No juice

[Piper]

 ok, to make a long story short: while making a turn today: everything shut down. No power, juice, not a spare electron to be found. After dinking with her a bit on the side of the road, managed to get dash lights and head lights but as soon as the starter button was pressed - nadda - everything went dark again. And stayed that way for awhile.
So, we tried booster cables: she started right up! So I rode the next 80 some odd miles down the mountain back to the house.
After I parked, switched her off then on and -nadda-, zip, nein , null, no joy

My bet is on the battery.
I have not pulled it as of yet.

Is there anything else I might need to check?

Thanks for your input.

[Michvalk]

Starter switch maintance

[Valkpilot]

ok, to make a long story short: while making a turn today: everything shut down. No power, juice, not a spare electron to be found. After dinking with her a bit on the side of the road, managed to get dash lights and head lights but as soon as the starter button was pressed - nadda - everything went dark again. And stayed that way for awhile.
So, we tried booster cables: she started right up! So I rode the next 80 some odd miles down the mountain back to the house.
After I parked, switched her off then on and -nadda-, zip, nein , null, no joy

My bet is on the battery.
I have not pulled it as of yet.

Is there anything else I might need to check?

Thanks for your input.

Likely the battery.  I had exactly the same experience about a year ago.

But, it wouldn't hurt to maintenance the starter switch and install a relay in the headlight circuit, if you haven't already.

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

Drove mine into the garage everything peachy. Two hours later got ready to go to work hit startrer button, tried to crank for a second then nothing. It was the battery just died that quick. New battery the next day and back in the saddle.

[Thunderbolt]

couple of years ago we were coming back from Panama City and a buddy was passing a car when his Valk died.  He had to coast and let the car go back by.  Scary to say the least.  His fuseholder was crudded up bad and the fuse had blown/melted from the heat.  New fuse and cleaning got him home and he repaired it later.

[BudMan]

...fuseholder was crudded up bad and the fuse had blown/melted from the heat.

That was the case for me too.  The fuse did not "blow", but the bad connections had created so much heat, the 30A main fuse body melted, deformed and would not pass enough amperage to run the bike.  It would go "open" as soon as the starter button was pressed.  Cleaning the contacts and replacing the fuse fixed her right up.

[Gryphon Rider]

Give the battery a full charge with a charger, then compare voltage at the battery with the bike off vs. running.  If voltage doesn't pick up withe the bike running at 1200+ RPM, you have a charging circuit or alternator problem.

[PhredValk]

Has happened to me a few times with older cars. Cleaned the battery terminals and all contacts in the fusebox, ran great for years. Simple stuff first.
Fred.

[alph]

Starter switch maintance

don't think so, he said he didn't have lights so it's not the switch.  i'd check connections off of main fuse, i think it's a 30amp, from what i've read. 

good luck keep us informed.

[Ricky-D]

Alph,  the starter switch controls the headlights.

The starter switch turns the headlights off when trying to start the motor and then allows the lights to come back on when the starter button is released.

The starter switch is the No.1 main culprit when the headlights experience problems.

***

[Black Dog]

Piper,

What you describe makes me believe that you have an issue with the starter 'relay', and not the 'button'...  The reason I say this is because of you 'dead bike' description (not a spare electron)...

I had a very similar problem, where it was not just the headlight, but every electrical component on the bike, being dead.

Look here at Chet's site, scroll down past the starter button stuff, to the part lebeled 'Valkyrie starter "relay" problem'...  In that section, his symptoms sure sound like yours (and was the problem with mine) http://www.rattlebars.com/mtz/starter.html

The part is about $75 if it is too far cooked.  If you can clean it up, be sure to goop it up real good with dielectric greese, before you button it up.

Good luck.

Black Dog

[Mr.BubblesVRCCDS0008]

Piper if it started up with jumper cables I still think it is a battery problem. If it were the switch or relay the problem would still be there.

[H.B.]

I just got on the site to ask about the same thing that happened to my '99 Interstate. I rode it to work last Thursday and had the same sinking feeling that afternoon when I tried to start it with no juice to anything, to include the lights. I had some jumper cables at work and it cranked right up and ran fine all the way home. I charged the battery (bought new in May) but had the same issue once fully charged with no juice to anything. I have been on this site many times and have gotten tons of help just by reading but this is the first time I have posted anything. Sorry for highjacking this thread but did find some of the replies helpful, especially the link to Chet's site. I have a friend back in Arkansas who is a service manager at a local Honda shop and he steered me to the main fuse, etc with the thought of corrosion on contacts. I plan to get the battery back to where I got it to make sure that is not the problem and then go from there. I am in the KC, Mo area (Lee's Summit) and really appreciate this site. Since it started with the extra boost from a car battery twice (engine not running) I lean toward the corrosion but not sure.  I also found the relay fuse and it looks good. Will keep digging. Thanks for this post.

[Piper]

Thank you everybody for your input.
I did check out all the relays and connections, nothing looks melted or has overly brittle plastic that I found. I unplugged and re-plugged all connections I could get my fat fingers in and around.
I reset all the fuses including the 30amp starter relay and the main bus.
Cleaned up the main bus a bit as it had a bit of the white stuff (Galvanic exchange?) being created on the ends. Did all this whilst on the side of the road Saturday.
Only one Winger offered assistance.


The battery (gel) was new in March but as of yet I can not find the paperwork for it. 

In the morning I will pull the battery and put it on a slow charger and will test voltages come Thursday.  (working double duty with regular job and livestock issues. Can I interest anybody in a highland bull burger? Kidding: he sold at auction today. It was either that or use him as target practice. But I still have a highland cross calf that has an appointment with a butcher)

I will take the very good advice and tend to the starter button.
If anything it will be good PMS.

I will post what I find.

Thanks again

[Piper]

As a side note:
With these rallys that draw several hundred bikes of all types it would seem that someone would open up a vendor booth space that either sold basic stuff like batteries, fix a flat, etc.. or rented tools/lifts/covered space to work on something the road gremlins screwed with..

[H.B.]

I found out after checking everthing else that it was my battery, bought in May, that had an internal short. My symptoms were similar to yours. Got a new one yesterday, no charge, and she fired right up. Good luck with yours.

[Piper]

I found out after checking everthing else that it was my battery, bought in May, that had an internal short. My symptoms were similar to yours. Got a new one yesterday, no charge, and she fired right up. Good luck with yours.

Much the same here.
I slow/low charge on the old one overnight and although a VOM showed 12.7 volts it still would not start the bike. A direct short with a pair of pliers would not throw a spark and dropped the voltage down to 10v.
(Please do not try this at home, I am no way a professional  )
So I went to the dealer and picked up a new one. No more batteries-r-us.
I did take the advice to make sure the new one was fully charged before hand.
I also performed a pm on the starter switch. It looked good but a pm never hurts.

On the road again...