[Socaldiablo]

Hey all ...it's been awhile since I've been on this forum. My 06' ST3 had been running completely fine until this morning. I pulled it out of the garage, started it up, everything seemed normal and while it warmed up I was gearing up. Just as I was about to leave, I noticed the check engine light come on. I've had the bike for 6.5 years and it's been pretty much bullet-proof during that time. I shut the bike off and attempted to restart it to see if the check engine light would come on again. This time, it turned over for a second, then stopped cranking even with the starter button depressed. I then tried again and this time it's not even turning over and the dash lights were flickering as I held the starter button down. At that point, I rolled it back into the garage.

The last service I did was this past January when I changed the oil & filter, cleaned the DP air filter, replaced the starter switch, and serviced the fuel system with new hoses, filter, O-rings, clamps.

Since the bike is not even turning over, I don't think it's fuel pump-related. Seems to be something electrical, maybe a bad main fuse?. It's got about 16,125 miles on the clock.

Any ideas what it could be? Hoping I can repair this in my garage rather than have to tow it to a mechanic.
Thanks!
Steve

 

[Chuckracer]

How old is the battery?

 

[Socaldiablo]

Just under 2 years old. Shorai lithium iron. Installed it Sept. 25, 2015 at 14,079 miles.

 

[Chuckracer]

These bikes have a wicked parasitic draw when sitting, and you can't put a Shorai on a regular battery tender so unless the battery was disconnected while it was sitting - and at about 2000 miles per year it sits a lot - then I think the battery is hosed.

 

[Socaldiablo]

I'd be shocked if it was the battery. I would think that it would struggle to turn over if the battery was on its way out, like I've experienced in the past. It fired right up this morning. Plus, I don't ever recall a bad battery triggering the check engine light. I'll check the resting voltage when I get home from work. I have a Shorai lithium iron in my dirt bike, which sits even more than my Duc, and that battery is also about the same age and that bike fires right up nicely. And you can use a battery tender on these Shorais. I only plug them into it a day or less before I want to ride, though. I never leave any of my bikes continually hooked up to a trickle charger when they're not in use.

 

[Socaldiablo]

From Shorai's website

 

[mlukason]

I had a standard lead acid battery get weak on my ST3. The check engine light came on and eventually the bike shut down...died on the road. I pulled over and managed to get it started again. Replaced the battery and the issue never cropped up again.

 

[Socaldiablo]

OK, good to know. I will focus on the battery. Man, I hope it's not. While it's an easy fix, that Shorai wasn't cheap and it's not even 2 years old. It's not like my bike sits for months and months in between rides. I probably ride it once every 1-2 weeks.

 

[Chuckracer]

I stand corrected - thank you.

However, your dirtbike doesn't have the parasitic draw Ducatis do, which is why it's a good idea to almost always have them on a battery tender when not in use. That's not advised with a Shorai.

 

[brutus72]

Only time I ever had a no-start on my '07 ST3s it was the battery .... don't recall check engine light though , I like the AGM batteries not too costly and I can get 5 plus years out of one , always keep all 3 bikes on a battery maintainer not a "trickle charger" if not out on bike .... all 3 have AGM batteries , surprisingly the Norton is traditionally hardest on batteries but since the switch to AGM I am getting good service life from the AGM in it too ...
Craig

 

[bluduk01]

Artery voltage can definitely cause a check engine light. Control units have min max voltage thresholds, when voltage falls into the lower threshold range the control unit can have a difficult time calculating triggering almost a false check engine light. Or if the control unit supposes it low voltage DTC.

 

[ducatimike]

I use a special charger from shorai that has a "charge" mode and a "storage" mode where it just keeps the battery from discharging on my ST4. I dont ride it as much as I used to and found that it would discharge to the point of not starting after about 3 weeks. I was told it can stay on the "storage" mode indefinitely, so I keep it hooked up all the time now.

Mike

 

[Socaldiablo]

OK, so I tested the voltage last night and it was a shocking 7.8! I have never measured a vehicle battery voltage that low before on my vehicles and I'm honestly very shocked at this. I've had low voltage issues in the past and you know it right away as you get the real slow or no turnover. Yesterday, the bike fired right up like normal and idled for several minutes before I turned it off when the check engine light came on. I also checked the voltage of my KLX450, which also has a Shorai, and it was 13.3v, which is great. So kuddos to you Chuckracer for figuring this out quickly. It wasn't the first thing that popped into my head when it happened because of the events that led up to it. I was figuring 11 year old bike, some sort of electrical connector or fuse was at fault since the battery was not that old.

So now my question is can I resurrect this battery at less than 8v or is it hosed like Chuck says? I don't have the Shorai charger but I will buy one today to at least keep my dirt bike battery in good health. Can I use that charger to save my Duc battery or is it garbage now? That thing was $140-$160 if I remember correctly ...that was not a good investment if it lasted less than 2 years! And I'm not at all excited about having to remove the fairing panels to change this dang thing. I had much of the bike panels and tank, etc. taken apart early this year when I did the fuel system service and knowing me, my bike will down for a few months now as I already have too much on my plate.

Thanks all ...I'm glad I posted this as it might save my dirt bike battery if anything.

 

[Lanesmatb]

I bought a new AGM Motobatt battery for mine early this year and it would only charge to 12V out of the box. Returned it and got another that would charge to 13+ volts. The Ducati really pulls the current during starting and drops voltage to the point it affects the ECU.

Lithium batteries when they fail it often has shows no signs of gradually dropping voltage, so no surprise that it went from starting to not. If you want some type of indication that you need to replace your battery (e.g. slow starting), I'd stick with a quality AGM.

Scott L.

 

[kaysystems]

Just a comment
I've had a Shorai in my ST3 for 6 years now. Admittedly I use their charger and if I'm not using the bike for a few days, I will plug the charger in. But, when I'm on vacation for 3 to 4 weeks (bike sits outside) I don't leave it plugged in and it starts first try. I also have the DP alarm/antitheft so would expect a large draw on the battery.

David

 

[jahjah]

So now my question is can I resurrect this battery at less than 8v or is it hosed like Chuck says? I don't have the Shorai charger but I will buy one today to at least keep my dirt bike battery in good health.

With a battery that you can't access the individual cells, it is difficult to get the pack balanced. You might get it by resetting the Shorai charger periodically while attempting to recharge it in hopes of bringing up the offending cell.

 

[Lanesmatb]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that Shorai batteries are bad, but as Jahjah suggested the LiO battery is just a number of individual cells in series. If a cell fails, it can short the entire battery. Lead batteries generally develop a ground slowly due to accumulated oxidation over charge/discharge cycles but it is a more gradual process, which is why you usually know when you need a replacement. Lead acid batteries can also hard short but it's less common.

I'd love to use a LiO battery if it weren't for the fact that they don't give warning when they fail.

Scott L


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[ducatimike]

OK, so I tested the voltage last night and it was a shocking 7.8! I have never measured a vehicle battery voltage that low before on my vehicles and I'm honestly very shocked at this. I've had low voltage issues in the past and you know it right away as you get the real slow or no turnover. Yesterday, the bike fired right up like normal and idled for several minutes before I turned it off when the check engine light came on. I also checked the voltage of my KLX450, which also has a Shorai, and it was 13.3v, which is great. So kuddos to you Chuckracer for figuring this out quickly. It wasn't the first thing that popped into my head when it happened because of the events that led up to it. I was figuring 11 year old bike, some sort of electrical connector or fuse was at fault since the battery was not that old.

So now my question is can I resurrect this battery at less than 8v or is it hosed like Chuck says? I don't have the Shorai charger but I will buy one today to at least keep my dirt bike battery in good health. Can I use that charger to save my Duc battery or is it garbage now? That thing was $140-$160 if I remember correctly ...that was not a good investment if it lasted less than 2 years! And I'm not at all excited about having to remove the fairing panels to change this dang thing. I had much of the bike panels and tank, etc. taken apart early this year when I did the fuel system service and knowing me, my bike will down for a few months now as I already have too much on my plate.

Thanks all ...I'm glad I posted this as it might save my dirt bike battery if anything.

I actually let the Shorai battery lose its charge to the point where it wouldnt start the bike. I hooked up the Shorai battery on charge mode and it wouldnt turn on to charge the battery! Apparently it senses the battery voltage and if too low will not turn on. So I called my buddy Michael over at Motolectric (who I bought the battery and charger from) and asked what I should do. He said, hook up a regular trickle charger to the battery and if the battery is not damaged, it should bring the voltage up high enough to where the Shorai battery charger will turn on under the Charge mode. I did this and it worked! Its been about a year since this happened and all is well. I keep it hooked up on Storage mode all the time it sits in the garage.
Mike

 

[Socaldiablo]

Mike ...thanks for your experience. I will try this. I'm waiting for the Shorai charger to arrive so it doesn't hurt to try my battery tender on it to see if I can get the voltage up.

And thanks to all for your feedback ...I'm hoping I can salvage this battery. I really don't want to go back to AGM type batteries but I've got to figure out how to prolong the life of the Li Iron. Getting their specific charger will help. I initially thought it was Shorai's ploy to get battery buyers to buy more of their products but it sounds like I should have bought it straight away.

Thanks again,
Steve