Not to do with the SV, but can you help?

[JakeRS]

Hiya, picked up my ER5 bike yesterday for my commute to work and for generally buzzing around on.

It seems the bettery is not holding its charge well enough, but when I go to start it, the lights work, and it seems to turn over well for a few seconds before buzzing like when there's no power.

Other than this it rides fine (if slow compared to the SV!)

Is it the battery? I know it sounds daft, but I'm now short on money, so I don't want to buy a battery and not need it!

Many thanks guys and girls

Jake

[Warren]

have you checked their is enough fluid in the battery ? and have you tried hooking it up to a charger ?

[JakeRS]

yeah, I charged it up and it worked, got to work half hour later, worked 3 hours and its dead again.

Its also one of these damn batteries which you cant see the fluid in, its black and opaque.

[Warren]

ok.

it could either be the alternator at fault or the battery itself.

there is a way you can check using a voltage meter i think, but i dont know how.

wait for someone to come along to tell u what to do.

[DeanoN]

To test with a meter, put it on the dc volts range and measure the battery, it should be 12-13v ish, then start engine and the reading you get should be 13-15v ish. this will basically show that the alternator is charging the battery, so if if it stays at 12-13 with engine running you probably have a faulty alternator/or wiring/electronics. If the voltage goes up to 14-15 with engine running then it would be likely its the battery at fault.

Mmmmmm then again thats for a car so I assume its the same on a bike?

[Diveboy]

Try reading this thread it helped me.

http://forums.sv650.org/viewtopic.php?t=23314&highlight=battery

[JakeRS]

well i'll try and get home (15 miles!) and then fit the new battery my mate bought (at at cost of £35, £15 discounted!)

then we'll see whats up with it. its a bit odd cos it has been starting, and after a little bit of charging. But now, after charging it up fully it turns over slowly (lights work fine) and the neutral light dies a bit, then stops turning over and goes click a lot.

[JakeRS]

All sorted, new battery in and it works fine.

If it wasn't a dry cell battery I would have filled it up again