Honda shadow - lost power? (Battery)?

F

Flames_of_my_fire

New member
I hav e a 1983 Honda Shadow VT500. I had the service done early in the year, replaced plugs, wires and caps, ignition coil, and some other little bits. Rode it a few times and on a hot day I parked it to go into a store, and the battery source seemed short and it took a bit to turn over. Got it home, parked it to cool down, came out, and had absolutely no power.
I hooked it up to the charger, checked for loose connections and left it for a couple days.
Came back today, turned the key and everything lit up, then I go to turn it over and I hear a click noise and the power is gone again. Any ideas?
 
I had a similar problem the other day, when i would put my battery back in the tray it seemed to drain the battery, i would ensure nothing is touching your posts when you put it back in, as i put rubber stop around the posts to make sure. However your case does sound more like a bad battery.
 
Charge and test your battery. It should show about 12.8V at rest.
Clean up both ends of the negative cable. Sometimes they corrode where they bolt to the engine.
 
Shadows of that era had a problem with the ignition switch shorting out.
The electrical contacts ware out.
The ignition switch is easily rebuild-able.
If you plan on keeping the bike and determine that to be the problem, purchase a few rebuild kits - it's going to happen again.
http://www.powersportspro.com/pages/home/default.aspx
Go to - your bike - Handlebar - #3 Contact Base
 
If you've checked to ensure you have a good ground, and you do, then either your battery is bad or your charging system isn't working. Charge the battery fully and place a load test on it (most automotive parts stores will do this free of charge). If the battery is good, test your charging system output by hooking a voltmeter to the battery and it should read close to 13 or 14 volts. If it isn't, test your charging system components and replace the faulty component. If both of these tests pass, you have a short somewhere to ground that is draining your battery.
 
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