Can low voltage cause.....

[SpyderRx]

Popping at low RPM and on decel? A little background, left Saturday for a trip to the ozarks. Bike ran great up until yesterday afternoon when it started popping at low Rpm going through town. Runs great when it is opened up at high rpm. Started the 480 mile trek home today and made it within 30 miles of home and had to stop for my last fill up. Filled up and turned the bike back on and tried to start and it would not crank. Checked all relays and connections. Called a friend with jumper cables. Initially put the jumper cables on the jumper connections and still wouldn't do anything. Pulled the panel off to check the battery connections which were fine. Hooked the jumper cables directly to the battery and started right up. Made it home and it died in my driveway while in park. So could the low voltage have been causing the computer to not properly measure and adjust the air fuel ratio. Popped a lot more in the middle of the day when it was hot (90's). My bike is an 09 GS SE5. Y gaskets replaced in the last 2 years. Bajaron plus and plug wires installed last fall. All stock exhaust. Sad thing is the battery was replaced in December of 2012 so it is not that old. It is kept on a battery tender. Thanks for any insight.

[rabtech]

I'm going to jump in on this one. I have never had any stalling and popping issues with my 2013 RT till I installed the stereo amplifier. It may be just a coincidence but the other day i was riding and had it turned waaaay up. I pull up to a redlight and still have it 1/2 volume. When I pulled up it was surging and popping. So I naturally turned the radio down all the way and rode another 10 miles with rpm over 6000. I stopped at a gas station and it was still surging and very low idle and it finally stalled out on me. I then tried to restart it. It took forever (battery was fine because I had to crank over it severa times before it would start) so now I have my doubts the two are related. But it did strike me as strange.

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[OJ UK]

Absolutely yes. The engine management system requires a steady regulated voltage.
This tenet applies to all of the various engine sensors around the machine. If you have a battery that is performing
poorly then the smooth running of the engine may be at risk. So if you have auxiliary equipment that draws heavy
current the 650watt magneto/alternator cannot supply enough grunt to prevent the system voltage dropping to
unacceptably low values.

[OJ UK]

Hi Roger! Surely, if you're running one of these current hungry solid state power amplifiers in the stereo system or high power
driving lights for any considerable time, the charge rate of the alternator/regulator will be inadequate to maintain the battery voltage and
at some point system voltage will drop to a figure which is going to cause problems. It would be interesting to see an example of this
'on the bench' and it's effects.

[SpyderRx]

This is an interesting question.
For one, most of the major systems on the Spyder have a low voltage watchdog that will throw a code if a low voltage condition is encountered.

These codes may not throw it into Limp Mode and it might only light the battery light briefly, so if after the popping & poor engine performance it would be interesting to check the active codes to see if there are any.

I have a fully instrumented RT, Voltmeter and Ammeter installed.
Also I have heated seats and heated backrests, sat radio, etc ... etc...

I have never seen voltage dip anywhere near the low voltage mark of 12.7 volts.it’s hard for me to understand how it could unless either the voltage regulator the battery was dodgy by either being bad or a bad connection.

The battery should provide instantaneous voltage support even if you were to somehow exceed the power budget of the magneto.

But it is hard to argue with observation.

I did check and there were no active codes. My power steering did not seem to be working after the battery failure on the 30 mile trip home.

[Bob Denman]

I'm going to jump in on this one. I have never had any stalling and popping issues with my 2013 RT till I installed the stereo amplifier. It may be just a coincidence but the other day i was riding and had it turned waaaay up. I pull up to a redlight and still have it 1/2 volume. When I pulled up it was surging and popping. So I naturally turned the radio down all the way and rode another 10 miles with rpm over 6000. I stopped at a gas station and it was still surging and very low idle and it finally stalled out on me. I then tried to restart it. It took forever (battery was fine because I had to crank over it severa times before it would start) so now I have my doubts the two are related. But it did strike me as strange.


The only thing that I'm pretty sure of when it come to electricity :shocked:: Keep my tongue out of the power outlets in the house! :opps:
I know that you put together a MONSTER sound system... :thumbup: Do you think that it's draw at idle might have been enough to make the battery nervous? :dontknow:

That 650 watt magneto is pretty good for the "Normal" loads placed up on it; it's the extra stuff that can end up being the fly in the ointment... :yikes:
As to the O.P's problem: :dontknow: I've got nothing... :opps: Try putting that battery on a charger, and see if the issue goes away. :2thumbs:

[Chupaca]

Could happen especially at lower rpms/idle. If the draw is heavy you may need more rpms to keep the charging rate to the battery where it should be. Just ran a check on the RS 2012 sm5...
At idle low beam no other load...13.97 volts....reved up to 14.11
At idle hi beam fog and driving lights... 12.87...reved up to 13.98
It would have to be a big load but possible. :thumbup:

[rabtech]

I was doing the redneck thought pattern when I was figuring load. I figured that the heated grips for the front and rear should be similar to the load the amp has at a medium volume. I know cranking the volume up would put an extra load on it but I should be OK with normal listening levels.

As far as the popping goes, it seems to have went away since I removed the canister and plugged the purge valve. I reset my ECU and cleared my 1175 code and now it is fine.

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[ChasingWind]

I 2nd the canister and plug purge valve - this is the symptom on 08 09 10 models it will get worse the hotter it gets -
Did you try to start in Nuetral? This normally works

[SpyderRx]

I 2nd the canister and plug purge valve - this is the symptom on 08 09 10 models it will get worse the hotter it gets -
Did you try to start in Nuetral? This normally works

I did start in neutral. Got my new battery in today. Charging it over night and will try to put it in Saturday. Hope it solves the problem

[Bob Denman]

Good Luck! :thumbup:
Please let us know if it cures the problem.