Update (vultures take heed)

[wayofthedarkhand]

I've got an alarm so my battery dies at an alarming rate when not in use, I have now upgraded to 2 solar chargers. Moving this year so I shall make sure I run a socket to the new garage

An alarm hardly uses any power and has an internal battery.

Looking at the specs in my datatool alarm it would take 200 days to completely drain a 12Ah battery. Of course the bike wouldn't start long before that, but you'd still be looking at a couple of months.

The Falco is just generally poor when it comes to electrics.

[struv]

mine starts fine everytime instantly at the push of the button

[mangocrazy]

I've got an alarm so my battery dies at an alarming rate when not in use, I have now upgraded to 2 solar chargers. Moving this year so I shall make sure I run a socket to the new garage

An alarm hardly uses any power and has an internal battery.

Are you absolutely, hand on heart, sure of that? Frankly I doubt it. Even assuming it does, what happens when the mythical internal battery dies? And far from 'hardly using any power', battery drain is quite substantial.

Looking at the specs in my datatool alarm it would take 200 days to completely drain a 12Ah battery. Of course the bike wouldn't start long before that, but you'd still be looking at a couple of months.

The Falco is just generally poor when it comes to electrics.

Most of the tales I've heard say that terminal battery drain occurs within weeks at most, not months. This is exacerbated when temps are low, which is when all the problems occur anyway.

I have to admit I can't speak from personal experience, as I refuse to allow the horrid things anywhere near any bike I own.

And my personal opinion is that the Falco is no worse and no better than most modern bikes when it comes to electrics. The urban myth of 'Italian electrics' no longer applies, as all the components are sourced from Japan anyway. You have to go back to the early '90s for the 'Italian electrics' remark to hold true.

[D-Rider]

My alarm goes into a zero power mode if you don't use the bike for 10days. Basically it just leaves it immobilised. When you switch the bike back on again the alarm boots up and gives you 5 seconds to disarm it with the fob before it blasts the siren - which you can then immediately cancel with the fob if you've missed the 5 second period.
Alarms (unless badly designed) are very unfairly maligned for draining batteries.

[wayofthedarkhand]

I've got an alarm so my battery dies at an alarming rate when not in use, I have now upgraded to 2 solar chargers. Moving this year so I shall make sure I run a socket to the new garage

An alarm hardly uses any power and has an internal battery.

Are you absolutely, hand on heart, sure of that? Frankly I doubt it. Even assuming it does, what happens when the mythical internal battery dies? And far from 'hardly using any power', battery drain is quite substantial.

Looking at the specs in my datatool alarm it would take 200 days to completely drain a 12Ah battery. Of course the bike wouldn't start long before that, but you'd still be looking at a couple of months.

The Falco is just generally poor when it comes to electrics.

Most of the tales I've heard say that terminal battery drain occurs within weeks at most, not months. This is exacerbated when temps are low, which is when all the problems occur anyway.

I have to admit I can't speak from personal experience, as I refuse to allow the horrid things anywhere near any bike I own.

And my personal opinion is that the Falco is no worse and no better than most modern bikes when it comes to electrics. The urban myth of 'Italian electrics' no longer applies, as all the components are sourced from Japan anyway. You have to go back to the early '90s for the 'Italian electrics' remark to hold true.

Yep absolutely positive of it. The Specifications of my alarm list 2.5ma, which is easily measured with a decent multimeter.

Yes Falco electrics (by that I mean charging) is poor. Sure you can buy a new reg/rec, but you shouldn't have to.

Tell me if your bike is putting out a solid 14.5v throughout the rev range. My guess is that it isn't, yet a 99 ZX9R does, as does a 2007 Bandit 1200. I never tested the 2007 VFR I had use of so I can't compare that.

Mine's going to have a major service this spring. It'll used for half the summer, then it's going on ebay. Great bike, but I now need something with better fuel economy, range, and that can go anywhere at any-time with no fuss.

[mangocrazy]

OK - I'll take your word (and D-Rider's) as regards the alarm, even though I'm sceptical.

As regards charging , I've heard of a few people that find doing the wiring mod is beneficial in terms of charging voltages, but most don't bother and don't have a problem. As regards the reg/rec I've had to replace 2 of the damn things on my VFR, but haven't heard of any failures on Falcos.

I've never checked the charging voltage, as I've never had to. But I will do at some point this year, if only for my own curiosity.

Shame you're intending to sell the bike - someone will get a great (and rare) bike...

[wayofthedarkhand]

OK - I'll take your word (and D-Rider's) as regards the alarm, even though I'm sceptical.

As regards charging , I've heard of a few people that find doing the wiring mod is beneficial in terms of charging voltages, but most don't bother and don't have a problem. As regards the reg/rec I've had to replace 2 of the damn things on my VFR, but haven't heard of any failures on Falcos.

I've never checked the charging voltage, as I've never had to. But I will do at some point this year, if only for my own curiosity.

Shame you're intending to sell the bike - someone will get a great (and rare) bike...

Going to have some fun on it first for part of the summer. It's a Cat C which is a shame, still it's not in bad nick, but my needs have changed since I got the Falco.

[ReggieGasket]

This topic is really relevant to me. My CB500 never has problems with its battery and I never charge it. The Falco is often on the charger. I thought it was the Datatool Alarm and was planning to remove it, but now I'm going to do some checks. The battery was full the other day. I started the bike, ran it for 5 mins, then put it back on the charger. The battery was now showing 50% again. Initial theory is starting takes a heap of power. I went to work anyway and she started fine at home time. Day to day is no problem, but I do want to take the Falco to Italy one day to watch the MotoGP. Is it possible to bump a Falco with a low battery?

[wayofthedarkhand]

I don't think you've got much chance of bumping the Falco.

The plugs don't fire unless the voltage whilst cranking is above 10.5v (or similar)

Falco forums seem full of dead batteries and non-starts.

If I was touring on the Falco I'd be switching the reg/rec for the one used in Yamaha R1 (can't remember the year).

[mangocrazy]

These are supposedly the hot ticket for replacement Reg/Recs:

http://motoelectrixcom.myshopify.com/pr ... tifier-kit

If you can find one secondhand on eBay at a sensible price, grab it.

[D-Rider]

Hmmm ....... Datatool

[ReggieGasket]

Are you suggesting the Datatool might be worth removing?

Thing is my bike shop want 2 hours to remove it, which is worth it if it's the problem.

But if starting the bike uses up so much battery, then I don't think it's my problem. Either a better battery or improved charging would be better. The bike has never left me stranded yet.

[D-Rider]

Dunno - there are those that have had good experiences with Datatool but I've read too many reports of people having problems with them - I'd not choose to fit one myself.

That said, I'm not saying that it's the cause of your problems.

[fatboy]

Sure Blinkey recently got quoted 2 hours labour and then did it himself in 15 mins

[wayofthedarkhand]

I once had a datool alarm removed after the fob died and I didn't have a backup.

If you've still got one working fob you're fine as you can reprogram the new one, but if not, you have to kill the beast.

If it's a datatool system 3 it's really easy to by pass the alarm/immobilizer without removing it. It takes about 3 minutes.