andyp Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 Hi folks. I have a bit of a weird electrical problem on my K7 750. It's relatively low mileage (17k) and I've owned it from new and look after it very well. It's serviced all the time and in good condition etc. Except I keep seeming to have a problem that I thought - until yesterday - was battery related. The bike has a Meta alarm that the insurance company made me have fitted from new. The bike is now on it's third battery - the first one lasted 3 years, the second only a year, this one is only about 4 months old and has been hooked up to an Optimate the whole time. I've not ridden the bike much this year but the charger was drafted in to stop the battery dying. I don't think yesterday's problem relates to the alarm though. I was out yesterday for the first time in about 12 weeks and it started fine. Filled up with petrol after 5 minutes on the road, started again with no problems. Ran around Stirlingshire for nearly an hour and a half without any bother at all. Then as I was getting near home the tacho stopped working, closely followed by the gear indicator which stuck on "4". Then it started mis-firing with the revs dropping quite quickly and it wouldn't respond to any throttle etc. Eventually after half a mile of this it conked out altogether and was acting like the battery was flat. I managed to get my Father in Law to come and jump start it and it ran fine (as far as I could tell) the remaining 2 miles to home. I am fairly sure the battery wouldn't be dead, but it could be a bad connection or something, although it all looks fine at first inspection. It's puzzling me that it acted this way though after being out for so long at relatively decent speeds (motorway, main roads etc.) so the battery should surely have been fully charged, especially since it had been hooked up to the Optimate the whole time. Last time I had this sort of fault, it was the regulator / rectifier on my 93 FZR, but it was a lot older and less reliable than this bike. I am wondering if it's the same sort of thing again with the GSXR. Any ideas? Thanks in advance for any pointers. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BudgetBoy Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 Load test your battery mate.. I have heard of alarms causing faults with bike's before.Have a visual check of all your wires for bad connections.Just 1 bad eath can also do this.. If you have a multimeter you can test the outputs on your bike. Alternator output MAX 32.5 amps @ 5000rpm Regulated voltage 13.5-15v @ 5000rpm Deffo electical. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyp Posted November 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 Cool, I'll try that. My old man is visiting on Friday so he's gonna help me have a look over it. I'm gonna get a multimeter in the meantime to check it myself. It must be something relatively simple but electircal problems are really annoying. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BudgetBoy Posted November 7, 2011 Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 No problem.. There is deffo something not right.. 2007 bike and you are on your 3rd battery. make sure you check the alarm wires/connection's.It could be that your alarm is eating your batteries on your bike,and not the bike itself.The fact that you have had it on there from new points to this (IMO). As i say, Load test battery, you want 11.6+ volts to make it work.Check the plug connections on everything and spray some water repellant on them. Take your time and you will find the problem,if not post again.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyp Posted November 7, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 7, 2011 Will do. Thanks for the pointers mate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyp Posted November 13, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 Ok. I tested the battery today. It was reading 15.20V with the engine off and 16.80V with the engine idling. Revving it up to 5k ish didn't really alter the voltage. My very very extremely cheap just bought multimeter might be reading a touch high though. I tested the car battery and it showed 14.50V. I cleaned the terminals and the connections and it all seems fine. The positive connection has some bare wire showing but it's been like that since new and it's all sound and tidy. Not sure what went wrong last week. Could've been a wee gremlin but in my experience these things don't go away... Bugger. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BudgetBoy Posted November 13, 2011 Report Share Posted November 13, 2011 You need to get yourself a proper multimeter. Those results are way out mate and you wont get anywhere with readings like that.How do you know if your reg/rec is not faulty then? Your battery should be giving between 12-13 volts when bike is off, not 15v.. Is there any PB member near you with a decent multimeter? Its the only way to find the problem IMO. Oh heatshrink or tape up the bare wire on the + side.Last thing you want is it to touch the frame..Actually this could have caused your fault.. Is there any black marks on the underside where your bodywork would sit over the battery? have a looksy.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andyp Posted November 14, 2011 Author Report Share Posted November 14, 2011 Will tape that up and see of I can get a better meter. That one was £3.50 brand new so it's obviously a get what you pay for job. I figured this would happen. The + connection would normally be covered by the wee plastic boot on the end of the cable but the connection for the Optimate stops it going back in place. Back to the drawing board. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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