawasaki ZX7R P1, '90 Honda CB-1, '88 Kawasaki GPz550, MZ 150 ETZ
'95 Mercedes-Benz w202 C200 CGI, '98 Mercedes-Benz w210 E200 Kompressor

[Wadge]

Thanks for the ideas, got a couple of things to try there.

I have a multimeter, not entirely sure what setting to use it on, could someone tell me? It's this one.

https://i.imgur.com/5ZxS4H4.jpg

It's out of warranty unfortunately, I may go in and ask before I buy anything but for now I'll have a look myself.

[Wadge]

Just been out with the multimeter.

I think the results are a bit skewed as the bike has been on an optimiser since I got in from work so the battery had trickled up to 14v.

Engine off: 14v
Pressing ignition: Dropped to about 8/9v but started immediately
Idle: 14v
Revving 4-6k: 13.5v

With the ignition turned on but with the engine off(lights/dash on etc) the battery was just losing power sat there... I know it will, obviously. But seemed quite fast? It was dropping .01v every second at least, is this normal?

[kawakid]

The battery shouldn't drop down so much when starting it.

I have had exactly this and it was the battery.

I'll go outside and try my er6 and come back and post.
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I've a twin and a 4.

[kawakid]

It's your battery, mine dropped to about 10.89 when cranking.

About 14.3 whilst revving
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I've a twin and a 4.

[grr666]

I'll keep an eye on mine then as it's the same age although it's started keenly every single time so far.
2 years is not much of a lifespan for a battery though. It took 7 years before the one on my car needed replacing.
____________________
Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[kawakid]

Batteries go if you don't look after them.

I take mine out of the bike and bring inside in winter. But still place them on an Optimate once a month.

Even at this time of year if the bike isn't run for a week I'll pop it on for a night.
____________________
I've a twin and a 4.

[grr666]

That's my point, I haven't ever done anything to mine except disconnect it once to hard wire in some terminals for my Garmin.
I only ride for fun and have been unexpectedly pretty busy this year, so have only found a few opportunities
for a rideout. It's never been charged since buying the bike. I don't own a bike battery charger and my
car one would probably fry it as it's for 1800cc vehicles or above according to the front of it. I tried
to charge a neighbours flat 1.2 Corsa battery with it a few weeks back and nigh on boiled the thing in just
8 hours on the slow charge setting. They had to buy a new one.
____________________
Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[Wadge]

[grr666]

https://www.tayna.co.uk/Kawasaki-ER6-F-N-06-650-cc-Motorcycle-Batteries-D14384.html

I've used Tayna about 6 times over the years. Always competitive and excellent packing and despatch.
Usually arrives next day if you order in the AM.
Out of that lot I'd probably buy the Varta one.
Have a Varta on both my cars, good batteries.
____________________
Currently enjoying products from Ford, Mazda and Yamaha
Ste wrote: Avatars are fine, it's signatures that need turning off.

[Jewlio Iglesias]

The ER6 is not a Ninja.
____________________
21:41:40 petalbriefs: look phil, I dont preach to you about bowling pins or whatever, so you stick to that and I'll stick to cars
21:38:18 Northern Monkey: chav lives in the garage with an almax on it
21:34:54 rhys99: My train got stuck in heavy traffic

[kawakid]

[Jewlio Iglesias]

OP is not in the States. Neither are the majority of BCF.
____________________
21:41:40 petalbriefs: look phil, I dont preach to you about bowling pins or whatever, so you stick to that and I'll stick to cars
21:38:18 Northern Monkey: chav lives in the garage with an almax on it
21:34:54 rhys99: My train got stuck in heavy traffic

[Val]

[Wadge]