Hey All, I'm sure this was brought up many times before... but searching I could not find the exact issue I'm having. I had some starting problems with my 999 due to the battery. I have bought a new Gel battery for the bike since. also bought a optimate 4 to keep it in shape, though as I use the bike daily i dont charge the battery much as it's around 11.9 or 12 V all the time while engine is off. I have also recently changed the ECU from the stock one to the performance one that came with the termis. Bike runs and starts really well, I didn't reset the TPS at this point but I dont think I need to as it feels good, just have to check my spark plugs to see if it's running lean or rich. To the issue: does not happen all the time but maybe 1 of out 5 starts. the bike will start cranking, make the turn sound maybe once, then the clocks turn off completely for about a second and come back on, the clock is reset to AM 0:00 when I try to start again just starts as normal. This does not seem like a big issue as it runs well and this only happens once in a while and all i have to do is wait 1 second for clocks to turn on and start the bike... annoying as I have to set up the time again... Is this something I should worry about? can this cause larger issues? what could this be? The only mods I've done was put the little cable from -ve on the battery to the engine as advised. Appreciate any advise. Thanks, Bart
What do you mean by 'little cable'? The earthing mod needs to be heavy gauge wire with suitable ring connectors. Ideally this sort of gauge An improvement may be found by connecting the auxillary earthing lead to the starter motor bolt that can be found on the left side of the engine recessed towards the middle.
I have my clock reset back to 00:00am whenever my 999 has had a problem firing up. It hasn't happened since I added the extra -ve cable but it happened regularly, before that. My guess is that your battery is struggling with the job of turning the engine over. The symptoms you describe are about the same as those I've suffered when the battery is less then tip-top. I know you've said you have a new battery in place and an Optimate for keeping it in good nick ... but I reckon your battery is the cause of this, it doesn't have the juice.
I have bought a I think 16 AMP cable for this, I hope thats sufficient? I will look tonight to see if it's maybe not connecting properly and thus causing the issue. I dont recon it's an issue with the battery being too weak as when I got it before charging it it displayed charge of about 11.1V and showed up as 'LOW' even a couple times and still turned ok, now it's charged at almost 12V and turning no problem. it seems to turn once and before the engine can catch on it resets, does not sound like it's a battery turning issue... The previous battery i've seen this issue with but it was really low charge and the bike actually had a hard time turning or didnt and just reset, so I know that was the issue with the previous one. Let me relook at the earthing lead. Thanks,
The clock resets itself because there isn't sufficient current to power it. If this occurs during the time the battery is trying to turn the engine over, it's likely to be because the battery cannot cope with the load. Let us know what your additional earth lead looks like - if it isn't up to the standard that chrisw mentioned, it could be down to that rather than the battery itself.
Just to be clear, there should be an OEM earthing to the battery correct? this is just an additional cable we're talking about in case the original one is not working properly? If you're referring to the additional one I put in (should be in addition to some existing one) then it's not a very good quality one... definitely could be improved. I'll look into this. Does it matter where on the engine it's connected to?
Definitely consider a better quality secondary earthing lead, if the one you have now is poor quality/too skinny/badly connected. The original earth lead needs to have a good connection of course and any corrosion build-up thoroughly cleaned off. I've read that a secondary lead is not the way to go - you should upgrade the original leads, replacing them with better quality cables. I cannot comment on this, I went the secondary cable route and have no complaints. The additional earth lead should be connected to any bolt that has direct access to the frame - ie not somewhere that is painted or lacquered over, or otherwise electrically isolated from the frame. I don't have a pic of where mine is connected up, perhaps some kind soul here can supply one?
Hi All, Sooo... I have replaced the 2nd lead with a better quality cable and still the issue persists. I have been however able to narrow it down a little! As the weather got nicer I have not had to use the fast idle lever to start my bike when cold at all. I have noticed that since I have not been using the lever I have not had the clocks reset once. However whenever I try to use the lever is when the clocks reset and I have to start again. I have put in the racing ECU and had not had the TPS reset at this point yet as the bike feels fine when riding... Reading on google about TPS though I found the following chart: Here it shows that with standard ECU the voltages are linear the more throttle you crank, however with the racing ECU the voltages run up a bit quicker on the lower % of TPS... as the fast idle lever works in those lower % of Throttle position, could this be what's causing the issue? The ECU requires more cranking power the more throttle I give it at start and the small batteries that come for these bikes cannot deal with it and thus the clocks reset? I cannot see another reason as the fast idle just pulls the throttle cable up a bit the way I understand it, thus it has to be something to do with the throttle being pulled causes more drain thus clocks reset. Let me know what you think, Thanks, Bart
I'm not sure how you've derived that opening the throttle drains the battery? I read it that you're opening the throttle which is flowing too much fuel into the engine and this mixture is struggling to start the bike, which means the starter motor is draining your battery. How does the ECU know how open the throttle is if the TPS has never been reset? Although it "feels" like it's running ok, it could be adding 5% more fuel because the ECU thinks the throttle is 5% more closed that it actually is. Add in that fast idle/choke lever and you could be adding way too much fuel for the bike to start. If you seriously want to fix the problem, get your bike into a known state first that you can then work through solutions for, otherwise you're just guessing.
Thanks Antonye, I'm more than happy to reset the TPS, but I cannot find a place close by that'll do it. I've been told that it's a simple quick job... I've called a couple Ducati dealers in London who one said he does not do that, another said he can dyno the bike but that could take a while and £££ I'm in Reading, UK anyone know a place that'll get it done for me? Thanks,
The current draw from the TPS is so small it's not going to make a difference. I think you've still got an electrical problem. If you've got a multimeter check the resistance between the starter motor terminals and battery terminals, to rule that out. Would be a good idea to do a starter motor current draw test, the starter itself could be phooey. Also 11.9v to 12v is on the low side for a fully charged battery it should be nearer 12.5v.
What I dont understand is the following: I got the bike with a battery that was probably deadish as the bike was standing for 6 months. the battery showed about 11.5V and had a hard time starting, after a 5 hr ride it went up to 11.8v but would not go higher. When the bike was on the Voltage showed about 13.8V but as soon as it's off went to about 11.8V and stayed there. I replaced the battery with a Bosch one, this one fully charged with a brand new just purchased tricle charger showed about 11.9 - 12V when bike was off, also about 13.8 or 13.9 when it was on. bike started fine. I replaced the bosch battery with a mottbatt one as i've been told the bosch one might have issues with leaking... again charged it fully with the new charger and it shows 11.8 - 11.9 V when bike on about 13.8 13.9 How are any of you getting a battery showing 12.5V??? Something is wrong here...
You can use the DucatiDiag software to do it yourself - you'll need to buy the leads but they can be purchased for less than a tenner off ebay. The software itself is free but you need to register it to get a licence which will allow you to reset the TPS along with lots of other useful stuff. It really is a couple of button presses to get it to do that! If you're confident with a laptop/pc then it really is very easy to do. The forum for DucatiDiag, including links to downloading the software, what cables to buy, how to use it, etc, is all here: ducatidiag :: Diagnostic and maintenance software for Italian bikes There are quite a few of us on here (myself, ChrisW, Anth) who have used it and contributed to the software, so more than happy to help. I'm in Chelmsford, Essex, so you're more than welcome to ride over and I'll do it for you on my kit, but appreciate it's a bit of a ride! Any dealer should be able to do it for you on their kit. Most will probably charge - should only be half an hour labour to get the fairing off, do the reset and put the fairing back on again - but some friendly dealers may do it for you for free if you're lucky. A phonecall to your local dealer may well be the way to go, especially if they think they can sell you a new battery/bike/etc :wink:
Actually one more thing to add to this subject of voltage... reading about the batteries that fit into these bikes mainly YT12B-bs or 4s they are 12V batteries... so me getting 11.8V or 11.9V is pretty much a fully charged battery? someone said here before they get it to 13V or whatever... I dont see how thats possible?
Thanks a lot Antonye, I feel ok with my laptop skills i just needed a place to find it, I will give it a try dont mind spending a £10 if I can keep the kit and have it for later. I'll see how the bike behaves after this. Worse comes to worse if you dont mind I might roadtrip up there especially with the gorgeous weather we've been having.
12v is the nominal voltage, if you charge it and get less than 10.5v the battery is completely dead, in the 11.x range is iffy, 12.4 to 12.8 is good nick. What are you using to measure the voltage, it may not be entirely accurate? Is the battery disconnected when you test it? If not try doing it with it disconnected and see if it makes a difference. If you're using a multimeter where are you putting the probes, directly on the battery terminals themselves or on the connector to the terminal?
You should be seeing over 12v with a freshly charged battery. If the bike is running and charging the battery then it should read over 13v, normally around 13.5v - 14v. See this link for a quick guide to lead-acid batteries and charging voltages: Motorcycle battery voltages and what they mean It may be that you have a duff reg/rec which is stopping the battery from charging, or that some corroded connectors are sapping some of the power. I would take a look at all the connectors between the reg/rec and the battery to see if anything is corroded, loose or broken. A bad earth is typical of the problems you are seeing, so it is the most likely explanation for all of the above anyway.
Thanks, Just FYI the battery I have in it right now is a motobatt yt12b-bs/4 it's a gel type. I took it out and charged it with a brand new optimate 4 I just purchased. Charged it till the device said it was fully charged. put it into the bike and showed 12V and dropped to 11.9V after about 10 seconds and stayed at 11.9V, when bike is turned on it seems to be fine around 13.8 or 13.9v
