[st4spokane]

2nd question of the day. During cold weather starts my battery seems to run down very quickly. It has already been replaced under warranty once. Will heavier duty battery cables fix this problem and if so will the stock battery need to be replaced with one with more cranking amps? Once again thanks for the help.

 

[DUC_54]

2nd question of the day. During cold weather starts my battery seems to run down very quickly. It has already been replaced under warranty once. Will heavier duty battery cables fix this problem and if so will the stock battery need to be replaced with one with more cranking amps? Once again thanks for the help.

Is your battery fully charged? Do you keep it plugged in to a battery tender? My 01 st4 has 35k miles on it on the original battery. I keep it always on a tender when its in the garage. I keep all my bikes on one and I have not replaced a battery yet.....maybe just luck on my part. I can't say enough about keeping them fully charged. You might want to get one if you don't already have one. There are other brands and the important issue is keeping them fully charged

Allen

 

[NCRick]

The heavy dudy battery cables (Like Motowheels sell fot the 748-996) can help the bike crank better but if yours is fading over time, I think it is likely due to some other factor.

Take a good voltage reading before you crank, then check it again after. It sounds like a battery problem but it could also be related to a bad connection that is heating.

The volt reading can tell a lot about the health of the system.

PS, my 99 SS has more than 30K and is still on the factory battery. I think it is on it's way out as of this past weekend... I have never used any kind of float charge system. (I am not saying that they are bad) Riding the bike often keeps the battery charged.

 

[dharhay]

I have heavier 6AWG cables for my 03 ST4s battery and starter solenoid. It does help somewhat, but it is only a very subtle difference. My battery still drains quickly when trying to start the machine after sitting for a while.

Replacing the cables is a nice modification, but not really a necessary one. See if your battery is at is end before you replace the cables and the battery.

Dave Harhay

 

[Stick]

Slight difference...

I made heavier cables for my 1998 ST2 when I went to a bigger AGM battery.
My 1st battery lasted for 7 years, helped by a trickle/float charger.
I can't say the cables helped a whole bunch.

I decided to get a larger 22Ahr battery with upwards of 600 CCA. I don't like ever needing to push/bump-start the bike, so I felt that the bigger, maint.-free battery was the way to go.

Ducati decided the other way in 2002... The older ST bikes had a 16Ahr lead-acid battery. The post 2002 ones have a 12 Ahr maint.-free AGM battery. So right away, the newer DUCs are down on capacity. And they jammed something into the battery tray, so going to a bigger one like I did now, needs a lot of relocating of stuff to make it happen. So with the smaller capacity batteries, you should definately use a trickle/float charger daily.

Note that the new battery was slightly different in size (3" wide vs 2.78" for OEM), and I needed to modify the battery box a bit, but the fairing fits like normal.

I believe I have this upgrade quantified in the archive area in the ST area (with photos).

Oh, if you want to see if your cables are a problem: Run a voltmeter along each cable. Start with one test leed on the lead post of the battery. Place the other probe on the starter post. Then have someone hit the starter button. If there's a problem, you'll see a volt or 2 on this wire (only when the big current is flowing). Do the same for the (-) cable--go from the bat. post to the engine.

When I say right on the battery, I mean don't clip or hold the probes on those clips that are connected to the battery...go right to the battery. This is because there's a voltage drop right at these (crappy) terminal thingies.

If you do see a volt or 2, you can move the probe up towards the battery to pinpoint the problem. The problem could be lousy contacts inside the solenoid...or it could be one of the crimped lugs on your wires...or it could be the I(squared)R losses inside your battery.

The way to check this last one (I2R) is to just watch the 12V right at your battery terminals when cranking. A sag to about 10V when cranking is not bad...much lower than this means probably time for a battery.

Another way to check is to crank (especially when the engine cranks very slowly, or stops briefly on each comp. stroke--you get about 180A when this happens), and then feel along each cable for hot spots. The hotter areas indicate resistive connections.

I'll turn you ladies and gents into electrical gurus eventually!