DRZ flat battery, charging questions.

[joshwalker094]

Hi guys, drz seems to have a flat battery?????? Why I don't know, maybe duff battery or alternator?
But anyway I still need the bike for conmuting tomoz. I've got a 4A battery charger, the drz battery says something like 0.7A 24hr charge or
Quick charge 3A 1hour.
Will my 4A charger be ok??
Thanks
Josh

[joshwalker094]

Anyone please

[Sid Squid]

Yes, but charge it for a short while only, ~40mins-ish, and don't overdo it or the battery will be duffed. Quick charging can be very bad for a battery and can warp plates.
Keep an eye on it while it's charging, if it gets hot, (a battery will always get warm while charging, but shouldn't get silly hot), stop and let it cool for a while.

If it's already goosed it will get hotter, quicker. Don't leave it alone.

[joshwalker094]

Oops, left it on for 50 minutes, battery didn't even feel warm, and charger didn't indicate full either. Will put battery back in the morning, fingers crossed it will be fine.

[Specialone]

You need to check your voltage at tickover, I had this happen a few months ago and my stator was fubar.

[joshwalker094]

Bikes only done 7300 miles aswell :/ I need a multimeter. I'm skint at the moment, so when I have spare cash, multimeter, optimate and a new battery I think. Stator? What's that haha

[Specialone]

It's basically a magnetic coil that sits inside your left hand bottom cover on your bike, this produces ac voltage which is then converted to dc power via the reg/rec, which could also be a possible cause.

Ignore the mileage mate, my bike has done similar mileage and mine went, quite easy to change though.

Btw, Ive got a basic optimate (£30) and I hardly use it tbh, just too the battery's up when I haven't used them for a while, regular bike use doesn't require additional charging.

[joshwalker094]

Cool, it's weird, cause it went dead whilst I was out on it, so I had to jump start it( run down road in gear) then I left it running all night whilst I was out and about on it. When I got home I turned it off, but went out again and it seemed to have a charged a little as I managed to start it on button.

[Specialone]

Let's just hope it's the battery, but don't go spending any money on anything until you've checked the voltage it's receiving, cos if it is the charging circuit, a new battery wont solve the issue and you've wasted your money.

[joshwalker094]

How about this multimeter http://bit.ly/T8e0pN
Bike started fine today, fingers crossed its just a duff battery, I commute every day, 20 miles and then what other running around, so don't understand how the battery has gone flat?! Do bikes have an alternator or is that the stator

[Owenski]

As said before Josh, a DRZ's mileage is... flakey at best.

[joshwalker094]

Specially since the speedo is dodgy, apparently it's the cable. As when I'm braking the speedo goes to 0 but release brakes it goes up to speed, does this on bumpy roads aswell

[Specialone]

Just check your battery terminals are tight, your speedo problem may be earth based.

[joshwalker094]

Their tight as, and look fine.

[joshwalker094]

Also noticing when starting up on full choke, it's smoking abit :?

[Specialone]

When was it last serviced?
Has it got a washable air filter?
I know when my filter needs cleaning, my bike runs crap and isnt as powerful.

[joshwalker094]

I done the oil/oil filter and spark plug the other day, will clean the air filter tomorrow and try get a multimeter

[joshwalker094]

Battery dead again tonight :@ cause I've been busy on it all night, it was getting very hot, could see the fan working, but the bike was smelling very rich of fuel

[Owenski]

WOW! getting a fan running on a drz is a feat in itself!
Be careful though they're not very good at getting hot dont let it run even with the fan on for too long or you'll seriously fry it.

You really cant be certain of anything until you've sorted that multimeter out. As Phil said that would be my priority right now, if its the stator then be sure to upgrade everything to the free power mod (you'll find it online) while you're in there messing about.

[SVGrandad]

How about this multimeter http://bit.ly/T8e0pN
Bike started fine today, fingers crossed its just a duff battery, I commute every day, 20 miles and then what other running around, so don't understand how the battery has gone flat?! Do bikes have an alternator or is that the stator
That Multimeter must be made of gold for over £90!!
I bought an identical one from ebay at around £1, but £6 postage. Some years ago, but it is still a good 'un

[joshwalker094]

haha, it was £2.75 when i posted that link.
im still to get one, but asked the guy i bought it from and he said he replaced the battery a year ago, and that it might need topping up with distilled water, so I'll give it ago tomorrow night

[Specialone]

Tons of useable ones on amazon...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/aw/s/ref=is_s_ss_i_2_4?k=multimeter&sprefix=Mult

[joshwalker094]

Got my multimeter! So guys this where the fun begins, what tests should I do? And what details do you want
Thanks
josh

[Specialone]

Firstly, set your meter to dc power setting and test across the battery terminals with engine off, then on, then at high ish revs.

[Owenski]

Personally I'd skip straight to the Stator test across the 3-pin terminal.

Yours (Phil) was Ka-put, mine was intermittant and Josh's sounds to be going the same way.

If you test that and get a flat spot you'll know for sure that the stator is the fault.
Its misleading to start from the other end, a stator fault could cause all sorts of misleading problems further along the loom. I think thats why we had this fun with Phil's bike,
Tested battery & got it as failing so replaced it... got same results
Tested reg-rec, got it as failing so replaced it... got same results
Tested Stator, got it as failing so replaced it... BINGO!

Start testing at the stator and possibly save your self a new battery and Reg Rec.

[Specialone]

That's a fair point matt, the only difference is I was used to using a meter, people who've never used one may find it daunting.

[Owenski]

Aye too true, an introduction to using the metre might not be such a bad thing.

[joshwalker094]

Yeah I have used them before, but years ago. So if you can tell me what setting and any pictures that would be great.

[joshwalker094]

battery is in my room, charged it up as it was flat this morning. i checked voltage before it was 12.62 checked it again an hour or two later and it had dropped to 12.57
will check again in morning, see if its lost more.

[Specialone]

Was that off the charger I take it?
That's a normal voltage for a battery in rest.

You need to put it back on bike and test it again running.

[joshwalker094]

At idle it's reading 12.33 but going down slowly, and at high revs, it peaked at 12.50 ish and was going up slowly :/

[Specialone]

Yeah you have a charging issue, it should be closer to 14v when the engine is running.

You'll need to check reg /rec and the stator readings, I'm fairly sure your stator has failed as it does on many drz's.

[joshwalker094]

It's reading 12.46 when bike not running. How do I go about checking these other parts? Any pictures to help me out.

[joshwalker094]

Battery wasn't charged fully as I only have 4a charger, like I said when I took it off the charger it was about 12.56 volts or abouts

[Specialone]

This is what your stator looks like.

http://i758.photobucket.com/albums/xx225/specialone0055/69BE31A6-482B-4430-82B2-DBE2576DC4D8-2998-000004CE69EDED9B.jpg

[Specialone]

You'll need a manual mate, or I might be able to give you the readings they should be.

I've got mine in bits today, doing a few small jobs so when I've finished I'll sort them out for you.

[joshwalker094]

Where on the bike? Does it mean dropping the oil?

[Specialone]

Some will come out but not too much, I didn't drain mine tbh.

It's located on left hand side as you sit on bike, towards the bottom of the engine, it's the biggest cover there, you can't miss it lol

[joshwalker094]

http://i1134.photobucket.com/albums/m612/joshwalker094/F8D7D3CA-B21D-42F8-AF3C-5F912D811D3A-4687-000004C6251BB3EE.jpg

So it's the whole side that has to come off by the look of it, I don't have Haynes for the drz, so if you can give me the readings or just tell me where I need to put multimeter and I'll give you my readings.

[Specialone]

Yep that's the one, the three cables that come from there go to the incoming side of the reg/rec.

Each of these has to be tested individually and between each other.

[joshwalker094]

Know of any step by step instructions for me? I don't want to mess it up