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1098 Help...wont start

3214 Views 7 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  ZDM, 
DrGonzo
So I'll admit that I havent been riding much lately and I havent started my 1098 in the last month or two (shame on me, I know).


But I went to start my 1098 this morning and.....nothing. All I get is a slow clicking sound that speeds up along with my running lights dimmly flashing along with the clicking sound...also it looks like my screen briefly flashes along with the click as well.

Its been on a battery tender this whole time (which was green lit when I pulled it off to start it) So the battery shouldnt be dead.

Any suggestions?
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F
What is the voltage of the battery? Using a multi-meter, get a voltage reading from the battery. You can put the probes into the tender leads for this.

Get the reading when the bike has NOT been on the tender for a few hours.

That should tell you if the tender is actually working, and/or if the battery is dead.
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Secret Squirrel
Just because the Battery tender has a green light means nothing. It can't detect weak battery cells. I have had batteries last eight or more years on a Deltron Battery tender. Every battery that I have had fail after many years had a bad cell. The light was green on the charger. Batteries don't last forever no matter how good you treat them.

The resting voltage can tell you something but its really not as important as when the battery is under cranking load. Connect the battery to a voltmeter. Read the voltage while you push the starter button. If the reading drops below 10v the battery is bad. It has a bad cell or cells. That's also why it's not taking a full charge. Even if the light is green. The charger doesn't know any better.
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Secret Squirrel said:
Just because the Battery tender has a green light means nothing. It can't detect weak battery cells. I have had batteries last eight or more years on a Deltron Battery tender. Every battery that I have had fail after many years had a bad cell. The light was green on the charger. Batteries don't last forever no matter how good you treat them.

The resting voltage can tell you something but its really not as important as when the battery is under cranking load. Connect the battery to a voltmeter. Read the voltage while you push the starter button. If the reading drops below 10v the battery is bad. It has a bad cell or cells. That's also why it's not taking a full charge. Even if the light is green. The charger doesn't know any better.
Click to expand...
Correct. That is why you leave the battery off tender for a few hours.
With a bad cell/collapsed plate/whatever, resting voltage will fall to less than 11 within an hour or two, meaning the battery is scrap.
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Secret Squirrel
I've had batteries with a bad cell still have a fairly good resting voltage. Over 12.3volts off the tender. But when a load was put on the battery I would notice a slightly slower crank. When I load tested the battery it was dipping down lower than what's acceptable. That's why I don't like going by resting voltage alone. In my case this was in the very early stage of a cell going bad, or a plate shift, or a plate sulfating. When a cell gets real bad and the bike shows bad signs like the OP is reporting it should show up in the resting voltage. You're right about that. In the very early stages it doesn't always show up in the resting voltage.
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sb748
battery is my guess, was on mine
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sburns2421
As squirrel said, what you are experiencing is a cell in the battery starting to die. Most vehicles have extra capacity relative to their needs on the battery, so a user doesn't notice it at first. With the big jugs on a Ducati and the smallest battery they thought they could get away with, you see it sooner.

What often happens is a layer of sulfate crystals (sulfuric acid in the battery remember) forms on the surface of the plates. This is an insulator and makes it difficult for that cell to not only discharge, but also recharge normally. It becomes weaker and weaker with normal charging voltage. This also accelerates sulphation of that cell, a positive feedback loop. Some chargers have a "desulphation" cycle that hits the battery with extra high voltage to attempt to "break through" this sulphation layer, but that only delays the inevitable. Once a cell becomes unbalanced with the other five, it will be the one to fail almost every time.

99% sure a new battery will fix this. If the charge voltage is up around 14.0V at 2000 rpm, knock that up to 99.99%.
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Z
Use a VDC Electronics BatteryMINDER Plus. It was suggested I try using this charger vs. a Deltran Battery Tender and so far I've had no issue's. The Battery MINDER maintains, chargers and conditions the battery and has an auto-float control. My Deltran failed to keep my battery fully charged for some reason, so far the BatteryMINDER has kept it fully charged in top condition.
The BatteryMINDER got great reviews on WebbikeWorld and the cycle rags.
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