battery or something else ?

[longo]

hi all started having trouble with battery getting sluggish what i thought so brought a new battery with in a week new battery would not turn over engine so replaced the new one now that stopped turning the motor so had my mate come round to make sure it was charging which it appears to be putting around 14v ,had the bike running for a while while checking the charge rate stopped the engine went to start bike again and no power to turn bike over so put a charged battery on and that also would not turn it over so i tapped the starter motor a couple of times and engine started this has happened a couple of times could the starter motor be at fault bear in mind i ain,t much of a mechanic and cannot afford to go to a bike shop let them have for a week and run up a huge bill any thoughts on this please oh its a exide battery not a bad one so i,m told
                                                                   regards
                                                                         steve

[DP1400]

I`m no auto `leccy, but to me it doesn`t sound like the battery is as fault if you`ve tried a couple of different fully charged ones. The clue could be with the starter motor `tapping` you`ve done to get it started........have you checked the earth terminal/strap?

[grog]

Sounds like starter but just check your voltage. Batt Volts around 12.6, do same check at starter feed wire and negative to frame. Should be almost same with starter button pushed. If yes, starter motor. If no, need to find where losing volts.

[SFC1000]

Even though tapping the starter helped, I'd also check for broken earth wires.

[Big Phil]

Could be the starter motor but most probably a poor earthing problem in my experience. Check your battery voltage under load i.e. when you try to start. Bearing in mind you know that the battery is good then if the voltage falls below 11.0V when you try to start it you have issues with either a faulty component or the ground (earth) lead. Many motorcycle ground leads fracture through vibration and can seem perfectly okay at times but fail intermittently. Also, clean the terminals at both ends to clear any corrosion.

[longo]

hi all started having trouble with battery getting sluggish what i thought so brought a new battery with in a week new battery would not turn over engine so replaced the new one now that stopped turning the motor so had my mate come round to make sure it was charging which it appears to be putting around 14v ,had the bike running for a while while checking the charge rate stopped the engine went to start bike again and no power to turn bike over so put a charged battery on and that also would not turn it over so i tapped the starter motor a couple of times and engine started this has happened a couple of times could the starter motor be at fault bear in mind i ain,t much of a mechanic and cannot afford to go to a bike shop let them have for a week and run up a huge bill any thoughts on this please oh its a exide battery not a bad one so i,m told
                                                                   regards
                                                                         steve

  follow up to the above checked the alternator and that was as it should be so i replaced the starter motor and it starts like when i first got the 14 and so far so good
                                       regards
                                              steve