On my way home I stopped at the store to get some brew. Bike was running fine. I got my sixxer and headed home. When I turned key to "on" the instruments lit up as usual for a second then went dead. "That's weird" I thought. I re-inserted key and tried again. Same result. On for a second, then dead. Third try was nothing at all. Dead. No power.
I suspected loose battery cable terminals but they were tight. Battery is charged and fairly new. I had to leave bike at store and hoof it home on foot. By the time I walked home the sixxer was gone. Not a happy new years eve.
It's probably something simple, but if I can't figure it out when I go back tomorrow, I'll hafta tow or trailer it away. Request help/suggestions on what to check, look for, or possible causes. Any ideas? Thanks

Mebbe I should go back to riding my old Bandit 1200. In 17 years it never failed me once and made me walk home.

TIB

First check battery leads for loose cable bolts off the battery or corrosion on the battery posts. Find it is crusty, dip the cable in a small cup of vinegar. Wait for the bubbles to subside as it eats off the crystalline. Dip is clean water to remove the acid. If there is the white chemical off the battery posts, take a wet paper towel soaked in vinny, wipe the battery posts off. With a straight edge razor, shave off the lead from the top of the battery posts, scrape the bottom of the cable contact points, smear vaseline onto the posts, cables, nuts, bolts, ect., and tighten down.

This is just one variable to the contact losing current between post(s) and cable(s). So I'd check the battery for voltage. With meter, stab the posi post with the volt/ohm meter, the black probe to a good ground or bolt screwed in the frame. That would check for battery voltage. Anything past 12.4v is not the battery. Under 12.0v, it's either the battery getting old or a charging system problem if battery is somewhat new.

BS on the bandit. Shitty wiring harnesses are the suz's trademark. My 14's ground cable caught the white crusties killing the connection. Towed it home, saw the white chemical reaction on the post, dipped and cleaned off = Lit back up. That's were I'd begin to look first are my battery posts in question.

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Do you have a powercommander on it?If so...check the ground.When you turn the key on,do you hear a faint snapping sound?Like a spark jumping somewhere?

* Last updated by: Grn14 on 1/1/2016 @ 9:20 AM *

Kaws aren't the most reliable bikes for sure. But comparing Kaw and Suzuki in terms of "leaving you stranded" at best they have about the same potential.

Most likely this is a maintenance or mod issue, as Hub and Grn suggest. You were asking about Power Commander and flashes. Did you ever do any of these things? Did you ever do anything with the lights? Does your bike have any mods?

You recently had a tip over event. It's very possible along with visible damage something was damaged that you couldn't see, maybe a wire stressed. Also, batteries go from good to bad, even new ones. It happens. To me, sounds like a voltage issue. Maybe rectifier or stator has gone bad. Might even be ECU has gone out. You're bike is an 09, that's ~7 years old at this point.

When it comes to foreign products, reliability tumbles when maintenance is ignored. Domestic products are like that these days too. Maintain them, they'll run good and be less problematic over the ownership period. Ignore maintenance, you're asking for trouble over time increasing exponentially.

Do you have a powercommander

1+... I keep forgetting the accessories, rather focus on the pre-delivery.

You recently had a tip over event.

Ah, so you know the OP's history. The stator is set in place with dowel pins so this air gap is possible for it takes a sweep of air in between the AC pulses and magnetic field to exist. If one dumps on the stator side, WATT occurs next is a Z or S bend the dowel pins receive. This air gap is now nonexistent on one side of the stator. This now shorts or grounds the stator so as not to pulse out a signal up the wire (AC) so as to convert to DC via the volt/reg.

Thus, a possibility of 'total loss' out of the battery is now present, meaning, no start; no way to replenish the battery so the battery now is @ 12.8v and is heading for 11v... so nothing works in a 12v world.

* Last updated by: Hub on 1/1/2016 @ 10:15 AM *

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Hub that's interesting. Not sure which side it fell on, but it was about a month ago. Seems like someone could get a few short rides in on a failing/bad charging system.

I searched for Tibs past posts since there wasn't much information here. You and Grn's comments/questions got me thinking. I wanted the age of the bike, relevant history, and questions or issues Tibs has asked/had. Based on some of his post and comments, is why I made the maintenance comments I did. I have a feeling the bike isn't maintained meticulously and steps are skipped as it's convenient.

Boy, I wuz reddy to get my bike trailer, sure glad I checked here first. Today's lesson I learned is: just cuz the nut is tite, don't mean the connection is good. Mr. Hub, thanx for the reply and advice. You were right. EZ to see positive cable, no corrosion at all so it must mean negative cable tucked in the back is clean too, right,. RONG! There was just a small amount of the white/grey battery corrosion gunk on negative cable and nut wuz tite. I scraped the white gunk off and re-tightened the nut. Sure as shit, VAVOOM, everything lights up and bike fires up. I was surprised how little amount of battery gunk on terminal ruined good connection between battery post and cable. Even though it started, tomorrow I will get some vinegar with my sixxer and clean cables and batt posts as HUB sez. It woulda really sucked to trailer scoot to a shop for diagnosis for some corrosion stuff. You saved my ass.
I'm still stinging from the tipover event and ordered new plastic from dealer, didn't trust what I saw on ebay.

regarding 2000 Bandit (actually 15 yrs and 80k miles) nothing failed. The battery was a lot EZer to access too.
Although I had to walk home, I can't consider it a Kawasaki failure any more. More like operator error.
But now that I've ridden a ZX14, nothing else will do
Tanks 4 the help.
TIB in SoCal

I scraped the white gunk off and re-tightened the nut. Sure as shit, VAVOOM,

Happened to me so it sounded the same. Don't forget to vaseline everything. Dip the nuts and bolts too in vinny. Wash off remember. Grease things well. Do not let the vinny drip in the middle of the lead post and plastic case. It's most likely sealed, but just that much will short the battery... possibly.

I can't consider it a Kawasaki failure any more

It's all about prep. If the dealer took the time to grease the battery posts, cables, and hardware... no thread to post.

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I had the same thing happen this week and thanks to the tips discovered the negative terminal in the battery alive with corrosion. All fixed and starting just fine.

TH