after everything going OK the day before yesterday on the short ride and not finding any issue with the multi meter I took the bike out for just under 100mi today before work and had no issue again. I checked the battery when I got home and it read 12.96.

a few things keep coming to mind.

1. while trying to come up with common denominators I overlooked one. all of these problems started the day after I turned the extra lights on to go for a night ride and just left them on. I ended up turning back early that night because I misjudged the weather but the next morning was the first time the bike started acting up after a couple hundred miles of running great


2. previous owner told me before I even went to see the bike that the battery was shot and needed replaced. I took his word for it and bought a new one to take with and thought nothing of it. I had that battery of his tested with the one I bought the other night and it was low but still tested as good. I exchanged the new battery that was bad and put the new one in the saddle bag. I've been riding on the one he said was shot. he had the 2 little lights on when he started the bike to show me so I'm assuming he left them on all the time. that has me thinking that maybe they were draining the battery faster than the bike could charge it so he kept having to charge the battery and figured the battery was shot.


is it possible that either
A. those 2 smaller lights beside the headlight are too much for the battery or charging system to handle when left on at all times. not sure if maybe the lights could be aftermarket and draw more than factory or charging system is just weak and the added draw of those 2 lights becomes the straw that broke the camels back

B. is it possible I was just unlucky and bought a faulty battery that wouldn't take a charge?

C. would it be more likely that there is fault somewhere with the lights weather it's the draw it's self or a wiring issue?

I guess the easy way to figure out if any of this is even related would be to turn em back on and take it for a ride stopping to test the battery a few times.

in the mean time Im going to send the previous owner a message and see what he can tell me.

 

I'm still putting money on the main circuit breaker and lugs.

 

I somehow managed to miss it the first time that you mentioned it. I'll have to look into that. Is there any special test I need to do there or just look for visible damage?

 

That's one of the common issues, corrected by replacement with new components.

 

The easiest is looking for discoloration of the terminals on the breaker. If it looks like the terminals have taken some heat, chances are the wire lugs have some resistance on the wire. If not too discolored, you can remove the insulation, solder the lugs and recover with heat shrink. Too discolored, shorten the wires, crimp, solder and heat shrink new ones on.

You can simply gain access to the relay, turn the ignition / lights on and feel the terminals. If they are getting warm, you have the issue.

 

I'm almost embarrassed to admit that I had to Google to find the circuit breaker LOL I saw how cheap they were and ordered a new one from Amazon and figured I would just swap it out in a few minutes thinking it was under the seat lol what were they thinking? Got to take half of the bike apart just to get to it. I'm going to have to wait for a day off and see if I can get my buddy to help me I don't really trust my cheapo jack from advanced auto very much. I've been drooling over the j&s one but $600 is a lot to spend for the amount of wrenching I do on my own bikes.

 

I don't see you saying anything about the wire lugs. If you don't do anything with them, you won't fix the problem!!!!

​​​​​​​

 

I didn't say anything about the wire lugs because I haven't even made it to the breaker to see them cuz I don't want to be the only person there when I jack that bike up to take the rear wheel off.

 

You can access that circuit breaker without removing the back wheel. Remove seat. Disconnect the battery. remove the plastic clip holding the ECM carrier. Remove the splash guard bolts at the bottom, and dislodge/rotate the splash guard down & out of the way. Rotate the ECM carrier forward to expose the circuit breaker. Remove connections and inspect. Replace any defective components. Restore splashguard to original location/function. Tighten all fasteners. Reconnect Battery. Restore carrier clip, seat, and hardware.

 

I must have missed the email notification. this is great news. I've been getting frustrated that I couldn't get my schedule to line up with my buddies to make sure my cheap jack didn't kill me. now I just need to find the cable and lugs max mentioned replacing to order I only found the breaker.