New battery drained quickly

About two months ago, I installed a new shorai battery that was recommended. I rode the bike at least once a week. I did not trickle charge it during those two months. Well it completely died on me the other day. I thought that was odd.

I recharged the battery and bought a multimeter to see if the bike was charging my battery as I ride. I followed these recommendations:
shoraipower.com/lfxcheck

So here is the problem: the bike not turned on read 13.18v, the bike with the key in the on position read 12.52, when I started the bike I reading kept jumping all over the place 7.0, 13.0, 1.0. I couldn't get a steady read.

Any thoughts on why?

Sounds like you may have a defective regulator/rectifier. I suggest you run the diagnostics described in the Kawasaki Service Manual. If you find it is faulty, you may want to contact www.oregonmotorcycleparts.com/Products.html They make quality replacements that work well. Ed

Also, www.electrosport.com had a troubleshooting page that many riders find helpful.

I'd do this too, to see if the drain is parasitic in nature:

The Dreaded Shorting/Intermittent Electrical Problem!

Here is the most basic method I know(Taken from www.kzrider.com by member Patton)

1. Charge your battery and have it load tested if you can. The floating ball hydrometer can be used to check the specific gravity of the charged cells in the battery.

2. Disconnect the Black lead from the (-) Battery terminal... or Red from the (+) Battery terminal, it does not matter which one.

3. Connect one of the following test setups in series with the Battery terminal and lead:
3.1 A 12 V light bulb,
3.2 A 12 V test light,
3.3 A 12 V test buzzer or,
3.4 A 12 V horn... you get the idea.

4. With the Ignition Switch OFF, go through your harness and wiggle the wires while looking/listening for the test setup to go on/start buzzing.

5.With the Ignition Switch ON, repeat the test except this time the looking/listening for the test setup to go on/stop buzzing.

6. Be prepared to open the Ignition switch and check/test for solder joint failure and or circuit board micro breaks (don't ask how I know this ).

7. Be prepared to pull the wires out of the Head Light to test for failures at or near the grommet.

8. Be prepared to open the harness at or near the Steering Neck for failures. This is where wires tend to exhibit fatigue due to repetitive movement.

9. Be prepared to open the left and right switch gear to search for rust and or broken parts. CAUTION: watch out for flying springs, ball bearings and stuff. Do indoors on White sheet (again don't ask ).

10. Be prepared to follow the heavy gauge wire from the Starter Solenoid (Relay) to the starter for bare wire exposure. Especially near bends and grommets.

11. If you can reproduce the fault symptom your are pretty much home free. Be prepare to find and repair/replace any internal wire breaks, insulation break downs, exposed wires, rubber grommet failures, etc. Often, shrink tubing will solve the problem temporarily until something better can be done.

12. I use a very good electrical contact cleaner/preservative called De-oxit made by Caig Labs in San Diego Ca. Their website is www.deoxit.com It can be purchased at Radio Shack and any other electronic supply store. I use it on all of my motorcycle’s electrical connectors , in my home entertainment center’s stereo patch cords and cordless phones charging cradles.

danpcali wrote: About two months ago, I installed a new shorai battery that was recommended. I rode the bike at least once a week. I did not trickle charge it during those two months. Well it completely died on me the other day. I thought that was odd.

I recharged the battery and bought a multimeter to see if the bike was charging my battery as I ride. I followed these recommendations:
shoraipower.com/lfxcheck

So here is the problem: the bike not turned on read 13.18v, the bike with the key in the on position read 12.52, when I started the bike I reading kept jumping all over the place 7.0, 13.0, 1.0. I couldn't get a steady read.

Any thoughts on why?

You need an analog (needle) meter. Digital meters have such a high input impedance that they can give erratic readings on bikes because a lot of bikes don't use any kind of suppression on the spark plug leads so they act like radio stations. The meter leads act like the antenna and the meter gets fed garbage.

In reality, the battery voltage can't drop to 1V or 7V, the readings are gibberish. It is possible you might have a bad ground or connection somewhere in the charging circuit causing the reading to jump around, but the actual battery voltage can not do that if the battery is even remotely operational.

danpcali wrote: About two months ago, I installed a new shorai battery that was recommended. I rode the bike at least once a week. I did not trickle charge it during those two months. Well it completely died on me the other day. I thought that was odd.

Lead acid do self discharge, I think it's ballpark 10 - 20% per month? Anway, it is significant so that's why a trickle charger is always a good idea.

Some possibilities:

1) Was the battery fully charged when parked?

2) It's possible the battery has a problem and so it has reduced A-hr capacity which means it doesn't have as far to go in discharge before it can't work.

3) The battery has a problem like a defective or sulphated cell. Look closely at the battery cells. Any of them look "white" inside? That's sulphation which kills batteries.


If the bike has a "drain" on it, that needs to be fixed. Easy to test: just take off one of the battery terminals (Keep key OFF). Inssert your Amp meter in series with the battery terminal and battery lead and se if you read any significant current. If so, there's a drain.

Lithium batteries are sensitive to over charging and over discharging. Shorai says anything below 12.8v at rest voids the warranty. They don't specify an over charging value, just that it also voids the warranty. I wouldn't install any lithium variety battery until I was sure the charging was in control. I was having some issues with my after market digital dash winking out occasionally, I believe due to an over voltage from my salenium rectifier and original regulator. Bought the combo Reg/Rec from Z1 Enterprises with the OEM connector (yea, plug and play) and problem solved.

Alan

My brand new Shorai suddenly died after 80 miles day time riding leaving me pushing the bike 1/2 mile home.
All electrics were brand new including the alternator and its matching reg/rec and the battery only had a Dyna 'S' ign and brake light to power so no massive loads and no starter motor fitted.
The supplier told me to chuck it in the bin and gave me an instant full refund on both the battery and its specific 2amp charger, so that gives a clue to the failure rate which is more common that not.
The Gell battery I replaced it with is working and charging perfectly 500 miles on.
These shorai's are too sensitive to the fluctuations of most vehicle charging systems and their recommendation in my batteries install sheet not to let the voltage drop below 13V as it may cause damage is ridiculous as just the action of switching on the ign knocked it down a volt or two to below that.
I was offered a replacement but I have lost faith in their reliability and for the sake of a pound or two in weight i'd rather use a well proven lead acid or Gell batt that won't suddenly decided to pack up without warning and leave me stranded.