Battery Not Charging

[MONOLITH]

Hi,

Basically I was out on a run today and after having a break mid way through I tried starting the engine and the battery was flat. Luckily I was close to a local garage that said that the battery was not getting charged when the engine is running. He said it could be a regulator problem. Has anyone else had this problem, is it a quick/easy fix? Or should I just take it to a bike garage and get it sorted. Thanks for any help. It is a curvy if that helps :)

[yorkie_chris]

Quite common for curvy regulators to fail yes.

[MONOLITH]

Yeah, I just looked at this link http://www.svdownunder.com/index.php?topic=12100.0 and my voltage drops well below what is says it should be. Off to get me a new one me thinks. I'm guessing ebay is the best bet?

[Sid Squid]

Regulator-rectifiers can fail, but there are other faults that could be causing your problem, if you are unable to diagnose what they may be take your bike to someone who can - spending money on a regulator would be upsetting if it's not the problem.

[MONOLITH]

Well the bloke that looked at it when I broke down said it was 'most likely' the regulator. I see where you are coming from though. I think I might take a punt and just get a new one and see if it works. When revving the bike with the lights on the voltage was dropping down to 9! With ignition off it was 12.5 and with ignition on (engine not running) it was 12.4, but then dropped once it was started.

I've read that you can use regulators from different bikes as they are more reliable, namely a CBR. Is this the case? I know they are a different size so where can you put it? I don't mind resoldering the terminals, and the SV regulators seem to be overpriced compared to the CBR's regulators.

edit: - I just read your sig Sid, seems like I'm opening a can of worms here :(

[yorkie_chris]

CBR600RR ones fit (among others)

You'd be wise to go down route of testing for voltage drop across the red and black wires as it's dead easy.
http://eviltwinsbk.com/forumz/index.php?topic=276.0

read that :)

[MONOLITH]

Excellent link cheers. I will work through that tonight and see what happens. If it does turn out that I need a new r/r then I'll go for CBR600RR as you suggested. Cheers again :)

[yorkie_chris]

No need to stick to CBR ones... whatever D'Ecosse recommends will work, there are a selection in that link

[MONOLITH]

Ok, I'll have a look into the R1 r/r's as well. More options are always better :)

[MONOLITH]

Just a quick update. I bought a CBR1000 r/r, fitted it and everything now works fine :) Many thanks for the help.

[Juju]

Sidsquids right though, I recently broke down, similar issues, charging circuit not charging, or doing so only intermittently,

Chaffed wiring had caused alternator to go, needing reconditioned alternator, reg rect and a battery. Total cost iro £400!

always worth finding out why the parts failed, rather than just replacing the broken part without investigation.


Still, runs nicely now....

[yorkie_chris]

If he followed D'Ecosse instructions then he did investigate :)