Electrical Fault?

[Joe]

Hello,

Last night coming out of work I went to my 2010 GTR and went to start it as normal. Turned the ignition to 'On', the dials did their thing, thumbed the starter and the bike seemed to crank for a fraction of a second and then died. Completely dead, dials dead, no flashing light on dash etc. Pushing the black ignition dial did nothing at all, thought it was just a dead battery. Called RAC, waited for 1.5 hours and sods law the bike behaved perfectly normally, started fine etc but the clocks had reset - the time back to 1:00 etc.

The RAC bloke tested the voltages and said the battery seemed OK, rode home without a hitch.

Tried bike this morning, not a problem. Got my multimeter out and tested the battery, here's the voltages

Bike off : 12.74v
At idle : 14.05v
At 4k : 14.32v

I was hoping it was a duff battery as this would be an easy fix. Just to add, about a week or two ago I left the bike over night and the clocks had reset but the bike seemed to start fine although it did need cranking for a second or two when it normally starts on the button.

Any thoughts?

Cheers.

[doebag]

Check the basics first.
Clean shiny tight battery connections and earth points.

[Joe]

Check the basics first.
Clean shiny tight battery connections and earth points.

Batter connections all seemed good, tiny bit of corrosion on the earth but nothing that should affect it.

[Charlie farley]

I would check all the fuses including the 30 A next to the battery ,the holders can corrode over time also the fuse blades and replace them as it will cost very little .

[O.C.]

Check the basics first.
Clean shiny tight battery connections and earth points.

 

I would check all the fuses including the 30 A next to the battery ,the holders can corrode over time also the fuse blades and replace them as it will cost very little .

 

[doebag]

Batter connections all seemed good, tiny bit of corrosion on the earth but nothing that should affect it.

Check the earth to frame connections as well.
Have you done, or had, a drop test on the battery. Seems odd that it fired up then cut out. Could be dodgy cell on the battery.

[davetherave]

A bad earth would be my guess

[Joe]

Hello gents,

Thanks for the help, most appreciated.

I've cleaned connections to the battery, checked fuses including the 30A by the battery, all seem OK.

The frame earth that connects to the same bolt at the battery negative, is that the only one?

[Charlie farley]

There are loom earth's but they can be a pain to get at and find there is a large engine earth but to get at it on back of engine above the gearbox you my loose whit will to live  there is no harm making a new engine earth and attaching from the battery to a more convenient bolt on the engine.

[virginiajim]

All the battery cable connections/wires that  you can get to by taking off the metal plate should be taken off and cleaned.  I use a brass brush and do it once a year.   How old is the battery?  And just because the connections look clean, doesn't mean that they are.

[Rusty]

Im no technical genius as everyone on here knows ( ) so I shall simply hope that your bike is fine and you don't have any reoccurring problems !

[topo]

My opinion : change battery and buy new one.

[Joe]

Well no reoccurrence since, bike has behaved perfectly. I do now keep  the necessary tools to access the battery compartment on the bike now, I think it must have been a dodgy earth, here's hoping.