Battery light comes on

[Roy]

All of a sudden, riding my bike home tonight, the engine mgmt and battery lights come on.

I stopped just after work, both lights were off when the bike was restarted and then came on again after about 1 mile.

I stopped nearer home (after about 20 miles) the warning lights had been on all the time; then when I went to restart the starter made that rachet sound it does when the battery is low on power.

On getting home, I attached my optimate to the battery and it went red after about 15 mins (having been on amber). So, have taken the battery off and its sat on amber so may well charge up.

Given it does and its not just a simple battery change, any clues to what I could check???

[BigKev]

You'd need to do a bit more checking and testing........ but I suspect the charging system.

Could be your alternator has failed (I speak from experience )

Good luck - hope its something simple like a loose wire

[Roy]

Okay, hopefully not plucking at straws (and yes, will take it to HD in the morning if run out of options) - however noticed both terminals were pretty manky. So have wirebrushed them off and will see if the battery charges.

It took about 10 mins to go to the optimate red light earlier on, so maybe dirty terminals could cause this????

Just about to pop out so will check when I come back - any ideas appreciated

[Urrell]

Clean and check connections of both ends of earth and positive battery leads and clean any fuses to eliminate as possible problems before replacing the battery.

[Roy]

Thanks

What I did notice is when I took the battery leads off, there was no sparking between the lead and battery terminal as I separated them. Then having cleaned them off with a wire brush, I connected live 1st and then earth, in connecting earth loads of electrical current sparks. Been on charge for about an hour now, has not gone red (which is a step forward) and happily on amber (the battery was drained of charge hence ratchety clicking when I stopped on way back from work) - so hoping that this is job done.

Mostly because I'm off on a rally to Demark tomorrow so fingers crossed

Cheers, Roy

[spinlondon]

When the light goes red, you should leave it connected. This indicates that the optimate is conducting tests on the battery, not that there is a fault.

[Oilslick]

Sounds like corroded terminals to me. Lets hope so.

See you Friday in Denmark

[Urrell]

Originally Posted by spinlondon

When the light goes red, you should leave it connected. This indicates that the optimate is conducting tests on the battery, not that there is a fault.

Unless I am mistaken a flashing amber light means it is conducting tests.
Red is marked as desulphate.
From the Optimate site
OptiMate’s Red LED is to tell you there is a battery problem.
It has 2 main functions: The first function is to tell you that OptiMate cannot recover your battery
The second function is to warn you that the battery is unable to retain its full Voltage after being successfully charged.

Lets hope that a bad connection also comes up as that.

[Roy]

Urrell, that reflects what the Optimate instructions say. Green = go, Amber = testing/recovery, Red = trouble

4 hours later, battery is still on amber. I am confident the problem is fixed as it did go red before really quickly. Looking forward to a nice healthy green in the morning, will keep you posted.

This will be the 3rd problem caused by corrosion in the last week, the other 2 being my neutral light and then my fuel gauge wiring. Their fixed, hopefully I can make a hat-trick

[Roy]

Update.

The Optimate showed green this morning, so went out for a test ride and the battery and engine mgnt light came back on after about 0.5 miles.

Phoned around the HD shops to see who could take a look and the only one that gave me any time, despite being busy was Oxford HD. Chris gave me some advise over the phone to test the voltage and iit should increase from 12'ish to 13.5'ish volts from tickover to being accelerated. It did not so it looked like the regulator was kaput. Back to Chris who said to check the wiring rather than go straight to replacing the £197 regulator; and found the problem. One of the deutch connector pins for the regulator had corroded off - so I have basically wired the connector out. Error code is not being thrown now and it all looks honkey dorey for Denmark.

Phew


My lesson learned off late is not to ride my Harley through the winter, will keep that for the japper I aquired for commuting.

Cheers, Roy