Pop Pop BOOM

[2003buellxb9s]

Okay, so on my way to work this morning my bike back or missfired a few times and quickly shut off and had to leave it on the side of the road and wait for my girlfriend to come pick me up...BUMMED. Allow me to give some background and HOPEFULLY someone will give me some good/easy to swallow news about what happened.I THINK it is an electrical issue having to do with my battery and my GPS:

-I have a GPS (Garmin Nuvo 450 or something) directly wired to my battery. I know this isn't the right or best way to do it but I just take it off everytime I park the bike and haven't experienced any problems for months.
-A few weeks ago I noticed the same thing happen that happened today but only briefly when I first got the bike going out of my neighborhood.
-This weekend, I noticed that my GPS was saying something to the effect of "no external power, switch to battery power?" ONLY when I was at stop lights...when I revved the engine it came back up.

All of this makes me think that since my battery is the original from 2003 and I probably have about 9000 or so miles on it (I don't know because my speedo is busted, another reason I use the GPS as it doubles as my speedometer), that my battery is getting weak from the direct drain of the GPS. Further details: This morning, I pulled out of the neighborhood WITHOUT my GPS and everything was fine. At the first stop light I came to, I plugged it in. About a 1/2 mile later it started popping and jumping like it was misfiring. This progressively got worse for another 1/2 mile till I could pull off and park it. Well I tryed to get it going a few more times with worse results each time. Then, when my girlfriend showed up, it finally crossed my mind to unplug the GPS and try it again...this SEEMED to fix the problem. Well, my girlfriend was annoyed and didnt have time for me to "play" with my bike so I hopped in her car and came here to work to obsess about it all day.

So. I'm thinking that everything was fine when the battery was stronger, but now, as the battery has weakened, it doesnt have enough juice to keep the GPS glowing and fire the spark appropriately. Does that make sense? My one hesitation with that theory is that someone told me if it was a battery issue I would most notice it at ignition where the bike would take longer to turn over, which it isnt, it fires right up.

Sorry about the novel, I sat there pouting thinking this **** through over and over my entire way here between my imagination running wild with images of me taking the wheel and steering us off the road or into other people in traffic so I'm a little up tight right now and wanna figure this out and ******* can't untill i get home in another 14 hours. (work and tkd practice) UGH! HELP!

 

[03Firebolt9R]

I would say you need to replace the battery. A dead/dying battery will make it run like crap. Hopefully that is all that it is. Good luck.

 

[2003buellxb9s]

Should I get a battery tender/tester to see what the voltage is?

If it is low, can I just charge it back up? Is that pretty close to getting a new battery?

How long should a battery last?

My sparkplugs are about 8 months old, could that be it?

It sat in the rain a few days, could that be it?

oh the wheels in my brain go round and round...

 

[LeFox]

2003 and still the original battery?

if maintained well, your battery could still last a bit, but if not, 6 years isn't bad at all.

get a tender and leave it on your battery if your not riding it (even if just for the night)
i got my gps connected directly to my battery too and experience no problem with it.

it could be that your battery is dying. then you would have to get a new battery and also get that tender. that way your battery will last much longer.

 

[2003buellxb9s]

Thanks Lefox,

So you think the problems I'm experiencing could be from a weak battery?

I understand I should get one anyway, but before I spend the 150 I'd like to think I'm at least likely solving the problem.

Thanks again,

 

[Stevenc150]

Easiest way to check it is taking it to Autozone or the sort, and have them check it under load. It's Free and will tell you what the voltmeter can't.

 

[meetch]

Hey kinda off topic but how did you mount your GPS to your XB?

 

[2003buellxb9s]

Thanks Steven I'm going to give that a shot.

Meetch: I was given the Garmin Nuvo 450 which is made for a motorcyles. It comes with a mount that is basically a U bolt that you attach to your handlebars or triple tree. It's also waterproof and made for fingers with gloves on. They make a bunch of different mounts now for all sorts of GPS' so you could probably find one to match whatever it is you have. I LOVE mine, it's great cause it's not like in a car when you get lost and can just call someone.. actually, the Nuvo has bluetooth capability I haven't tapped into yet so you actually can make calls, but I don't I can afford that much attention.

 

[LeFox]

look @ ram mounts