Might be a simple answer. But I thought I'd see what you guys thought.

1998 883

Today I was out and about running errands. And at one if my stops when I went to leave. I go to start my bike and it starts clicking. I release the start button and wait a second. Then try again. No clicks and starts normal.

It had a fully charged battery before I left for the day

Do you think my battery is on its way out?

 

First, start by first making sure the cables are clean and tight on both ends.

Second, make sure battery is fully charged and check with volt meter - should be at least 12.7v.

Third, load test or take battery to parts house and have it tested.

Make sure your charging system is working. With battery fully charged start bike and rev up, voltage should read between 13.2v - 14.9v.

 

Battery fully charged holding 13v

Start the bike and the voltage drops to 9v while the starter is going.

At idle it's showing 14v

It's a agm gel battery. Can't check the water.

 

Sounds like battery and charging system is good to go. Check cables and make sure clean and tight.

 

Should the voltage drop that much when you start it. Coming from an automotive background an extreme voltage drop points to the starter.

 

9 volts is low for a "under load" reading. Could have a cell going south. I would get it load tested to make sure.

 

Checked the cables. Negative side was a little loose. Fixed it. We'll see how it goes.

 

I couldn't remember the exact voltage readings so I did a search and came up with this: "you’ll want to see a minimum voltage reading of 9.5 volts while the starter is operating. A reading of 9.5 volts indicates that the battery passes the test but is probably in the last few months of its useful life. Higher readings (usually 10.5 volts) indicate that the battery is in good condition. If the battery is bad (fails the test) the voltage will drop below 9 volts (usually around 2 or 3 volts), and the battery should be replaced, as no amount of charging will bring it back from the dead."

Since your cable was a little loose I would give the battery a good charge to top it off and keep an eye on it down the road.

 

Cool man. Thanks

 

btw, even if you have bad cells you can fully charge the battery. it will give a test showing that it is fine (a trickle charger can show the battery as fully charged). its the load test that shows the problem- or when you go to start, the battery discharges too quickly. and eventually it wont turn over the engine/ wont start the car.