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  • Pulled my battery this morning and noticed straight away that one cell (?) was a bit low, like, a good bit below the minimum level.

    Topped that up and took it up to the flat to charge, the 'charging' light litr up straight away but after about 30 seconds the 'fully charged' light also came on and within the minute the 'charging' light was off and only the 'fully charged' one was on. Thought that was a bit strange but took it down to the bike again.

    Checked it with the meter and got 12.5v across the terminals on the bench so all seemed good but bunged it in the bike and it wouldn't start. Bump started it and was getting 13.7v across the terminals at tickover so seems like the charging system is working? @Brickman, I can't find any wires coming from the area of the stator, will the be under covers and stuff?

    So at this point I'm thinking, battery seems to be charged so what else? I checked all the connections around the battery and everything seemed ok so I started thinking, could it be the starter? Figured I'd try jump start it from the car and that'll tell me...something?

    Jump leads on, car running, bike fires right up. So, not the starter motor then.

    Back to thinking it's the battery. Process of elimination says that when I had an alternate source of power it was ok so probably the battery.

    I've had the bike since May so I'm thinking that if the charging system was bad I'd have been having issues before now. Hence, bung a new battery in and it should fix my problem and not just get buggered by a dodgy charging system?

  • Probably new battery time. My own long term test results with Lithium suggest it's worth the price (usually double). Much stronger starting amperage, quick to recharge, smaller and noticeably lighter on my bike too.

  • Just because the battery shows 12.5 across the terminals, hitting the starter button can really knock it down and it won't have enough kick to start the bike.
    If something else is draining the battery, eliminate those possibilities. Alarms? Heated grips?

    Just get a new battery. Honestly the easiest solution. They're expensive, but every Yuasa I've had to replace inferior ones, has been spotless, even if bike sat weeks in winter without moving.

  • There is a diode pack somewhere on the bike, usually near the stator,might have gone bad allowing weird stuff to happen.
    Yes on charging issue, it would go bad quite suddenly ime. Usually just a wire breaks or it shorts out against itself internally.
    Go for a new battery, if it's more than 3 years old always worth getting a nicer one
    Have a li on on the BMW. Been there about 3 years or so, even courier on it with hand warmers full tilt, lights on and a phone charfibg it never struggls

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