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Hi all,

Had a little spill outside my house, brand new tyre on, rode to junction 40m from my garage, looked up the road as usual, then pulled away slowly. As I did this, didn't see the huge deisel spill, back low, then high sided me at 10mph Some scraps, the R+G crash bungs took the hit and saved my bike kinda.

New levers, new crash bungs and some damage to brake pedal. While lying down with the bike, it didn't kill the engine (defective tilt switch maybe!) Leaned over and killed the engine. An passer-by helped me up the bike.

I brought her homeand serveyed the damage. And later I felt abit achy, my dainese swag saved my shoulder and back and boots helped as well.

Anywho, I duly checked the bike was ok and on start afterwards it kinda went to fire stopped after 1-2 secs, I duly pressed her again and it sprung into life. Went up to girlfriends house 28 miles away. Stopped and she won't start now

Called out recovery off my bank account, the guy put a booster on the battery and she fired up straight away. Soon as he took the booster off, it just died Wanted £84.60 to take me 28 miles Told he I shall think about it....

The dash looks quite weak, and it went to reset, when I tried again the starter relay was clicking like mad. Jumped into car, went to newcastle aprilia dealer, had a starter relay for a honda same numbers on the side. This was last night. I went home and got my optimate and took battery out and charged it in her house. This morning got 13.65 on the battery.

Put it back in, got 12.68 on static no draw. Turned ignition on, 9.84 and very faint on the dash, and again, the rear starter relay clicking, the new one! I am stuck in northumberland and scratching my head. Woops, forgot I replaced my tilt swtich as well. How do you check for drain on loom or frame?

Cheers for any help, by the way it is cracking the friggin pavements here. And all I can here is bikes giving the beans in the distance

Cheers, in advance...

What battery? Lead acid or gel?
If it's acid filled, are the levels right or has it bled some out when it was on its side?? Connections bright and tight?

Oh and sorry to hear of the spill!

Kwackerz wrote:What battery? Lead acid or gel?
If it's acid filled, are the levels right or has it bled some out when it was on its side?? Connections bright and tight?

Oh and sorry to hear of the spill!

Its an Oddyssey jobbie (we've communicated a bit on this) - at present my money's on the battery .....

Other thoughts always useful

Battery I think

And sorry about the off and glad damage was minimal

Hi all,

Thanks men for suggestions, I spoke with mr (hammer) pierre, sparky by trade, and, d-rider and sounds like my odyssey battery may not have been compatible with my optimate sp III charger. So, over a period of time might have not fully recharged/refreshed my battery whilst it suppose to of being charged

So, the battery has being draining over a period of time. Looking at geting a new battery off fleebay. Then ring the battery supplier to see what charge must be used for the odyssey one.

Had time to think, correct me if I am wrong, but, the alternator should re-charge the battery while riding? The battery is only approx 9.0 volts, but I had been riding for nearly 2 hours. So, shouldn't it be working, hope apart from the battery my alternator isn't on the blink. As, I keep the bike on optimate when not riding.

What a lovely day to sit and look at the bike, not

Thanks for the input men

I think I'm having charging issues with mine at the moment and while working on the damaged repairable Falco I got I found the famed melted brown plug, so I'm going to be looking at mine tonight.

Behind the right hand side plastic by the pillion saddle.

Do you switch the optimate off and on again when you start a new re-charge cycle?

Hi all,

When I go for a ride I disconnect the connection and turn off the charger. When I return, plug it in, then turn on the charger. Sometimes, it goes straight to "Red - Desulphate!" I switch off and turn back on....

How do you check that the alternator is working, I couldn't find it on the yorkshire-aprilia parts description

Cheers...

GregD-UK wrote:Hi all,

When I go for a ride I disconnect the connection and turn off the charger. When I return, plug it in, then turn on the charger. Sometimes, it goes straight to "Red - Desulphate!" I switch off and turn back on....

How do you check that the alternator is working, I couldn't find it on the yorkshire-aprilia parts description

Cheers...

Greg,

Mine does the same and its probably the Optimate thats at fault not the Falco.

If I then wiggle the wires at the connector block when its connected to the bike it goes staight over the "test " and then onto "green" after.

I know its the Optimate thats at fault because it does exactly the same if I try it on my BMW. My other "older" Optimate works perfectly on both bikes

I keep thinking I'll buy another intelligent charger but it only takes a second or two to fix every time.

Give it a try. The connectors on these Optimates are notoriously weak

F9

Hi all,

Update, took my odyssey PC535 back to where I bought it. Defo only 9 odd volts on He is going to try and put it on a Ctek charger, had none in stock. They are way better than an optimate or the like. I must admit, sometimes when I came home on the bike it was a chore to play with the charging wires......

Got too ring him later on today, to see if he can get it charged up! An expensive battery not to last 2 yrs Anywho, he sold me a Numax ytz-14S for £38.00 So, I can get the bike back home. Going to speak with Pierre (Sparky) who can check my alternator for me sometime soon I hope to discount that.

Might of been the charger not charging right, then, eventually battery ran out of juice. Fleebay do the charger Ctek Multi XS3600 for £40.00. Bought one of them instead of the optimate, going to beef-up the wires and connectors as well

See how we go....

Falco9 wrote:If I then wiggle the wires at the connector block when its connected to the bike it goes staight over the "test " and then onto "green" after.

I know its the Optimate thats at fault because it does exactly the same if I try it on my BMW. My other "older" Optimate works perfectly on both bikes

I keep thinking I'll buy another intelligent charger but it only takes a second or two to fix every time.

Give it a try. The connectors on these Optimates are notoriously weak

F9

Agreed the connector is a bit crap, I had Falco9's problem, but at times it would drop back to the red light during the night and do bugger all effectively.

I took the female connectors out of the plastic (need a fine jewelers screwdriver or the like to push in the prongs holding them into the connector block) and squeezed them closed a bit more than they were and refitted them, polarity is important, get them back where they came from!

It's a bloody tight fit now and I've not had a problem since I did it 5 years ago.

Hi all,

I agree with FP, the connector on the Optimate is carp! Sometimes it went to desulphate, or not charge at all. My expensive Odyssey died a death, luckily (I thought) my 2 year warranty was good. Took it back, and he said because it has drained and unable to recharge, warranty void as not a manufacturing fault Even rang the head office in the US of A, for some good will jesture.... Last time I buy a good battery!

Waiting on my new charger to arrive, even went to see Pierre and check my alternator was still working Watched his video's off yesterday at Cadwell Park, fun to watch and good sound

Going to beef up the connector cable on the battery end and nip the connector's real tight this time

Mmm, this is what could have knackered my last battery. Wasn't really into checking the lights and stuff.