Battery will not charge

So here is what happend. I was riding around town when my check engine light came on. Stopped to see if i could find any reason for the engine light. Everything looked fine, tried to start up the bike... Dead battery. Got the bike home in my pickup truck. Figured it just needed a new battery. Bought a new battery. Installed battery, bike fired right up, check engine light went out, bike ran fine. Took it out for a spin. Battery died on me again after a few miles. So from what i can tell is the battery is not getting charged. I am not really good at fixing things but im not totaly useless, so if anyone has some ideas about what might be the problem or easy ways to test things that could be the problem that would be really awsome. I opened the fuse box but none of the fuses seemed like they would cause the problem. Its a 2011 WRR. Just under 8000km. I am the original owner. No mods or powered accesories.

Thanks

it sounds like your not charging your battery, considering you dropped a new battery in.
Check fuses in charging circuit.
Check for good/tight/clean connects with the battery and harness in general.
You already have a new battery...good luck

best way to test a fuse is to meter it, rather than eyeball...just to avoid all confusion.
best/easiest way to test for charging is a volt meter...good battery stands about 12+volts...if it was charging, should read 2-3 volts higher than that

I'd like to think the issue is not a dead battery since you just replaced it. And it doesn't seem like a few miles would be enough to kill a new battery. With the new battery, did the engine cut out while you were riding it? Did the check engine light come on again? At this point when you turn the key do you get any response from the bike? (running lights come on, display lights up, hear fuel pump prime?)

When the check engine light comes on, it is normally accompanied by a fault code on the display. I seem to recall someone having engine light come on without a fault code and the problem was a loose ground connection on the battery.

If you get some kind of response from the bike when the key is turned on, the first thing I'd probably mess with would be to give the kill switch a good workout. Kind of going out on a limb here but this comes to mind: https://wr250rforum.forumotion.com/t5549-bike-won-t-start-try-this

So here is some more info. Yes after installing the new battery the bike ran fine for a few miles. Then it started sputtering and running bad till it quit. I am guessing the sputtering was from the fuel injection not having the electrical power to run properly. After the bike dies i try restart it, lights come on but dim, fuel pump comes on but slower, bike turns over but dosent have enough juice to start. Just like a dead battery. I am thinking it must be the stator. Or somthing between the stator and battery has a loose connection. Thanks to the people who have replied and anyone else with ideas to diagnose the problem.

Oops forgot one thing. The check engine light did come back on with the new battery. No code was posted on the screen

Fully charge the battery. Record the voltage. Start the bike with the freshly charged battery, record that voltage with the bike running. Tell us these numbers. If it doesn't jump from 12.7-12.9V not running up to around 14-14.4V running then you have a charging issue. If it does make that jump then your issue is probably elsewhere.

Ok installed fully charged battery 12.98 volts. Bike started fine. With engine reved up a bit. Volts are slowly dropping. Not charging the battery. Is there an easy way to check the stator output?

P 8-76 in the service manual - stator & rectifier checks. Service manual says rectifier should put out 14V @ 5k RPM.

Has anybody ever started there bike and then disconected the battery to see if it will still run. It would be helpfull to know. Because mine will not run without the battery. So i dont think my bike is producing any electricity from the stator.

So here is an update for anybody interested. I got my hands on a service manual and was able to check the resistance on the stator to see if it was ok. The numbers i recorded on the multimeter were the same as what the service manual said. The rectifier was next on the list. Since i was not getting any voltage to my battery i ordered a new rectifier from yamaha. Got it today and installed it. Checked my voltage at the battery 14 volts at 5000ish rpm. Fixed. I hope. Wont be going to far from home till i know everything is back to normal. (I do not enjoy pushing my bike home) thank you to everybody who replied and gave advice or ideas.

August 1, 2013
A little over 200 mile road trip from Laughlin Nevada, back to Palm Springs.  Driving west along old US 66 west of Essex California (middle of nowhere in the Mojave Desert   34.6895, -115.3133) and the WRRs check engine light comes on, I pull over bike seems to run fine.  Shut it off, and turn the key back on and it throws an error code 46 on the meter.  Call the dealer, they say 46 is a voltage problem going to the ECU.  Continued west and about 3 miles later the bike starts sputtering.  I stop and an attempt to restart it meets with a very slow starter motor and it won't start.  I have had never had a battery problem so far with this bike.  I figure the check engine is coming on because I am not charging the battery, and with all the modern stuff like a fuel pump and the headlight running, it didn't take long to zap the tiny battery.

It is only 101 degrees because it is early about 9:30 AM . . . predicted high . . . 113F.  Shade prospects not good.  Back in Essex the Caltrans Yard has a huge ocotillo in front.  I take apart the headlight assembly and disconnect the headlamp saving over 4 amps of draw.  Wait 10 minutes, the bike cranks over and fires up.  I mount and drive pegged out back toward Essex and pull in behind the ocotillo.  Call my buddy to pick me up and three hours later me and the WRR are having an air conditioned pick-up truck ride back to Palm Springs.  Glad the water bladder on the Wolfy Escape Pack was full of ice and water.     



Based on the similar description in the previous post, this may also be a rectifier/regulator failure.

August 2, 2013
My bike is still under warranty and I took it in to the dealer.  When it gets back, I'll post the identified failure, but I'm betting it is the rectifier assembly.

Riding for a couple of days.  Went to start the bike and it started to crank very slowly.  Had the battery charged and it ran fine.  Checked with a multimeter and the battery was not getting a charge.  Got home and started sluething.  Looks like the stator is shot.

Here is a great link I thought I'd share.  Good basic info. to tracking down your problem.  Check your stator resistance first, then start the bike and check it's output in AC not DC.  That's where it became clear my stator was shot.  Suspect it was all the heat from desert riding.

genebitsystem.com/david/motorcycleelectrical/index.htm

Hope this helps.

m

Let me try that link again.

www.genebitsystems.com/david/motorcycleelectrical/chargingproblems.htm

Hope this works.

It appears to be case sensitive or I'm a lousy typer.

Try this. Sorry for the confusion. Hopefully this works.

www.genebitsystems.com/david/MotorcycleElectrical/ChargingProblems.htm

Here's a couple links that helped me out a few years back. Obviously this is just the basics and the actual specifications will need to be pulled from your manual, but I thought they do a good job getting you in the right direction when trouble shooting basic motorcycle electrical issues.

http://www.4strokes.com/tech/fault_find.pdf

http://www.electrexworld.co.uk/pdfs/Troubleshooting-3P-PMG-&-RR.pdf

I'm interested in finding out what happened to Otter's bike, something very similar happened to me.

Random thoughts, most of these types of bikes have three main components to the electrical charging system. Stator>Recitifier>Battery. Stator is actually produces the power, the recitifier converts it for the bikes use and the batttery obviously stores it. The stator produces AC voltage and the rectifier converts it to DC. I haven't looked at the WRs electrical system yet but if it's like most systems it's possible that the stator is fine and the problem is the rectifier. Someone chime in if the WR uses a different system? I will check when I get home tonight. Also on most of these setups I believe a bike needs a battery to start but once started the bike runs without one.

Almost ready for the full Paul Harvey version, but this is what the dealer said happened, and of course I am at the mercy of waiting for repair parts to ship to the dealer so I still can't ride.

Aug 7, 2013
Service writer called and here is what they identified as the problem:

1.  Stator failed while riding.

2.  The stator failure fried the regulator/rectifier module.

3.  Having the battery severely discharged while the bike was waiting in the shop to be looked at (6 days) killed the battery.

I'll give the true Paul Harvey version later when I get the bike back, but basically, pretty much each basic component of the charging system except the interconnecting wiring is being replaced.
I hope this doesn't occur at 18k intervals, my WR is less than a year old!
   
This would be a tough hit if you were on an adventure tour with this type of failure and needed the dealer to do the repair.  What a delay!  Out of warranty . . . what an expense!

@ Atomist

On the WR there is a single combination component that contains the rectifiers (diodes) and voltage regulator.

Hi over there,
same thing happend to me. WRR, 44.000 Km on the clock then. I charged the battery 2 times without checking the Bike.
In the end the bike died while i was riding. Jumpstarted it once more & went straight to my mech. Keeping the revs high.
Both regulater/rectifier & the stator died.
Mech quoted: regulater/rectifier died first. Stator followed. Battery joins the two.
It would have been so easy to check the charging voltage while the Bike is running after the first symptoms  

My second bike is an XTZ 750. Same problem was very poplular in the first production years of this bike because the regulater/rectifier was too weak and overheated.

Plase excuse my poor inglish
Greetings from Germany
Bubbler

08/17/2013

Bike ready for pickup at Malcolm Smith.  Stator, Regulator/Rectifier and Battery were in fact all replaced.  Also an oil change was necessary to gain access to the stator.  (The Yamaha Warranty replaced the items and paid the labor)

Trucked it home, did a test ride around town, all seems back to normal.  Other than the slow return to service (in on the 2nd, out on the 17th) I am pleased to be able to ride again.  

We'll see if it holds!

I put a new stator in and it checks out perfect. Good resistance readings and good AC readings. Still not charging the battery. I guess my rectifer bit the dust as well... Seems to common that they fail together.

@ Yaw

You might want to charge your battery in the meantime so it doesn't sit discharged and sulfate itself to death till you can do the rest of the repair.

Good advice. Yes I've kept it on a trickle charger. Had it load tested yesterday as well just to make sure I wasn't going down the wrong path. Thanks!

UPDATE Once I replaced my stator I wasnt getting good numbers at the battery. I thought my rectifier had bit the dust. Turns out my $5 multimeter from harbor frieght was the problem. Borrowed a friends and the stator is charging the battery perfectly. So in the end it was only the stator that went bad after 23,000 miles.