S2R800 Died. Electrical. No charge on new battery after short ride.

[corey]

A short while back, I screwed up a battery install and botched my ECU.
Thread is viewable here: http://www.ducatimonsterforum.org/index.php?topic=56569.0
Time to revisit this issue...

I rode into work on Friday, and unfortunately the bike died on my half way home at the end of the day. Made it all the way to work, but not home. Currently being stored at a friends garage that was luckily within pushing distance. Thoughtfully, I had brought my battery tender with me just in case, so I should be able to limp it home tomorrow.

The battery was definitely dead. Brand new battery, but no charge whatsoever after riding to work and half way home. Before it died, I was popping and backfiring a bit. It was very odd.

That morning when i turned the bike's ignition to the ON position, before I heard the fuel pump whir, I heard an odd "SNAP" or "POP" sound. I couldn't attribute it to anything external, so I hoped for the best and went on my way.

It seems pretty obvious that the battery received no charge while the bike was running.

I think I have the issue narrowed to the charging system, I hope.

Is there a procedure for testing the stator? Could the SNAP or POP that I heard have been a coil frying out in the stator? 
And, Is there a procedure for testing the voltage regulator/rectifier?
Could the backwards battery install have fried either of them?
Is there anything ELSE that could be causing this problem?
Could the ECU still be the culprit? Could a faulty ECU prevent the battery from getting a charge, or DRAIN the battery? The bike was running fine when the battery had juice.
Could the jump between the starter button and starter solenoid (bypassing the ecu) be causing a battery drain?
I'd like to avoid towing out to the dealership if possible, but I'm willing to accept this if it solves my problems. If it's not the Stator or Regulator, I have no clue...

If it IS the stator or regulator, and I replace them, could a faulty ECU ruin them again?
Should I just suck it up and replace the ECU and revert my wiring back to stock?

[suzyj]

Before you start replacing things, check the wiring first.  My bike died on my once from lack of battery, and it turned out the stator-rectifier connection had come loose.

So check that, and check the rectifier-battery connection too.  Also check all the fuses for good measure.

Then go through the charging diagnosis - once the battery is charged back up, measure battery terminal voltage with bike at 2-3K rpm, check the stator AC voltage at the stator-rectifier connection with the rectifier/regulator unplugged, stator resistance, etc.  I won't repeat the whole process as it's been written down already many times.  Here's a link to the Electrosport diagnosis flowchart: 

It is possible that your backwards battery damaged the rectifier/regulator or stator.  There is no direct connection between the ECU and battery, so no, there's no way the damaged ECU could damage the rectifier/regulator.  Your change to the wiring to make the bike start is unlikely to cause battery drain, but if you've got a bit of wire that's bare and it shorts out, it will blow fuses.

[S21FOLGORE]

Here's a link to the Electrosport diagnosis flowchart: 

+1.

Corey, let's look at this situation this way.
1) You started riding with brand new battery (fully charged).

2) On the way home, bike died. Found the battery is dead. Not charged at all while you were riding.

You know the bike will run until the battery gets drained out. Then, it will die. That's what happened. Either the charging system on your bike wasn't charging at all since you left home, or stopped working somewhere on your ride home to work, or on the way back home. Then, putting another charged battery in will not solve the problem.
Have to figure out why the battery didn't get charged.

There are couple of possibilities ...

1) when you installed the battery the last time (NOT the time you put negative-positive backward), the bolt on the negative terminal was not tight enough. If it get loose, the battery will not be charged. The bike will keep on running until the battery gets drained out. Then, when there's not enough juice left anymore, it will die. And if that's the case, by the time the bike stopped running, regulator / rectifier is already damaged (because the battery voltage getting lower and lower, the charging system tries to charge the battery, keeps working harder and harder, R/R gets hotter and hotter ... then diode gets blown, R/R is gone.)

2) Like Suzzyj said, it is possible that R/R got damaged when you did backward installation of the battery. So, it is possible that R/R was already dead when you put the brand new battery in ...

In any case, I'd suggest going to electrosport.com 's web site and look at the diagnosis flowchart. Check your charging system.


PS; in your first thread, you said you've checked all the fuse and they were all good. You know there's huge 40A fuse between battery positive and R/R, you also checked this, right?

[Howie]

Before doing anything check the 40 amp fuse at the side of the battery.  If this fuse is blown the bike will not charge.  Cheap, easy stuff first!

[corey]

Before doing anything check the 40 amp fuse at the side of the battery.  If this fuse is blown the bike will not charge.  Cheap, easy stuff first!

... I'll be sure to check this. Here's hoping!

[corey]

... I'll be sure to check this. Here's hoping!

Slight bump...
Would this fuse make an audible POP if it failed? Say, when i first turn the ignition on before starting the bike?
Also, if it turns out that I'm lucky (which really hasn't been my thing for 2012) and it IS just the fuse, what could have caused it to blow?

Also, is this just a standard 40amp fuse that I would get at any autoparts store? I'm going to pick one up before I go to get the bike.

EDIT:
Are we talking about THIS fuse?

[ducpainter]

That's the one.

It's typically located right on the battery box in line in the red cable.

[Howie]

Dat be it!  Standard fuse, yes it is possible you could hear it pop.  Fuses generally blow from a short or high amperage draw, but can fail from age.  

Buy at least two fuses.  If the first fuse blows disconnect the regulator.  Fuse no longer blows, the short is in the regulator or wiring from the regulator.  For further diagnosis you can substitute the fuse with a 40 amp circuit breaker.   Often a wiring short can be found with a circuit breaker and an inductive ammeter.  Run the ammeter down the suspect wiring.  Where current ends is where the short is.

[corey]

Dat be it!  Standard fuse, yes it is possible you could hear it pop.  Fuses generally blow from a short or high amperage draw, but can fail from age. 

Buy at least two fuses.  If the first fuse blows disconnect the regulator.  Fuse no longer blows, the short is in the regulator or wiring from the regulator.  For further diagnosis you can substitute the fuse with a 40 amp circuit breaker.   Often a wiring short can be found with a circuit breaker and an inductive ammeter.  Run the ammeter down the suspect wiring.  Where current ends is where the short is.

If it ends up NOT being the fuse, is it alright to limp the bike home on just a charged battery? It's maybe 15 minutes/5 miles.

[suzyj]

Should be okay - just disconnect the rectifier/regulator.

[corey]

Another quick pre-diagnosis question. Could my brain-fart backwards battery install have toasted a brand new battery?

[suzyj]

Another quick pre-diagnosis question. Could my brain-fart backwards battery install have toasted a brand new battery?

No.

[corey]

No.

lol. love the decisive answers.

[corey]

Wellp,
Finally got the bike home, just rode it there on a full battery charge. Before beginning the ride, I checked all connectors between the stator, regulator/rectifier, and battery. No plugs looked fried or boogered up at all. Good sign i guess. The 40amp main fuse was popped, so I guess there are some questions up in the air.

What could have caused the main fuse to blow?
And, did the battery receive a charge on my way home after replacing the fuse?

I had some crap to do last night, so didn't get a chance to multimeter the battery. I'll check it before i start the bike back up to see what kind of voltage was left in it after the ride. I'm also going to run all the necessary tests on the stator and R/R to see if either is dead or dying.

The bike ran fine, so I'm still feeling pretty confident that the ECU is alright.

Considering that my splice job for the starter-button-to-starter-solenoid ecu bypass is soldered, heat-shrinked twice, and taped up back inside the loom, is there any chance this re-wiring jobber could cause that fuse to pop?

Could having that battery in backwards have weakened that fuse to the point where it was just a matter of time until it popped?

[Howie]

The charging circuit is pretty well isolated from the rest of the bike.  If the bike made it home without blowing the fuse and your bike is charging chances are you are in good shape.  Full output and the fuse are close to the same and the fuse had age on it.