Bringing my Brothers 83 VF750 back to life

I think it's the battery...
Bought new 2-2020 and maintained.

This morning I turned on ignition switch and the warning lights all start coming on and slowly getting brighter until everything was on, touched the starter got a click and the warning lights all dimmed to almost off, then slowly came back.

By jove, that is odd.

Turned it off, checked battery voltage and it showed 12.4, pulled it double checked cell levels and plugged in a charger.
It showed charging light and 2 hours later I looked, bingo fully charged.
I checked voltage during the charging process and saw the voltage fluctuating constantly from 14.27 to 14.64 and thought that "also, odd.
At "charged" voltage was steady at 12.4, pulled the plug on the charger and watched the voltage do a steady drop to 10.52...
New battery procured, it's doing a slow trickle charge now.

I also looked at the main fuse initially and it looked connected, albeit not flat any more, I noticed there was a spare, so next thing was to pull flatten and re-seat the flat fuse, with no real pressure at all it broke in two and it looked fatigued right where it broke.

OK then, pull the spare and pop it in, and it broke coming out of the holder.
(Insert favorite bad word here)

Ordered a replacement 30 amp fuse that's a different design and more robust looking from Install Bay MANL30, 30 amp ANL fuses, 2 pack..

 

paper clip no good ?

 

i have used fuse wire in a pinch...

 

If you were using a charger with desulphation mode, that 'splains the 14+ you saw while charging.... shoulda dropped down to 13.2-ish after that cycle was over. Anyway, just trying to let you know what was happening......
Battery is toast, I agree.

 

To properly check a battery you need to "load test" it.

A battery can have 12 volts or better even with a bad cell, but testing under a load will prove the battery to be shot.

I do hope the new battery solves your issues.

 

No doubt a paper clip would work, finding one with a 30 amp rating is not so easy
I'm lucky that this bike is not my main source of transportation, so I'll wait for the correct part.
The new battery took a charge, stayed at an even charging rate throughout even though it did get up to over 13 V while charging. after an overnight trickle I pulled it off and it dropped back down to a nice steady 12.72 volts... waaaay better than the 10.52.
I'm confident that the battery was my issue, glad it didn't leave me stranded anywhere else but at a buddies house.
I'll update after the fuse is here and in place.

Thanks again for the help and knowledge!

 

New fuse installed, battery holding a steady 12.7 voltage.

Key on, everything lights up, choke and fuel on... hit the starter and she's back to running like a Honda!
Apparently it was a bad cell in the battery and they can just go from fine to no go in a 6 hour period.

 

yeesir i had that happen.