need help with charging system 2005 ninja 636

[UHATEIT]

I started having an issue riding on Friday the bike shut itself off while riding. The lights on the dash flickered faintly. Eventually the bike started itself and I was able to ride off but then it shut itself off again maybe 15 minutes later. I sat on the side of the road for about 20 minutes with no luck then it started again and had no issues after that, I was able to ride it and stop/start it and made 6 stops on my way home without issues. I put it on a tender just in case for the night and the next day it rode no issues. But On my way home it shut off again and will not start since then.

I put it on a tender all last night and thee is nothing. The key turned to on the dash lights up for half a second and shuts off. The bike doesn't want to power up at all. When I charged it two nights ago it was fine and rode with no issues but now its as if the bike will not hold a charge.

I dont have the proper diagnostic tools to check this bike. I dont know if it is the rectifier, stator, main relay or now the battery. Any suggestions or help would be great or anyone near Hampden/Tower with a proper diagnostic tool that can test it and tell me that would be awesome. I just signed up for the toys for tots ride next weekend and would like the bike working so I can go to the ride.

[UHATEIT]

I was also going to say I've never had a battery issue or starting issue before. Since its winter I put the bike on the tender and normally it blinks green until fully charged. Last night it was blinking green when I went to bed and I assumed it would be solid green today with a fully charged battery but the tender light is solid red now. As if nothing was charged. So maybe the battery is completely fried now and won't charge. But something had to have caused that. Maybe the stator wasn't charging the battery and now the battery is done. Maybe the rectifier wasn't sending signal from the stator to the battery and the battery ran til it was dry. The tender should charge the battery but now it seems not to be but it was charging last night.

[UHATEIT]

I took the tank off and pulled the battery. On a voltmeter it reads properly about 12 volts. When I connect it to the bike and put the tender on its at 14-15 volts. But when I turn the ignition on it drops to 2 volts. That's probably why the gauges flicker since it gets the initial 12 volts but then just cuts out to 2. Anyone know reasoning for why it would just drop to 2 volts? Could this be the battery not sending volts out?

When on the battery tender it blinks green lights (battery charging and over 80%) but then will just go to red for a few seconds randomly then go back to blinking green again then eventually back to red. I tried this on a voltmeter and when it changes to red it drops from 14 down to 10. I'm wondering is something is draining the battery intermittently. Could that be a rectifier?

[TFOGGuys]

The battery is toast. Replace it, then check charging voltage at the battery. You should have 13.5 to 14.5 volts at 3000 rpm. If you don't, you have either a stator or regulator issue. The next step is to check AC voltage coming off the stator. There are 3 yellow wires from the stator to the regulator. disconnect the plug from the regulator, and start the bike. Between any pair of the three wires(1 to 2, 2 to 3, 1 to 3), you should have 55-70 volts AC at 5000 rpm. If any pair tests low, you have a bad stator, if all test good, you have a bad regulator/rectifier.

[UHATEIT]

Thanks for the reply Jim. I ended up replacing the battery this morning after it was charging intermittently on the tender (flashing green then solid red for 5 seconds then back to flashing green again). As soon as I would turn the key to on it would drop to 2 volts and wouldn't give power to start the bike at all.

I filled the acid and let it sit for 30 minutes to stop fizzing then charged the battery for about 5 hours until the tender was solid green light on. I started bike finally and warmed it up. It idles around 13.6 and at 3000 rpm its around 14.5 and gradually climbs but very slowly (at 0.01 increments) if I hold the rpm at 3000 for a long time so its a tad higher than your range if held for for a while (I guess that could be a good thing if it means its being charged up by something) Should I still try to test the stator plug wires or should I be in good shape if the DC range is what I mentioned. Reason I ask is because your note mentions if anything tests low its the stator and if everything tests fine then its the rectifier. Does that mean there has to be something wrong or could the battery just have been bad and couldn't hold the charges that the stator or rectifier sent to it?

[Wrider]

It could have simply been the battery dying. Often one of the lead plates inside will break off and start flopping around. When it does that, it shorts out the battery.

[TFOGGuys]

Bad battery. Your charging voltages are in the ball park, so no more diagnosis should be needed.

[UHATEIT]

Thank you so much you guys. I really hope it was just the battery and nothing else. I have no idea how old it was it came on the bike and just said 8/31 on it so that could be 2013 or 2010 for all I know. If it dies again I'll hope I'm close by the house like the last time. What I can do is ride around for 30-45 minutes and then use my voltmeter to check the battery power after riding and see if it drained badly and if so then its not getting charged by something.

[UHATEIT]

I guess as one last question, can the stator work intermittently off and on or when it is busted it doesn't work at all. Since my readings of voltage were fine at a standstill revving I'd hate for the stator to click on and off on its own if its defective and then the battery drains. Same with the rectifier when it goes out does it just stop working or can it work intermittently until its toast

[TFOGGuys]

I've never seen a stator go intermittent for more than a couple of heat cycles. Ditto for regulators. Generally, they hard fail. The only other common failure mode for a regulator is a short to ground that will drain a battery flat over a period of time, usually over night.

[UHATEIT]

That is great news Jim. So basically a stator either works or its blown and doesn't intermittently cut in and out if still has life left. I was worried because the voltage was fine when doing that test, but didn't want to find out the stator was working then but could cut out when I drive it next and eventually drain the battery.

Looks like I can make it to the Toy Run next weekend after all

[milehizx6r]

The markings on your battery tells me it was produced the 31st week of 2008. Six years old, definitely got your money out of it.

[UHATEIT]

Oh wow that's good to know. I thought that meant august 31 but not sure the year. Crazy it lasted that long. It did have some issues starting every now and then anyways. Hopefully his new battery is all I need and does the trick. If it dies again while riding then its something else also but per Jim's mentioning it sounds like it was battery issue