Total Motorcycle Community Forums

Hello everybody, it's been a while since I've been to this forum and feel bad just coming cause I have a problem but I really need some advise.
a couple of months ago I was riding my bike and noticed that the power on the speedometer just went out and I thought it was strange but kept driving. A couple of minutes after that my bike just stalled and I could not start it at all. As if the battery was dead. I thought it was strange cause the battery is fairly new(9 months).
I took it to a friend's house and left it there for a few weeks and then came to pick it up. When I brought it home I recharged the battery and the bike was acting normal again but then after a week the battery died again ( or so I think) You can hear it trying to start but nothing happens and sometimes it's just completely dead.
Could this be the alternator not charging the battery? I think it's strange how it will just stall when I'm riding it.
I recharged the battery yesterday and the bike started just fine but then it turned off after 5 minutes and I could not start it. I took the key out and then put it back in, cranked it and then it came on.
Any help is appreciated.
Thank you.

Do you have any added gadgets (GPS, lighting , etc.)?
Sounds like battery is bad, are battery connections tight? Might possibly be bad rectifier or regulator which could ruin a new battery or worse. Also, I have read somewhere that Vstars don't have strong alternators and can't support much extra gadgetry like say a Beemer MC does, therefore you have to hit high rpm's (like highway speeds) before the alternator will charge the battery.

Go to the Vstar forum at Delphi. That place knows more about Vstars than any other place on the web. Thos guys over there can fix anything.

http://forums.delphiforums.com/yamaha1100


On that forum there is a data base of knowledge. Just click on the "webpage" tab at the top of the page and you'll find a wealth of info including a PDF file on how to troubleshoot the charging system. Read through that database and if you still cant figure it out, just post and ask someone over there. There are alot of nice folks over there who are experts on the mechanics and customization of Vstars.

Good luck and I'll see ya over there.

thank you Zagnut for your response. I will check out that site for sure.
I do have neon lights on the bike but I never turn them on. I've also checked all connections and everything seems fine.
Thanks again.

Chances are it is just the battery going south. Take the battery into a service shop for a load test, they usually will do this for free.

Something I forgot to mention. This is the third battery this bike has had in the past 2 years. They just keep going bad. The first battery died a few weeks after I bought it so I didn't think much of it. The second one after 6 months was no longer holding a charge and it looked like it was gonna explode. It got all swollen so I just thought it was a defective battery and got a third one and now this is happening. could it just coincidental?

what kind of battery? maintance free or maintance type? you may have a problem with your rectifer. my father in law has a 1100 shadow and he just had the rectifer changed due to the same type of problems. need to check batt voltage when running should be around 13.5- 14 volts (i think or at least i think i am right) if it is up over 14.5 it is over charging your battery causing it to fail. if this is the case be glad the battery just failed and did not explode!

I had a similar problem with my old bike. Once I changed the battery, it solved everything. The old battery was only 6 months old. As for going through multiple batteries, I have no idea. I sold that other bike maybe 4 months or so after I replaced the battery. Good luck to you.

Sounds like maybe the regulator...Did you check at the Vstar forum I mentioned in my earlier post?... Here is some text from the charging system PDF file I mentioned earlier.

Lights flickering at times and/or battery gets hot to the touch.
This is probably the most common complaint I see online. Usually it is the regulator. When the regulator dies, it allows as much as 19 volts to appear across the battery. This is not good. It will cook the battery.
And the battery could even explode.

Battery won’t stay charged, or won’t charge at all.
This problem is usually a bad battery. But it can also be a bad ground connection, a bad Regulator
assembly or even a bad stator.


If it is the regulator and you dont' fix it, it will keep frying batteries until you do fix it.... better to fix the problem and not the symptom.

I'm no mechanic when it comes to motorcycles, but it sounds to me that your problem lies somewhere in this area. Go ask those folks over at the Vstar forum and they'll steer you in the right direction. Good luck with the Vstar...just out of curiosity , is it a custom or a classic?
.

I think your charging system is out of whack. For both of you. 4K to charge the battery? Those things only have a redline of somewhere around 7K. Most modern bikes break even and are charging their batteries at or before idle speeds. I haven't heard of one within the last 10/15 years that doesn't.

I'm not mechanical, but I do have a 2008 1100 V-Star. If you've gone through that many batteries, I have to think there is something more than just an issue with the battery.

I bought my V-star about a year ago. I have extra lights, a headlight modulator, and rear brake light modulator as well. I do keep it on a battery tender most of the time, but many times I do not and even after 3 weeks or more of not riding, it starts right up. Oh, this is on the stock battery it came with.

The only time I ever had a problem, it turned out to be a fuse issue, everything went blank (speedo, lights, etc), but the bike ran fine.