Trip Gauge and Clock Resetting, Why?

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Thanks guys for all your help. I haven't had a chance to check anything yet. We have snow predicted for tonight so don't expect to do anything before Friday or Saturday. We will hit the 60s over the weekend so will be able to work on it then. I will keep you posted on what I find out.

[ringadingh]

Don't buy a cheapass WalMart battery either, they don't last.
Get a good AGM type and you should have it for a while.

[mobandy78]

I got my replacement from batterymart.com. Best deal I found and it's 2 volts bigger than the stock battery. One of the few that I found to fit.

[ringadingh]

I think you mean two amps higher than the stock battery. Sounds similar to the one I installed.

[macmac]

The oem battery is 18 Ah (Ah = Amp hours)
With a VOM (volt ohms meter) you can use the bike to make a load test.
With a bike mounted full time volt meter, each time you start the bike it IS a load test.

At no time since I owned a Nomad, not the 01 1500 and not the 06 1600 have I ever returned from a longish ride and had the batter up to snuff, not once, never, nada.

Right now the bike is literally on ice. The battery is in the cellar around 50 degrees constant on a Shumaker Auto Float, Anti Sulfation Pulse charger.

Probably Gene's battery is on the way out, which is unfortunate, since I knew he had that charger and I was hoping for a solid 8 years use of that battery. And it should be looked at, for clean cables and terminal at both ends of every cable there is.

Looking by eye does not cut it either. I have been fooled a few times by eyeballing cables myself, and one time I was very embarressed what my eyes did not see.

ECU's run on milivolts, and if they don't get the milivolts they don't run relays, senders and switches.

So batterys have to be in a very good state of charge. Cables must be electricly clean.

Gene's problem could still be a high resistance. A new battery might work just fine and do this same thing one day early for a bad cable with a high resistance.

If this were my bike I would pull the batt cables and charge the battery, and while it was, clean all the cables.

With a vom reading apx 13.33 dcv when the charger is hooked up, and reading much higher could be a result of a low battery, so that 13.33 is after the battery has it's demand, then.........

Remove the charger, and crank the engine after pulling off the plug wires to DISABLE the engine from starting.

The time here is 10 seconds, not less, not more.

Take a reading and write it down

WAIT 30 minutes and take another reading and write it down at rest.

The 2nd reading is most important as it shows ability for a good battery to recover.

The recovery should be 12.4 and above dcv.

Once more crank the bike disabled for 10 seconds and if you get a reading below 10.5 dcv the battery is on the way out.

Next fix up the engine to run, start the engine and hold about , 2,000 RPM, allow a little warming. Take a reading. From a cold start, after 2 load tests, the dcv will want to be around 14.8 a while, and as the charging system puts out and the battery recovers a little the volts should settle to around 13.4 and up in time over 45 minutes.

If this does not happen check the connectors are the rec/regs, there is 2 rec regs, side by side below the rad... Right out in the dirt and wet.

I carry a vom and a ice pick test light on my Nomad. it's like goinjg out with no dammned pants on to be with out these 2 tools.

[Idaho]

[quote author=macmac board=nomad thread=21984 post=330858 time=1297205474]I am really hoping to get more years out of my oem 06 battery. I am the 2nd owner, but bought the bike in June 06, with 1,413 miles on it. The papers say the bike was originally bought in May 06.

I have no idea why the first owner traded it. He sure didn't drop it.[/quote]

I think he knew you needed something to hunt moose with.

[AlabamaNomadRider]

Mac, I will be sure and check all the cables and connections plus checking the battery. It is supposed to be a very nice weekend. It is snowing again as I am typing. Have about 1 to 2 inches on the ground.

[ringadingh]

I think youll find that if you do a load test, it will probably fail.

[blowndodge]

Not sure but let us know what you find...

[macmac]

At walley world last I knew, there were GE made volt ohm meters. I bought one of those to have one to match anyone else who did.

So if anyone needs a hands on on line lesson it can happen if you buy that rig for the 19 bucks it costs.

IMO ALL riders on ALL bikes should own that tool.

With it a lot of problems can be sorted out. Plus you can deal with any other batterys like watches, hearing aids, smoke detectors, flash lights etc etc.

Then Ohms for things that no longer work in volts right.

You can find high resistance connections too.

The tool and a few tests is all there is to learn, and being able to see electricity is a real big aid.

..................................
Bud my 06 still ain't been dropped once yet That day with the moose I couldn't have dropped it if I wanted too. LOL