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2007 900 Custom, no electgrical power

8K views 29 replies 7 participants last post by  whoaru99 
#1 ·
Hi. Looking for some help. Riding home this evening, going along fine. Bike just dies. Get to the side of the road, no power, no lights, no digital readout, no neutral light, nothing. Go it home on the trailer. Checked all the fuses, all good. Only 11.7 volts at battery, put charger on it, back up to 12.7. Not quite sure where to go from here.

Any tips would be greatly appreciated.
 
#2 ·
Hi JC. Charging system problems aren't uncommon on the Vulcan 900, especially '06 and '07 models. But we can fix them!

The first test is simple and just requires a multi-meter. Set it to DC volts and test the voltage at the battery with the bike idling, and then rev the bike (and hold it, it helps to use the idle adjustment screw and just adjust it way up) up to about where it is on the highway, 3k RPM's or so, and test again. Report back both of those voltages. I would suggest not riding the bike any farther than you're comfortable pushing it until we complete this diagnosis.

Report back the numbers and we'll go from there.
 
#3 ·
Before it died I had 13.9 volts on my voltmeter I have mounted on the bike (lost a stator in the spring). As of this morning, 5am in PA, the battery shows 12v. This issue is a have nothing when I turn on the key. No dash lights, no headlight, no fuel pump, nothing, so I at this time I can't even check to make sure it is charging. I checked all the fuses and all are good on my meter. I downloaded a service manual last night and will be checking the relay pack tonight when I get home.
 
#4 ·
Check you ground cable on your battery at both end...I bet it wiggle loose.
 
#6 ·
I can second that, I had a kawasaki brute force atv when the battery was going it would start the atv but did not have the juice to operated the gauges or speedo...it would not even turn them on......a new battery fixed it.....I searched and bought a powerstar battery it was the only bike battery that had a 3 yr warrary plus had 30 more cca than other batteries.
 
#7 ·
Sorry, should have been more detailed. I put my tender on it last night as it was getting late and I could not find my charger. I have it now and will get it on the battery here shortly. I know under 12.4 is bad, but when I had the stator issue the battery dropped to 10v and I still had the dash lights and stuff come on. I did check the cables last night & they were tight, but I will double check them. Will let you know what I find here this evening. Oh and the battery is 3 months old from when I did the stator replacement, but I know it could still be an issue.
 
#8 · (Edited)
The tender is the best charger for your battery. Especially sealed batteries; the fewer amps you charge the battery with the better.

Do you have another meter you can double check numbers with? 10 volts is indicative of a failed cell and should not be enough to illuminate lights. Again, 12.0 volts is a very dead battery. Less than 12 volts usually indicates total battery failure. So while it's not impossible, I'm surprised anything came on with 10 volts and wonder if there isn't an issue with your meter. I mean it IS possible, but unusual. And, again, 10 volts is indicative that something is wrong with the battery, not that it's discharged. Your battery has 6 2 volt cells, 2 volts being the nominal voltage when it's discharged. So, together, they create 12 volts when discharged, 12.6 or so when charged (as you know). Less than 12, especially 10 or less, indicated one of those cells has failed. Occasionally you'll even see lead acid batteries listed as "6S", the 6 standing for the number of cells and the "S" referring to the cells being in series. To add to the complexity, you can sometimes find "6S2P" batteries which are 12 cells, made up of two parallel 6 cell setups. Pretty rare and mostly for specific applications (most lead acid batteries just use bigger cells) but those batteries have greater capacity.

Was the regulator/rectifier unit checked after replacing the stator? There's a sticky in the 900 section outlining how to test this.

In your fuse-checks, was the bikes main fuse checked?

Once you get it charged up, test charging voltage and report back. Although, despite it only being 3 months old, the battery is suspect here because charging system problems shouldn't cause a battery to become discharged overnight. However, a bad regulator/rectifier unit can certainly damage a battery. A common issue is someone having a charging system problem and having the knee-jerk reaction of replacing the stator without checking other components. And it becomes an endless cycle of replacing parts because one part destroys another part; until someone finally breaks down and diagnosis, and replaces, ALL affected parts.
 
#10 ·
Lots of things. A short, an overload. Really difficult to diagnose unless the issue is persistent; and let's hope it isn't. Did you test the regulator/rectifier unit? I would still test that. It can cause a main fuse blow, and it can grenade your battery. Even though the main fuse likely caused your symptoms; I'm still concerned about your overnight dead battery.
 
#13 ·
Okay here's what I got so far. It would appear that the rectifier is dead. Test results below. Was doing some other checks and here is one that's got me confused. On the 30a fuse block, I checked the cable going to the starter for resistance and I'm getting a reading with my meter on the ohms setting. When I put one lead on the + of the battery and the other on this cable I'm getting the battery voltage reading, 13.2v on DC setting. So just to see what would happen, I put a 15a fuse in the block and reattached the cables. Turned on the key and still nothing comes on. Did not blow the fuse. The only thing I did not check is the stator leads and I will do that when I get home this evening. Thanks for all your help. Just need to keep working through this.

Red lead on red wire, black lead on stator leads: #1 2.9, #2 0.0-0.3 (fluctuates), #3 2.19
Black lead on red wire, red lead on stator leads: #1 2.33, #2 .1, #3 2.12
Red lead on black wire, black lead on stator leads: #1 2.6, #2 0.1, #3 1.96
Black lead on black wire, red lead on stator leads: #1 2.08, #2 0.0, #3 1.92
 
#15 ·
We'll get to charging system problems, but a failed reg/rect unit nor a failed stator would cause total electrical loss like you're experiencing. Your bike doesn't need either to turn on or run; they only exist to provide charging voltage. (Obviously, without them, the battery will go dead quickly).

Try a fuse of the correct size. There really is no point diagnosing charging issues until we can figure out the main issue here. Report back whether the correct main fuse solves the issue.

@sfair will hopefully jump in here shortly.

Did you' do the stator repair yourself or have a shop do it? One thing to consider is to check the wires leading from the stator on the left side of the bike for evidence of a short; since the repair was done so recently.
 
#19 ·
Around 23000, Stator changed @ 20820
Since 2008
Riding home, biker died, battery dead as a door nail, only 2 months old, checked voltage across terminals when I got home, only 7V while running. Did research, did test on leads while running, indicated stator failure. Plus had that whirring noise coming out of the case.
Amprobe, ACD-4
 
#20 ·
okay here's what I got. one probe on middle white lead, other probe on outer leads .1, switch between white leads, same .1. test to ground, used negative side of battery for ground, nothing OL on the meter. I did however find that the middle connection was not in the plug completely. I tried to attach a pic, but it says it too large.
 
#24 ·
This is the end plug on the stator leads. The green thing appears to be a sealing ring they install in the plug to seal it from the elements. Yes it is bare, I tried to reinstall the terminal into the plug and wound up tearing the insulation.

At this time the bike is still dead. I have charged the battery to 13.4 volts. I have the rectifier removed, the starter relay block removed (was testing it) and the ignition switch (also testing). The initial issue was the bike died while riding. I had no lights, no dash indicators, nothing with the key in the "ON" position. When I got it home and I checked the battery voltage I had 11.8v at the battery. Initially I check only the fuses in the fuse block on the left side of the bike (all good), I forgot about the 30a main till the next day, which is when I found it burned out.
 
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