Triumphrat

pomallon

Took my bike out a couple of days ago. Weather fine and warm. Rode for about 30 mins in city traffic (3500 rpm or over most of the time) to get where I was going. Parked the bike and went to do a little task. 5 minutes later came out and couldn't start the thing!! It gave all the symptoms of a flat battery except that the lights were bright and the horn was fine. It cranked terribly slowly then the solenoidd started chattering. Tried a number of times with no success, even failed at push starting. UNfortunately I had no test equipment so couldn't tell if it was battery or otherwise.

Finally got a jump start and it went immediately. Rode home, shut it down and tried it again after letting it sit for 30 minutes and started first time. Have ridden it to and from work every day since then and it shows no signs of playing up. It's got me stumped ..... and concerned that I have an intermittent fault that will come back to bite me at the worst time.

Anyone had same / similar problems? :???:

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JRO

Could be you've got something screwy in your charging system. Not starting, then starting after it has sat awhile, puts me in mind that it's been given enough time for the batt to come back up a bit. Maybe your stator wasn't wound properly, like mine was.

miker

I'd be tipping it's a loose battery terminal that, when you connected the jumper cable, made the contact good again. Worth removing both terminal clamps, cleaning and re-tightening just to rule it out.

Ask me how I know.

Mick

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FifeTiger

***** !!

Exactly what I was going to say.

Spent two hours by the roadside once with a similar problem, breakdown man came along and one quarter turn of the terminal connectors with a screwdriver and away we went.

Skidpan

I'm thinking the same - my Daytona had a liking for loosening its' terminals and I've caught the Tiger trying to do the same.

pomallon

Unfortunately no bananas for the loose terminal idea. I had tools with me and that was the first thing I checked. The roadside guy couldn't clamp the jumper leads onto the battery posts either as they were too big so he just had them in contact with the posts. It started immediately.

I'm guessing a loose connection somewhere though. Seems as though there is a bit of vibration on this bike loosening things up (hose clamps previously) so I'll be having a look at any joins in the circuit. Frustrating thing is that it hasn't even looked like happening again and I have been riding every day since.

Maybe there was some sort of battery sucking vortex outside of the place I stopped :wink:

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Skidpan

Don't you just love intermittent electrical faults...

pomallon

Weeks later still no sign of the problem re-emerging. I know what will happen though, I'll assume it's gone and it will come back to bite me on the butt :???:

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pomallon

It's happened again! Exactly the same symptoms. Got it home yesterday after a 50+ km ride from work and shut it down to unlock the garage door. Went to start it and ... nothing!. I have replaced the battery and that worked immediately so hopefully that's all it was. Feels like I've treated the symptoms though and not necessarily the cause.

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FifeTiger

If the battery was goosed, it could be a symptom of a regulator/rectifier problem. Try checking the unit and any relays for corrosiom

This can work inconsistently, for me like this

1 - bike starts in morning, runs fine to work
2 - won't start in the evening
3 - starts fine in the morning
4 - in workshop charging circuit working fine

EXCEPT

5 - in workshop having been running for a while while mechanic drinks tea and wonders.... - no charging.

Unit was fine when cold, once heated up by engine temperature, it was failing, so it would give just enough charge every night on the way home to get started in the morning, but not the other way round.

So check your circuit when the bike's hot.