636 Battery Dead After Ride. Help!

[STREETBIKESONLY]

Has anyone had this problem before?

After charging my battery I was able to start the bike just fine. But after going for a 20 minute ride I turned the bike off. When I came to turn it on 2 minutes later the battery was compltely dead.

I assume the bike is not keeping the battery charged but once its on it stays on...until I turn it off then theres no turning back on untill I put the battery on the charger.

Is it my stator or rectifier or battery?

Thanks in advance for your help!

[SribbuCC]

I also have the same problem..
Towed to workshop and found out that the coil is burnt..
In Singapore there is no stock for the coil and I am still waiting..
Any helpful souls to help me where to get the coil?

[QKENUF4U]

Originally Posted by STREETBIKESONLY

Is it my stator or rectifier or battery?
!

could be any of the three. youll have to test each one to figure out which is bad. your service manual will tell you how

[SribbuCC]

[quote=STREETBIKESONLY]Has anyone had this problem before?

Is it my stator or rectifier or battery?

QUOTE]

For my case all three..

[wiredgeorge]

A burnt coil will not affect the battery discharging.

The battery on STREETBIKESONLY's bike is discharging. While operating the bike, it is operating from the power of the battery ONLY. Three things can be wrong:
1. bad connection (wiring issue)
2. bad stator/generator
3. bad regulator/rectifier

To fix the bike, first start with the easy things. First, recheck the battery connections. Make sure the connection to ground is tight on both ends and make sure the RED wire is securely connected at both ends. Make sure you didn't accidentely disconnect the white/red wire that also connects to the lug on the starter solenoid that the end of the red cables connects to.

Under the large forward cover on your bike is the stator/generator (not sure which it is but principal is the same). Out of this cover comes a number of wires which will include three wires that connect to the regulator/rectifier in some fashion. The connection can be directly or via a junction panel. I am not familiar with the wiring on a 636. In any case, disconnect the connector and clean/lube it. If you disconnect the connector, and have a multimeter, you can check the stator/generator by starting the bike (will start fine if the battery is charged). Look at the open connector on the stator/generator side. Note that there will likely be THREE wires coming from the stator/generator and they may be yellow. Anyway find the three wires, regardless of color and start the bike. Put the probes from your meter on the contacts in the connector that are connected to the wires coming from your stator/generator. At idle, I would expect about 50 Volts AC ANY way you put your probes. Check all the different permutations... in other words across all pairs of the three connectors. If you get LESS than 50 VAC, then the stator/generator is likely BAD! Get a manual for your bike and it will tell you the actual expected AC value and other checks to determine which stator/generator component is actually bad. If the stator/generator turns out be OK and it likely will, then check the regulator/rectifier.

Reconnect the stator/generator to reg/rec connector. With the bike at idle, put your multimeter into Volts DC (VDC) scale. Put the probes on the battery terminals. At idle, you should see nominally ~12.5 VDC. If the value is HIGHER, then the regulator/rectifier is BAD for sure and if it is lower, the reg/rec is either bad or there is a bad connection... check the connections before writing off the reg/rec. If the reg/rec is OK at idle, then go to the next step....

OK... the bike is still idling, twist the throttle so that the engine speed goes up to 4K rpm. Check the voltage at the battery terminals the same way as you just checked it at idle. At 4K rpm, it should read about ~14.5 VDC. If it is HIGHER, then the reg/rec is definitely bad but if it is lower, the reg/rec MAY be bad but again, there may be a bad connection. Since you have already checked the stator or generator (whatever it is called on your bike), this isn't the cause of your woes.

One of these checks WILL find the problem. While checking the stator/generator and reg/rec seem to be the most technically complex, a bad connection is usually the culprit and is usually the most difficult to find. Check all connections for the reg/rec. Have a can of contact cleaner (computer stores or Walmart) and some dielectic grease on hand and clean all those connections and put a dab of dielectic grease on them. Make sure the battery cables are snug on both ends. Make sure the white/red wire from the regulator/rectifier to the lug on the starter solenoid didn't get disconnected.

[STREETBIKESONLY]

Thank you for the vast amount of information.

I put a multimeter to the battery leads as the bike was running at idle and it read about 12.5 volts BUT it slowly began to rise on IDLE and it hit 14.5 Volts.

As I reved the motor to 5000 rpms it went from 12.5 to 13.5-14 ish

Here is my question. How does the bike stay running with a dead battery? Does this mean that the stator is good since its producing the energy needed to keep the bike running? If so then is my battery not holding the charge that its receiving from the stator? Or is the rectifier not regulating the curren going to the battery properly?

Thanks for all your help!

[blakhole73]

I would also check for a dead short that is occuring as you ride the bike IE the lighting wires, look for any wires that are bare. this happened to me on my old suzuki, it was a bear to find and consequently burnt the stator..

[Always4Kawis]

You mentioned in your original post that you had to charge the battery, so I assume it was dead or low enough to have a no crank condition. Did it have time to sufficiently charge? Do you have a way to check the specific gravity?

[wiredgeorge]

Power comes off your stator (or generator or whatever the correct name for your bike's power making gizmo) and is AC. AC is converted to DC at the regulator rectifier. Power then is split... goes to battery and main fuse. Bike runs off battery if no power is being generated. Bike runs off generated power if battery is discharged. If voltage at the battery is rising while the bike is idling it looks like you may have a reg/rec issue.

There are essentially two types of regulator/rectifiers. The old type used a feedback wire; almost always a brown wire on a Kaw. Look at your reg/rec and see if there is a brown wire on the connector. If there is, start tracing this BROWN wire back to the harness. It VERY LIKELY has a bad connection. Clean and put some dielectic grease on any connection associated with the brown wire. What it does is provide voltage from the ignition switch through the harness to the reg/rec. If the voltage on the brown wire is low, the reg/rec cranks out more. If the voltage is high, the reg/rec cranks out less. So if you have a BROWN wire, either the wire connection is not secure somewhere in the circuit or the reg/rec is BAD.

OK, the other type of reg/rec used on newer bikes will NOT have a brown wire on the harness. This type has a feedback circuit that senses the voltage through the other wires on the main connector; probably the main white wire but I can't say for sure. If this type reg/rec is on your bike... well the reg/rec needs replaced as it isn't doing its job properly.

There is a real good chance your regulator/rectifier is bad. If you get 12.5 to 14.5 VDC out of it at anytime, the stator/generator/alternator (whatever-ator) on your bike is very likely fine and dandy.

[STREETBIKESONLY]

Hey thank you all for your replys and input.

I too was sure that my rectifier was gone...but I remembered that on a gsxr750 I had on time, the rectifier went bad but as soon as the battery was drained while riding the bike would turn off.

At any rate...the problem is fixed!!! It was the good ol' battery!!!

I put in a new battery and went on a pretty long ride. Stoped and started a few times in between...everything looks good!!! Next day fired right up. I put the old battery in another bike and it was dead there too!

Thanks again for all your help

[Greenblood]

Hello im having same problem??? went purchased new battery charged it correctly put in bike went on 20 min ride....stopped had a smoke went to leave battery completely DEAD!!!HELP PLEASE 06 636

[84_KZ550_NewB]

Originally Posted by Greenblood

Hello im having same problem??? went purchased new battery charged it correctly put in bike went on 20 min ride....stopped had a smoke went to leave battery completely DEAD!!!HELP PLEASE 06 636

New battery? How long did you let it charge for? What amp did you charge it at, 1.5amp? 2amp?

[Greenblood]

Originally Posted by 84_KZ550_NewB

New battery? How long did you let it charge for? What amp did you charge it at, 1.5amp? 2amp?

Yes new,all night long on 2amp maybe fast charge cycle 6amp

[84_KZ550_NewB]

Originally Posted by Greenblood

Yes new,all night long on 2amp maybe fast charge cycle 6amp

How long is "all night long"? I have read and told by others, for a brand new battery, you want to do 1.5amp or 2amp on slow charge for 18-24 hours. The first charge is the most IMPORTANT charge of the batteries life. Say if you charge 50% of it and use it, you will never be able to charge the battery any higher than 50%.

[Green Meanie]

Have the battery tested under loasd the problem is most likely the battery.
How old is the battery??
A motorcycle charging system is not designed to "charge" a battery however it is designed to maintain the charge of a good battery.
The bike will run with a weak battery as it is only acting like a capacitor in the circuit once the bike is started