low voltage issue

[dallasStreet]

Hi, I was wondering if anybody can shed some light on a problem i've recnetly had.

Bike: St3R with a "triumph" alarm delivered 3 months ago. T

The first 2 and half months i had it back witht the dealer four times due to a problem with the alarm. they repalced the alarm on the fourth time

for 6 weeks everything was great. then on tuesday 10/nov the bike wouldn't start. Turned out to be low voltage on the battery.

The dealer said everything was normal, battery was fine, the alarm was fine and the charging system in the bike was fine as well. I just need to get a charger and charge it every two days.

I ride to work every day (5 days) about 22k each way, fast and slow traffic, i keep it above 4k most of the time.

So is it normal ? anybody else had problems like this ? Should i need a charger ?

[Ducken]

If this was your usual Japanese bike, no, it would not be normal. I'll leave it to the Triumph experts to say if it is normal for a Street Triple. I've been through this with the Honda VFR 98-01, and have heard the Street Triple has a weak charging system. Do you (or anyone else) know how much current the alarm system draws when the bike is off?
I'm sure others besides myself will be watching this thread closely, please keep us informed of any progress with your dealer/Triumph. Ken

[Lucid Triple]

how long between starts anyway that's not normal, anyway if the dealer isn't so helpful i'd put the battery on a tender instead of a charger

[Pokeyjoe]

Do you have a multimeter? If so, measure the voltage when the bike is running at idle and at about 2K RPM.

[MacBandit]

That's less than 14 miles each way which is bare minimum to recharge a battery after the draw created by the starter on start up. If you had a 600 watt alternator then it would probably be okay but would still likely wear the battery down over time creating premature failure on the battery. Also keep in mind that running with a depleted charging system creates undue stress on the charging system and can cause premature failure. I've seen this sort of problem on multiple bikes over multiple brands so this is definitely not singularly a Triumph problem. It depends mainly on the peak output of the charging system less the draw the bike has just in order to run the main systems. The Street tends to have more draw then the Daytona because it runs both headlight all of the time and the Daytona has all kinds of charging problems on it's own so you can see where that's going. Yes, the charging system on the 675 could be called anemic but it's not alone in the sport bike or motorcycle world in general.

How ever.... That said, 2 days from full charge to the point of being depleted enough to prevent start up is excessive. If you are indeed saying that charging the bike over night results in that you can ride for 2 days before it will not start without a charger then you indeed have an issue.

[dallasStreet]

Update.

The dealer had a chat to triumph in Melbourne and they said the issue could be a battery related. The battery voltage drops to 11.15V whilst cranking this should only drop to 11.3V. They are going to replace the battery for me under warranty - hopefully that will be the last of my "D#mn bike wont start" problems

I should say the dealer has been very helpful and put a lot of effort into finding the problem. I'm very happy with their service

[jsobell]

Originally Posted by MacBandit

That's less than 14 miles each way which is bare minimum to recharge a battery after the draw created by the starter on start up.

So I guess the 5km (3miles) I do each way to the office and back every day means I should have been jump-starting mine for the last 6 months?

Twitchy

(did I mention that batteries never go flat in Australia? "God's country" as it's known over here!)

[MacBandit]

Yeah most motorcycles I know of even ones with larger capacity charging systems see battery decline with commutes as short as yours. Feel lucky.

[Pokeyjoe]

Originally Posted by twitchythrottle

So I guess the 5km (3miles) I do each way to the office and back every day means I should have been jump-starting mine for the last 6 months?

+1 - same commute distance.

[dallasStreet]

I'm definitely going to fork out the cash for a trickle charger. I don't have to stuff around getting the bike transported to the dealer and then wait a day to get her back - plus this should lengthen the life of the battery.