[jammydodger]

So it was a normal day, got on my bike, electric started it and rode to work. At the end of the day I jumped on my bike and tried to start the bike....nothing. Just a faint clicking sound from somewhere under the bike. Took the train home and returned the this morning - The I was able to kick the bike into life and tempted fate by turning the ignition off and trying the electric start - The bike since then seems like it's shorting out somewhere.

Reason why i say this is that with a multimetre across the + - terminals it reads 12.34v and then when I turn the key it reads 6.2v...and nothing will change it. I've tried chasing all the loom around and unplugging various things with no luck.

Am I missing something really obvious here?

Thanks in advance

[gashousegorilla]

  Give the starter relay a whack....It sounds like it is hanging up.

[Ducati Scotty]

With those voltages I'd say your battery is low.  Is it the original?  How old is it?

[gashousegorilla]

  Yup, that too.  The battery at least needs a charge.  I also noticed on my stock relay....still the original 09' one. That if the heavy red wire, off the battery and to the relay is a bit out of place, or tension is put on it. The relay will hang up intermittently or steadily and draw down the battery.  A wiggle on that wire may help too...

[jammydodger]

I replaced the battery in June with an AGM Mottobatt one so I should hope it's still good!

I am assuming the starter relay is the round component that hangs off the positive terminal?

thanks

[gashousegorilla]

I replaced the battery in June with an AGM Mottobatt one so I should hope it's still good!

I am assuming the starter relay is the round component that hangs off the positive terminal?

thanks

  Should be under the seat, left side of the bike.  Follow the red wire off the positive side of the Battery, which will lead to it. Black barrel shape , with two heavy , and two small wires into it.   Wiggle the heavy red wire from the battery, and or give the relay a whack with the handle of a screw driver or some such.... not so hard as to crack the plastic relay now, but you get the idea.   If that doesn't do it, Kick start if you can to get it running..... with your headlight off.  And keep the rev's up to get some charge back in that battery. Your battery IS low and will need a charge however...

[singhg5]

I replaced the battery in June with an AGM Mottobatt one so I should hope it's still good!

Batteries are not fully charged when they are delivered, unless the dealer does it for you and replaces it.

Did you charge the battery when you received it or assumed it was completely charged ? 

[barenekd]

Yup, what you heard is the relay working, but a lack of sufficient juice from the battery to turn the starter. You didn't mention which bike you have, but on the G5 the relay is mounted on the battery cover. If it's dropping to 6V with the starter load applied, it's a real good bet that the battery is shot. It should drop down to about 11V with a load applied.
I had a Deka AGM in my G5 and it was great. However, I did charge it before I installed it.
Bare

[jammydodger]

oh wow....could the battery be dead after a few months?! hopefully a charge can revive it.

to be honest I did assume that the battery was good when I got it. The multi meter read 12.5 I think out of the box. what should I be reading on the battery for it to be fully charged?

I can't even kick it over as the efi isn't kicking in to prime the engine.

it's just strange how this morning it seemed to be ok on the kick starter and it was the electric start that killed it again. starting to wonder if it could be that control module with the kill switch that might be contributing to the problem? 

[Arizoni]

If you were checking the voltage by contacting the lead battery terminals with the volt meter, the falling from 12+ volts to 6 volts just by turning on the ignition switch says your battery is toast.
It indicates a break in the connections inside the battery and cannot be fixed without replacing the battery.
Unfortunately, internal breaks seem to be a fairly common problem with modern batteries.

If you were checking the voltage at some other place on the bike, read on.

Before replacing the the battery, take a piece of insulated copper wire and attach it to the negative battery terminal (in addition to the other wires already connected there).
Run the other end over to the cylinder head steady (the bracket that goes from the rear of the cylinder to the frame) and attach it under the bolt that connects the steady to the cylinder head.  Then check the voltage.
If the voltage doesn't drop much when the key is turned on, the problem is with the negative battery connecting wires.  There is very likely a break in the wiring hidden inside the insulation.

Recharging the battery might help but don't get your hopes up.
As I mentioned, the chief reason for one of these "Now it works./Now it doesn't" is due to an internal break.

If the battery is not being asked to produce a lot of current (amps) a internal break can easily supply 12 volts because the battery fluid can carry the voltage.

When one of these internal breaks has to carry a lot of power (amps) the fluid can't handle the power so the voltage drops drastically.

[Ducati Scotty]

MotoBatt comes fully charged.  But charge it up and test it.  Check voltage, turn in ignition and lights for three minutes but don't start the bike.  Turn off and check again.  A fully charged battery should read about 12.7, and should be 12.5 or better after the lights on test.

[jammydodger]

Morning guys (from across the pond) so another bought of strange occurrences after trying various things yesterday, wacking the relay, chasing the looms and checking connections, Unplugging componants...I arrived at the office this morning and walking past the bike I thought I’d turn the key in the bike in hope that something might have changed….Nothing – flicked the engine kill switch a few times and still nothing.

I got into the office and there was a lost property email about an empty rucksack that was found by the motorcycle parking area, immediately I wondered if some lout had been trying to pinch the bike as it’s been out there for 2 nights, a colleague joked that it was the bike pixies who had left the rucksack. I went back out to the parking area and a quick visual check to see if there had been any signs of tampering and there was nothing to note.

Another colleague walked past and asked if I was still having issues and during me explaining the symptoms and turning the key to demonstrate the bike jumped into life! The efi whirled and primed the engine and I kick started the bike first time and it was running as nothing had happened!

Now guys work that out….

Thanks for all the suggestions

Arizoni – I was checking the voltage from the battery terminals, but now I do suspect that there’s a battery issue if it seems like each morning when I’ve left the bike alone it’s been able to start and it’s reading over 12v on the multimeter – Then again, it may have been when I was flicking the kill switch so could this be the cause?

Ducati Scott - I’m going to charge the battery up tonight (if it starts again after work and get it home) as Arizoni suggested it could be a dodgy or drained battery?

I’m on an E5 for future reference for all.    

[JVS]

jammydodger,

It might be an issue with the ground wire/connection. You have to check the contacts even inside the ground cable insulation for any breaks or discrepancies. Your AGM battery should be good as it is a few months old (But you never know). You got 6 volts by turning on the ignition once. But now you're getting enough to kick start it. So, it can be that there is an intermittent connection at the ground side of the battery.

Arizoni's idea of checking the voltage using the following method is gold, you should try it.

Before replacing the the battery, take a piece of insulated copper wire and attach it to the negative battery terminal (in addition to the other wires already connected there).
Run the other end over to the cylinder head steady (the bracket that goes from the rear of the cylinder to the frame) and attach it under the bolt that connects the steady to the cylinder head.  Then check the voltage.
If the voltage doesn't drop much when the key is turned on, the problem is with the negative battery connecting wires.  There is very likely a break in the wiring hidden inside the insulation.

To make sure, you can try checking the voltage again just at the battery terminals, and ask someone to wiggle the ground/negative cable a bit whilst you have the multimeter leads at the battery (the negative multimeter lead on the negative contact of the cable). If there are significant changes in the amount of voltage recorded, you know that it is the ground wire.

I would suggest doing the above tests with your battery fully charged.

Oh and also try what Ducati Scotty mentioned.

Good luck.

[jammydodger]

Battery is on charge now and will check the voltage using the above method once it's charged.

What makes me think that it's not the negative leads is that I'm getting slight power i.e. the neutral light is very dim, and the EFI is trying to kick in and there's a clicking noise. I may be wrong however, but if there was no negative connection wouldn't there be no lights on at all however dim it is...

[Ducati Scotty]

Turn the key, flip the switch on, then move the bars from side to side.  Does it go on and off?  There is a connection or two from the key switch that can come undone and give you weird inconsistent power, ask me how I know   It's also worth double checking the battery connections to make sure they're tight.

Scott