So?, after $1,625 worth of an installed Dirty Air Fast-Up air shock kit with console switch and a new $500 Lithium battery (because they said my 3 year old agm battery died right after I dropped the bike off) for a grand total of $2,125?...my bike began experiencing "Total Electrical Blackouts at Start-up" and here's the detailed description of what goes down...

Note "Defining Intermittent": The first time it happened was after about 10 clean startups. Then it went about 40 clean startups before happening again and then yesterday?...(the day of a big anniversary/memorial ride in a group I'm the road captain of)....it blacked out at startup right after topping off and then again after we all had brunch. Each time it blacked out my heart would sink and I'd duck walk it out of the way a bit and then it would fire up strong but that last time yesterday I even had a couple riding buds who suggested bump starting it and we tried but to no avail...almost dropped the bike because when I dumped the clutch that cammed out 117 didn't turn a single stroke and just abruptly locked up where we all almost ate it. Then right after another Road Captain bud told me find a shady spot, I'm going to get my trailer for you" I triewd one last time and shazaam...she fired up strong and I gott'er home.

Some suggested a dead spot in the starter but I disagreed because each time it blacked out at startup here's how it played out...

It would try to start sometimes sounding like it got a single stroke in. Other times it didn't but nevertheless I could hear it moved pistons so imho the starter wasn't exhibiting any dead spots but as soon as the starter gave up the ghost?...so did everything else and I mean everything....everything went dead as a doornail...lights off, screen blacked out and even the voltage needle just stayed stuck where it was at and never swept back to home as I would shut it all down then try again, and again, and again with the same scenario playing out until I got lucky and it started.

Just had a 5th grandchild delivered last night and I'm about to get my 2nd cup of coffee this morning and I'm thinking "Battery Cable Connections" but I'm not going to start tearing into it until I finish that 2nd cup meanwhile?...I'm open to any suggestions of where else to look and no, I'm not taking it back to the same black hole shop that handed it back to me in this condition...time to get back to turning my own wrenches because it seems anytime I trust anyone else to work on my bikes?...it never works out and now here's some pix for attention of yesterdays ride...I'm the RC riding sweeper...the leads are the Pastor of our Church and the deceased Brother...thanks for reading. Love, Bill.

 

It's always possible an issue just popped up after the air suspension install and battery replacement. However, throughout my 50 years of working on cars, trucks, boats, and motorcycles, if an issue pops up right after I have done some work to the vehicle, 99% of the time it was due to something I fixed, added, removed or touched during the recent repair/mod/maintenance...

I suspect your assumption that it may be a battery cable issue, is a good probability. I would go over the power cables they installed during the air suspension compressor install and battery replacement very closely.

In fact, I would contact the installer of the sir suspension, tell them what has happened after they worked on my motorcycle, and firmly request they check their work....

Good luck with the repair and keep us posted...

 

Thanks and sounds like sage advice but since they work Tues-Sat?...I'm gonna see if I can get lucky on my own here besides...they held my bike hostage for a full day after telling me it was ready which wound up costing me two trips to pick it up so I'm not sure how calm I'd be able to remain should I encounter any pushback as I'm already disgusted with'em. I had a stroke in 2015 and woke up paralyzed on my left side and ever since then?...my life has had to be one big exercise in stress management and this is that...just don't wanna get into a screaming match with any insult my intelligence mooks and I'm sure you understand.

 

Had a similar situation on my 2010 that turned out to be a battery cable that needed to be cleaned and retightened. Looking at the cable lugs might give you a clue. If they are making/breaking contact under load you might see some funkiness on them.

Also I'll share a bit of prejudice I have: I've never been a fan of lithium batteries on motorcycles. In my opinion they are too complicated and too finicky for my simple tastes. I know folks use them all the time with good results, but whaddaya know, Harley says not to use them on the new Skyline bikes.

Anyhow I know how you feel about getting vehicles worked on. I've lost count of the number of times I've had to redo work myself that I paid someone to do or have had to take it to another shop to get their "fix" fixed. Sometimes you know you might loose your cool and we are advised to live quiet and peaceable lives, so just shining on is the best course of action.

 

Sounds like the Skyline equipped bikes are headed the way of the Goldwing where they are so loaded with electronics that Honda dictates that only one specific battery be used in their GW's and price?...$650

and ditto on the shining on...at almost 68 years old and a former us marine that didn't do life right?...I can only keep my cool for so long when someone starts petting my fur the wrong way...I almost always manage to just walk away but then I'm like a crockpot on slow boil for quite awhile and gotta isolate and pray to get my peace back! LOL! (i need to do better)

 

CAUTION: don’t look at the picture if you have food or drink in your mouth…



the good news is I can buy an SAE connector that plugs into the battery tender pigtail that has a fob that will automatically take it out of sleep mode and I think I even read something about remote starting capability. I must be living under a rock in my retirement! What will they think of next?…sure would be nice if they’d of told me!!!

 

Never heard of such a thing, but it sounds like one more weak link in an already over complicated design... I think I'd be swapping that out for a traditional or AGM.

 

Well with all due respect this falls into the..."If I knew Then what I know now"...files. Actually?...I don't even know how to speak to this situation because what sold me was the fact that these lithium smart batteries can last 7-10 years and since my failed agm was just under 3 years old and a new one was $250?...the lithium made sense.

The only failure was the seller/installer not informing me of the need to wake up the battery by shaking the bike whether it be a push forward and hard front brake or side too side wiggle and I've seen bikers doing that lately not understanding why and now I know but the one thing I won't be doing is eating $500 for a high tech smart battery so I can spend $250 for a new agm. Now what I very well may do is look into purchasing the fob and plugin for auto awake & remote start...that would be cool. Lemonaid outta lemons

 

Wow... that's a $700 battery I've never heard of...

I'll share some observations...

It is a 13AH Lithium battery, claiming 1000CCA. It is way overkill for starting your bike. The old, discontinued Harley Lithium battery for a bagger was only 8AH, 480CCA. My newly purchased 2020 CVO Street Glide had the Harley 8AH Lithium battery in it. I pulled it out and replaced it with an AGM (Yuasa 500CCA) the first week I owned the bike. Partly because I just don't trust lithium batteries in motorcycles... yet... and Harley discontinued that 8AH Lithium battery, for reasons unknown to me..

Secondly, there are several motorsports batteries that have a "restart" feature built in to their BMS. One has a button, one has a remote, etc. The battery should only need to be restarted if the voltage drops to a predetermined level, by the BMS. In most similar batteries, that is a voltage that is low, but enough for at least one more vehicle start up. The sleep feature is designed to protect the battery from being depleted below its minimum voltage. Once a Lithium battery goes below its minimum voltage , it is just a lightweight, plastic brick.

Anyways, if that battery wake up is your issue, the battery was at a low voltage and went to sleep, either because of a possible charging problem (due to bad connections or ?), or the BMS is messing up.. You shouldn't need to wake it up for each use.....

Good luck with the fix.... Thanks for keeping us in the loop. I'm dying to hear to the final resolution...

 

I just cannot wrap my head around the "shake and wake" thing when it comes to a vehicle battery. I may be overthinking things, but if the battery "goes to sleep" how does it keep presets in the radio or the clock set? Also this is the first time I've ever seen a motorcycle battery "laying down" like that when the original had the terminals on top. Maybe laying down helps it sleep better?

Sometimes I think these engineers were the type of kids that could tear up a bulldozer with a plastic Fisher Price hammer.