Battery or reg/rec problem? or something else maybe

[Slinn84]

ok got a bit of a problem with the thundercat 96
after having a valve clearance check a few months ago the battery was totally dead when leaving the garage.
guy came out and gave it a boost and all was good

then about a month later i got to the bike outside uni and tried to start it and after about 2 seconds with the starter button pressed in the battery went flat. bumped the bike off down a hill no problem and all was fine

then yesterday morning went to the bike and tried to start it, yet again after 2 seconds of pressing the starter button in the battery died (the bike dint fire up either in that time) bumped it off again and all was fine

finished work the same day and yet again the same problem. Got a friend with jump leads and connected the battery to his car battery and tried to get it going. The battery would charge up slightly but whne i pressed the starter button it died almost instantly.

what could the problem be? is the battery just knackered cos it bump starts perfectly. or is it the reg/rec not putting any charge back into the battery? or is something draining the battery?

i'm really stressed about it cos i'm due to take the bike to france soon so any help is much appreciated

cheers

[Barry_M2]

You need to get a multimeter on the battery while its running to check the charge its getting.

Or, if its intermittant, it could be a loose earth. Check the connections on the terminals.

[Bezzer]

Sounds like the battery is on it's way out, check the voltage after it's been fully charged before you do the reg/rec check as above. Should be between 12.5-13.2 volts, any lower and it's shagged.
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I used to be indecisive but now I'm not quite so sure.

[Kickstart]

Hi

I would agree that the battery sounds shot.

All the best

Keith
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Traxpics, track day and racing photographs - Bimota Forum - Bike performance / thrust graphs for choosing gearing

[Slinn84]

cheers guys
did the mutimeter checks, and guess what,
the earth connection was loose and corroded. so i cleaned it and tightened it up and all is fine now

checked the voltage and thats fine, shows 12.5 ish without load and when i switch the engine on and rev it to 5000 it shows just under 15 which matches with the manual

gonna get a new battery anyway tho cos i think this ones pretty old

[Guest]

So the garage disconnected the battery to adjust the valve clearances then?


Obviously graduates of Home Mechanics 101

[Slinn84]

well it was a valve clearance service so they did other checks too so yeah they must have removed the battery and not connected it back up properly

think i'll do my own servicing from now on cos this is the second time that i've taken the bike to a garage for work done and its come back worse then it went in

the last time was just a general service and they guy doing it forgot to re-connect the fuel level indicator. when i noticed the problem he said that if i left the bike in over night he'd look at it and find the problem. (thank god for the thundercats self diagnosis system which told me straight away what they ideot had forgot to do)

con artists