Confused read out and rider.

My computer read out on initial ignition turn on informs me "low voltage" and displays 12.1v or similar. no amount of optimate connection can change that. The bike starts and runs. The low voltage will occasionally cause the oil light and neutral to flash which at the same zeros the trip mileage. So tank off, again, to check the new battery (installed January) the battery shows 13.3v yet my reading still tells me low voltage. Do these warnings stay on screen till you erase them? as I'm thinking this could be an old warning?
I'm still doing some tests on the battery my next being to disconnect the optimate and leave for a couple of days then take another reading to see if there is any dramatic voltage drop.
Mark.

mentalrental said:

My computer read out on initial ignition turn on informs me "low voltage" and displays 12.1v or similar. no amount of optimate connection can change that. The bike starts and runs. The low voltage will occasionally cause the oil light and neutral to flash which at the same zeros the trip mileage. So tank off, again, to check the new battery (installed January) the battery shows 13.3v yet my reading still tells me low voltage. Do these warnings stay on screen till you erase them? as I'm thinking this could be an old warning?
I'm still doing some tests on the battery my next being to disconnect the optimate and leave for a couple of days then take another reading to see if there is any dramatic voltage drop.
Mark.

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From my own experience a battery left on the 961 without a trickle charger will lose it's charge, a lot faster than with other bikes.

I believe the lcd volt display is real time. If your battery reads 13.3v but the lcd displays 12.1v then there is a problem, either a faulty voltage reading (bad unit or poor connection somewhere, does your volt display rise above 13v with engine running?) or, a short in a circuit/connector causing excessive voltage drop (I would expect a short to show up as a blown fuse), or the other possibility is that the battery is at fault, it reads good voltage without a load (disconnected?) but when a load is applied voltage drops excessively (but I would expect a duff battery to have issues cranking the engine over).

You are going to need to do some more tests, start by checking current draw (ammeter on Amps) to see what sort of current is being drawn when ignition is off/on. Then check voltage readings at the relay pins working back from the battery, a worn relay contact would produce a low voltage reading, worth checking that connectors are also clean and tight.

MxMartin said:

From my own experience a battery left on the 961 without a trickle charger will lose it's charge, a lot faster than with other bikes.

I believe the lcd volt display is real time. If your battery reads 13.3v but the lcd displays 12.1v then there is a problem, either a faulty voltage reading (bad unit or poor connection somewhere, does your volt display rise above 13v with engine running?) or, a short in a circuit/connector causing excessive voltage drop (I would expect a short to show up as a blown fuse), or the other possibility is that the battery is at fault, it reads good voltage without a load (disconnected?) but when a load is applied voltage drops excessively (but I would expect a duff battery to have issues cranking the engine over).

You are going to need to do some more tests, start by checking current draw (ammeter on Amps) to see what sort of current is being drawn when ignition is off/on. Then check voltage readings at the relay pins working back from the battery, a worn relay contact would produce a low voltage reading, worth checking that connectors are also clean and tight.

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Thanks for the info. Once engine starts the reading rises to above 13v as it should. At present I have disconnected the charger to see if any over significant voltage drop, I will also check if amps fall into the minus with ign. off. (Why don't they fit amp meters anymore) my original suspicion was a faulty battery but now I am wondering. A process of elimination it is then.

Hi ya Mark , how about the “ patch lead “ mod/update have u had that done,it’s a little quick fix/ link it under the tank to prevent the neutral light flickering & I’m sure the oil light to, I did have odd displays at one time ,mainly in heavy rain , but I had this update done last November on a factory service & it’s been fine since , in fact the bike has been sweet as , & touch wood is fault free

I recently had a scooter that was also acting strangely. The battery was loosing it's charge quickly but taking a charge with no issues. It's was a high quality battery that was about 18 months old. I charge all my bike batteries once a month or so with a maintenance charger that indicates the charge level when the charge is initiated. The charger was indicating that the battery was loosing 5% per day. All kept indoors. After a few days off the charger it would develop electrical issues if it would start at all. I convinced myself The bike had a parasitic drain on the battery. A gremlin somewhere in the wiring. I bought two of the same new batteries and installed in similar Harleys. No way the battery is bad, right. The other bike was fine. Ran through several draw down tests. No drain detected. Just a defective battery. By the way my OEM 961 battery lasted about 350 miles. Left the key on for about 15 minutes ..... Dead as a hammer.

BLIGHTYBRIT/SF said:

Hi ya Mark , how about the “ patch lead “ mod/update have u had that done,it’s a little quick fix/ link it under the tank to prevent the neutral light flickering & I’m sure the oil light to, I did have odd displays at one time ,mainly in heavy rain , but I had this update done last November on a factory service & it’s been fine since , in fact the bike has been sweet as , & touch wood is fault free

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Hi Richard. Yep had the patch lead fix to solve the flashing neutral light. I left the charger/optimiser off over night and the battery condition dropped from 13.3v to 12.8v and I am sure would have kept going down. I will sort and amp meter and test if its a constant draw on the battery or indeed a faulty battery.
Mark

gchoppin said:

I recently had a scooter that was also acting strangely. The battery was loosing it's charge quickly but taking a charge with no issues. It's was a high quality battery that was about 18 months old. I charge all my bike batteries once a month or so with a maintenance charger that indicates the charge level when the charge is initiated. The charger was indicating that the battery was loosing 5% per day. All kept indoors. After a few days off the charger it would develop electrical issues if it would start at all. I convinced myself The bike had a parasitic drain on the battery. A gremlin somewhere in the wiring. I bought two of the same new batteries and installed in similar Harleys. No way the battery is bad, right. The other bike was fine. Ran through several draw down tests. No drain detected. Just a defective battery. By the way my OEM 961 battery lasted about 350 miles. Left the key on for about 15 minutes ..... Dead as a hammer.

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I am 99% sure its a faulty battery as my previous battery (same make and type) never had this problem. I agree that these bikes do like to eat a battery and do need constant attention but at this rate I will need to take a charger with me wherever I go. Ill keep the tests going, with the rain that we are forecast I wont be going very far anyway, In the meantime I will dig out my battery receipt and see about sending it back.

What sort of battery is it?

Sounds like the luck of the draw with the batteries. My OEM 961 battery is 5 years old and hasn't given me any problems (touch wood). I don't have it on permanent trickle charge; I charge it using a CTEK if I know I'm going for a ride, or about once a month if the bike is laid up.

mentalrental said:

... but at this rate I will need to take a charger with me wherever I go.

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That thought is in the back of my mind too, if I leave my 961 without a charger attached for a day then when I do put on charge my chargers tell me that there has been a significant discharge on the battery. This was the case when I used an Optimate on the original Yuasa lead acid and is the same when I connect the dedicated charger to the new Shorai lithium. My fear is if I ride somewhere and park up for the day will the bike have sufficient charge to crank! The days of bump starting any bike are long gone for me!

MxMartin said:

That thought is in the back of my mind too, if I leave my 961 without a charger attached for a day then when I do put on charge my chargers tell me that there has been a significant discharge on the battery. This was the case when I used an Optimate on the original Yuasa lead acid and is the same when I connect the dedicated charger to the new Shorai lithium. My fear is if I ride somewhere and park up for the day will the bike have sufficient charge to crank! The days of bump starting any bike are long gone for me!

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I went along to the March meet up. I switched off when I arrived and switched straight back on again to see if the ride had given the battery the boost it needed, after all it had showed 13+volts all the way there, however it still came up low voltage. I said to some of the guys I may need a shove to get me going when we leave, luckily it spun over and fired straight up much to their relief. Imagine the embarrassment a 961 having to be bump started.

MxMartin said:

That thought is in the back of my mind too, if I leave my 961 without a charger attached for a day then when I do put on charge my chargers tell me that there has been a significant discharge on the battery. This was the case when I used an Optimate on the original Yuasa lead acid and is the same when I connect the dedicated charger to the new Shorai lithium. My fear is if I ride somewhere and park up for the day will the bike have sufficient charge to crank! The days of bump starting any bike are long gone for me!

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I can leave mine for a couple of weeks between starts, without charging it, and it starts straight away.
We both have the same new Shoria battery. And you’re using a Shoria charger?
If so, I would suggest either your battery is faulty or the bike has a current loss somewhere...

MxMartin said:

That thought is in the back of my mind too, if I leave my 961 without a charger attached for a day then when I do put on charge my chargers tell me that there has been a significant discharge on the battery. This was the case when I used an Optimate on the original Yuasa lead acid and is the same when I connect the dedicated charger to the new Shorai lithium. My fear is if I ride somewhere and park up for the day will the bike have sufficient charge to crank! The days of bump starting any bike are long gone for me!

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Can't trust my battery either. That's why I carry this with me ...

Mine will start fine when the voltage is a little low, but I do get the trip reset, sometimes the screen freezes up and I can't scroll. Usually corrects itself after a few miles. When it happened more frequently, I had the battery tested and it had a dead cell. New battery and it works fine. Forgot to plug it in for two weeks once and it reset again. Mine is sensitive to the low voltage. Not sure about everybody else. Seems only a few of us.

mentalrental said:

.... Imagine the embarrassment a 961 having to be bump started.

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Perhaps.
But it would simply prove how faithful the 961 is to the original Commando design.
Take pride in that though.

mentalrental said:

I went along to the March meet up. I switched off when I arrived and switched straight back on again to see if the ride had given the battery the boost it needed, after all it had showed 13+volts all the way there, however it still came up low voltage. I said to some of the guys I may need a shove to get me going when we leave, luckily it spun over and fired straight up much to their relief. Imagine the embarrassment a 961 having to be bump started.

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It seems to me that your battery is good if your bike is cranking over. I reckon your low v reading is down to a damaged/worn/dirty connection in the ignition circuitry and you should be able to track this down with a volt meter. At least with the starter circuit behaving itself then that should give you peace of mind when out and about.

I can't swear but I am pretty sure that when I scrolled through my mode functions the other day doing about 60mph my V reading was in excess of 14v

Fast Eddie said:

I can leave mine for a couple of weeks between starts, without charging it, and it starts straight away.
We both have the same new Shoria battery. And you’re using a Shoria charger?
If so, I would suggest either your battery is faulty or the bike has a current loss somewhere...

Click to expand...

I think it is me being paranoid and possibly incorrect use of the charger 'store' mode. Typically I run the bike for a couple of hours which should leave battery fully charged. Once home and garaged I put the Shorai charger on in 'store' mode which manual says will discharge battery down to 80% and monitor it until it falls to 60%. The next time I go to use the bike I know the battery will be somewhere between the 60 - 80% charge, so I put the battery on 'charge' mode for an hour and all is good. If on the other hand I don't 'charge' the battery but disconnect the charger to work on the bike for a day then next time I plug charger in and select 'store' it says my charge is below 50% and starts the recovery charge (which only takes a minute or so).

I adopted this charging regime because I was experiencing poor starts with 'LOW V' and lcd issues and was becoming quite paranoid about the bikes natural ignition off current draw, but now that I have found a start technique that works for my bike then I think the 'store' function isn't necessary if I plan to use bike regularly, so I will try just putting battery on charge if it has been sitting for a week without use and see how that pans out.

Hi and thanks for the positive feed back. You always feel you're unique with these irritating problems but it seems not so.
Battery back on the optimate 12.8v this morning. Unplugged for the day just to get a reading tonight. Feel I would be wasting my money replacing the battery so will suck it and see. As said it starts and runs fine. I can leave it for a couple of hours safely so i'm happy with that for the short term. Thanks again. Mark.