Bike won't start - Sorted now
Posted: 03 Apr 2020 09:22
This is a 2017 Veloce manufactured Dec 2016. Went to start the bike one day recently and it only just managed to turn over but not start. Decided to take the battery out to check it. It turned out it was an Aliant lithium battery – a bit smaller and lighter than the expected lead-acid battery. It still showed a bit over 12V so did some Google research. This revealed that lithium batteries need to be charged with a dedicated lithium battery charger. Unfortunately I had hooked up my Oxford trickle charger to it over the winter and so I assumed I’d inadvertently wrecked a good battery … ‘inadvertent’ because the owner’s manual never mentioned it had a lithium battery.
I tried to get another lithium battery (Aliant not being on the market here in New Zealand). It needed to have the same dimensions, amp hours, cranking amps and terminal configuration. It needed to be 150 x 66 x 105 mm (L x W x H), 7.5 Ahr, 210 CCA with the +ve terminal on the left (facing the terminals). I found one here in NZ. NZ$400 later it arrived and I installed it. But there must have been some incompatibility between the electronics in the battery and the bike’s electronics because as soon as the starter button was pushed, the battery shut off. Seems that not all lithium batteries are equal.
So I tried connecting a handy lead-acid jumper battery instead and surprise! the bike started. So I decided to replace the lithium with a lead-acid battery. Lead-acid batteries tend to be larger (and heavier) than lithium batteries with the same CCA (continuous cranking amps). So I measured the battery box in the bike to determine the largest battery it would accept. This turned out to be 150 x 75 x ~130 mm while still having enough room for the cables and the battery cover.
Then I found a suitable AGM lead-acid battery on a NZ website – a Varta YT12B-4. This was 150 x 70 x 130 mm, 12 Ahr, 215 CCA but weighed 2.8 kg (vs the original Aliant at 1.4 kg). When it arrived I gave it a quick top-up charge and installed it. And the bike started first push of the button!
Another interesting discovery is that the two large cables going to/from the starter solenoid (mounted in a rubber holder just behind the radiator on the LHS) have rubber terminal protectors. But because they enter the bottom of the solenoid, the terminal protectors act like little cups holding any water and causing corrosion of the terminals and cable ends. It pays to pull back these protectors, disconnect the cables, clean, reassemble then carefully spray a hard-setting terminal corrosion protector (see pics) before pulling the rubber protectors back into place.
Furthermore, there is a 30 amp fuse each side of the solenoid. They have small semi-clear plastic caps over them. The outer one needs to be kept free of corrosion because the plastic cap will also hold water. The fuse on the other side of the solenoid is a spare. I cleaned both fuses and reinstalled them with a bit of CRC (WD40) on the blades and also put a smear of grease on the inside lip of the plastic caps before reinstalling those to try to keep the water out.
I tried to get another lithium battery (Aliant not being on the market here in New Zealand). It needed to have the same dimensions, amp hours, cranking amps and terminal configuration. It needed to be 150 x 66 x 105 mm (L x W x H), 7.5 Ahr, 210 CCA with the +ve terminal on the left (facing the terminals). I found one here in NZ. NZ$400 later it arrived and I installed it. But there must have been some incompatibility between the electronics in the battery and the bike’s electronics because as soon as the starter button was pushed, the battery shut off. Seems that not all lithium batteries are equal.
So I tried connecting a handy lead-acid jumper battery instead and surprise! the bike started. So I decided to replace the lithium with a lead-acid battery. Lead-acid batteries tend to be larger (and heavier) than lithium batteries with the same CCA (continuous cranking amps). So I measured the battery box in the bike to determine the largest battery it would accept. This turned out to be 150 x 75 x ~130 mm while still having enough room for the cables and the battery cover.
Then I found a suitable AGM lead-acid battery on a NZ website – a Varta YT12B-4. This was 150 x 70 x 130 mm, 12 Ahr, 215 CCA but weighed 2.8 kg (vs the original Aliant at 1.4 kg). When it arrived I gave it a quick top-up charge and installed it. And the bike started first push of the button!
Another interesting discovery is that the two large cables going to/from the starter solenoid (mounted in a rubber holder just behind the radiator on the LHS) have rubber terminal protectors. But because they enter the bottom of the solenoid, the terminal protectors act like little cups holding any water and causing corrosion of the terminals and cable ends. It pays to pull back these protectors, disconnect the cables, clean, reassemble then carefully spray a hard-setting terminal corrosion protector (see pics) before pulling the rubber protectors back into place.
Furthermore, there is a 30 amp fuse each side of the solenoid. They have small semi-clear plastic caps over them. The outer one needs to be kept free of corrosion because the plastic cap will also hold water. The fuse on the other side of the solenoid is a spare. I cleaned both fuses and reinstalled them with a bit of CRC (WD40) on the blades and also put a smear of grease on the inside lip of the plastic caps before reinstalling those to try to keep the water out.