Battery will not charge

[kwar63]

I went on the Terlinqua ride this past weekend. What a great ride? Got off to a bad start my bike would not start and I narrowed it down to the kill switch being bad so I cut the wire and I was good to go. However, the next day the after the first 40 miles the electric start would not work and it was clearly battery related. I tried to charge the battery over night but it would not take a charge. The battery is only 3 months old and my last battery only lasted 6 months and that battery stayed on a battery tender most of the time. So I think I have a stator or voltage regulator problem. Any suggestions.

Kurt

2006 WR 450 dual sport.

[PBDBLUE]

Since you're dual sported I'm going to guess there's a good chance the bike is setup to run fully on dc. Aftermarket or modified stock stator? aftermarket or stock regulator? Need more info but most likely the problem lies with one of those two items.

[kwar63]

I have the Trick DS. The headlight only works when the engine is running. I think the headlight, etc. runs off the stator after the engine is running. The stator did not require modification. The lights are the stock WR with exception of the blinkers. Thanks for any help. I will troubleshoot today and probably take it to my mechanic tomorrow if I can not figure it out. Electrical is not my strong suit.

Kurt

[PBDBLUE]

Sounds like it has the stock regulator and stator then. It's most likely the regulator but could also be a bad stator. First check the 10A fuse by the battery. Start the bike and measure the voltage at the battery. It should be between 13.5 and 14.5 volts with the engine rev'd to around 5000 rpm or more. If it isn't then check the stator coil resistance. If the stator is good then most likely the regulator is toast. The manual has a pretty good troubleshooting section in it. Also I don't know what brand of battery you are using. The stock YUASA battery is obviously the best of the bunch but pricey. Some of my buddies have had some failures with the off brand ones.

[kwar63]

I am on my 3rd battery in less than 14 months. I replaced the stock battery with a BatteriesPlus heavy duty battery that had an amazing 1 year warrantee. It last 8 months with some regular charging with the battery tender. The next battery was a BikeMaster that my mechanic put in. I never charged it and it only lasted 4 months. Now I am back to the BatteriesPlus battery.

I check the fuse and I check the voltage. They were good. I am not that good at electrical troubleshooting but I will look at the manual to see what they suggest. Thanks.

Kurt

[PBDBLUE]

If the voltage is correct (13.5 - 14.5 volts measured at the battery) with the engine running mid rpm then there is nothing wrong with the charging system and it's simply a battery failure. Or since you mentioned it's dual sported could there be something draining the battery when it's sitting? If you think that's the case Dale at Trick is a pretty helpful guy. If it's just the battery buy a Yuasa battery and see how that holds up. I'm not sure how well some of the aftermarket batteries hold up to the vibration of a dirtbike.