Starting Woes - Ducati.ms

Col · Mar 2nd, 2009, 4:41 pm

Got up early this morning to get a good run to work, but alas my Hyper decided it didnt want to start.

I replaced the original battery as I thought it was bad seeing as it did not seem to be holding power even after having it on a tender for 3 days. when i press the starter and release sometimes there's a whine sound from the solenoid other times it just clicks and the dash resets.

I put the new battery in, charged it up a bit and the bike started fine straight away. so i thought ok bad battery all fixed now just needed more amps to crank i.

This morning however, when i try to start the bike after checking it is in neutral, i press and release the starter, and get the same starting problems again.

When i had the bike started voltage was around 13.4-14V depending on revs. so do i maybe have a bad alternator that is not charing the battery when running?

any ideas guys?

Caidly · Mar 2nd, 2009, 5:30 pm

Not much to add except I doubt it's the alt/gen.

dave2riff · Mar 2nd, 2009, 7:33 pm

Let's assume your new battery is good-- if you re-charge it over night,
does it still have the problem? If it does not start with a fully charged
battery, you can cross off the charging system, but you may have a problem
where something on the bike is drawing current while it is parked, draining
the battery over time to the point where the bike won't start. If the
problem is serious enough, you may have to re-charge the battery while
it is disconnected form the bike, so that the charge current is not
just being robbed by the bike.

Another possiblity if the bike doesn't start with a full, freshly re-charged
battery:
Sometimes what happens with battery cables is that they develop
high resistance connections; when you are trying to pull lots of current
to drive a starter, the cable connections all have to be clean and tight,
or the voltage drop generated at the dirty connection will not allow the
starter to turn. Sometimes you can actually feel the connection heating
up. So that would be the first and easiest thing to check... make sure the
connections at the battery cables are both very clean and snugged tight.
I use contact cleaners like Caig Deoxit on mine.

If that doesn't work, man, you're hosed.

The trouble-shooting gets
a lot more complicated after the first few steps are exhausted. Let us
know what you find out...

Col · Mar 3rd, 2009, 6:15 am

howdy,

bike starts first crank when fresh off the tender when i put the new battery in. this battery is the one in the bike now in a non working state

battery contacts were the first thing i checked, also checked the 30A fuse at the solenoid, the contacts at the solenoid are fine also.

i suspect its the charging system as although there is sufficient voltage in the battery i think the lack of amps is causing the starter to not work and also because the dash and lights turn off then on after i press the starter which is probably from there being not enough amps.

BigHoss · Mar 3rd, 2009, 10:57 pm

Hmmm....so the battery is not connected to the bike but is on the battery tender, then you install the battery and cables and she fires up fine?

If the above is the case it could be....bad battery even though it is new. Hey Bad Cells happen in new batteries. Not sure this wee little battery can be load tested, if it can then that would help diagnose a bad cell.

Voltage drain when the bike is shut down and sitting.

a) Charge up the battery, install it, fire up the bike, if it fires up then disconnect the cables so the bike is in no way connected to the battery and let it set overnight off the battery tender, reconnect the cables in the moring and see if it cranks up . If it does not fire up then you may have a bad cell in the battery.

b) If the bike cranks up then it's time so see if there is a voltager drain. Charge the battery fully. Connect the cables, see if she fires up. If she does then let the girl sit overnight with the cables connected, come out in the morning and see if she fires up. If the girl refuses to crank then you can start looking for the cause of the voltage drain.

Others will have to pipe in here to trace a voltage drain as I have little experience in Ducati electrics.

I have caught myself turing the key to far and putting the bike in a parking light mode....I believe it will shut off after a period of time but the battery in the HYM is small and a slight decrease in voltage does affect the electronics on this bike, well at least mine.

Possible but not likely is the charging system, charge the battery, fire it up and see if you have charging voltage and that it is sufficient to charge the battery. If not it could be a bad ground somewhere, could be the connectors at the altenator, could be the connectors at the volatge regulator. I have seen corrosion cause charging issues, badly crimped connectors and so on.

Man this is where analytical thought, logical transitions, detective work and blind luck come to play.....Hope I gave you some ideas and good luck.

And thanks to CTarna: http://ctarna.com/Info/Charge.pdf This is good JUJU...

Hyper1 · Mar 3rd, 2009, 11:25 pm

That nasty kill switch will prevent a likely start every time if you know what I mean.....

Col · Mar 4th, 2009, 1:09 am

made sure the kill switch is in the right position dont worry hehe
2nd Ducati now (i must be mad) i know what im doing... i think... lol

Col · Mar 4th, 2009, 1:11 am

Hi Big Hoss

Thanks for the ideas

I will try the original battery which i've had on the tender (off the bike) and see if she fires up when i get home tonight.