Gen1 battery woes again!
 

Hi all, so ... I had a duff battery and a totally cooked reg rec, changed reg rec to a Electrex unit and ommited the short plug in loom in the bikes wiring (as recommended by the manufacturer as they provided an extra long wiring connector) so less plug ins to break down. Ran the bike for a couple of days and today when home I stopped the engine, then went to restart it and ... not enough power to start it again! So can only assume it's not charging the battery or it has a massive leak of some kind.
So now going to charge battery overnight, refit, check voltage on cranking, idle, 5000 rpm with lights on and off. Then check stator output, then rec reg readings.
Assuming I find the culprit 1st time and all is good, I want to do the 'direct to battery mod' but even after finding the post on here I can't seem to be able to open it to follow the instructions. Could someone possibly post up an 'idiots guide's schematic so I can follow it step by step? as i have the mechanical aptitude of a grapefruit when it comes to electrics.
One last thing ... I have fitted a pair of 10w del lights and wired them as follows... earth lead to frame and live to horn power (I figured they won't draw any current while the ignition is off as the horn doesn't work until its on and so Drl's only come on when ignition is on too), is there any way that these are responsible for battery drain?
Any help and advice will be very much appreciated.

Re: Gen1 battery woes again!
 

Quick question. Why didn't you just wire the led light into the OEM wires instead of the horn? That might be the issue. Also... Not sure on Gen 1 but Gen 2 you can tap the orange/white wire for power when the ignition is on only. Good luck.

Re: Gen1 battery woes again!
 

To be honest, I used the horn connection as it was the most direct route for testing the lights and just haven't got round to doing the job properly! Do you think this could be a contributing factor to battery drain (even when not lit and ignition is off?).

Re: Gen1 battery woes again!
 

If the horn does not get power with ignition off that cannot be the source of any battery drain. With engine running the extra lights are drawing / absorbing more power ( about 1 amp each ) from electrical system so less excess power for R/R to absorb and dissipate as heat. You need to check battery voltage as you intend to do before coming to any conclusion about cause of your problems - I also fitted a pair of 10 watt LED DRL and wired them into sidelight circuit via a 10 amp in-line fuse just in case one of the DRL goes bad the fuse will protect bike electrics....

Re: Gen1 battery woes again!
 

Start looking for,"Parasitic battery drain" as per,

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=motorcycle...t=opera&ia=web

Re: Gen1 battery woes again!
 

When you've resolved the current issue (sorry), get one of these:
https://www.sparkbright.co.uk/sparkb...ge-monitor.php

I fitted one to my Street Triple since they have a bit of a reputation for charging issues - it changes colour depending on whether the charging system is functioning correctly. There are cheaper ones on ebay but this one is made in Scotland.

Re: Gen1 battery woes again!
 

Only problem connecting to horn terminal may be voltage spikes from the way horns work, they are a solenoid and an interrupter contact that continually makes and breaks an inductive solenoid when you press the horn button --- bit like the ignition coil on the bike LOL

Re: Gen1 battery woes again!
 

I've had a cheap voltmeter/farkle powered from my horn on my Curvy for a couple of years now 650rules with no problems :)

It does read a little low because of the wire resistance but it still gives me a good idea of my charging system.


https://i.imgur.com/CuDurKC.jpg

Similar to this,
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Car-Motor...AAAOSwh4BfG6~H

and a cheap Temp monitor sensor attached to Rad thermo switch which gives me good reading on my running temps.

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/50-110-c-...MAAOSwMn5b0DwK

Re: Gen1 battery woes again!
 

Storey so far, new battery fully charged reads 13.29 then 13.11 after 2 hours standing.
Tested the Electrex rectifier I bought from Ebay! and guess what ... one of the pins has zero or a 1. reading when other two read 513 and 515.
Did all 12 tests on the reg and 2 tests were duff readings so pretty sure it's goosed. ( same pin in different test sequence is giving the duff reading)
Going to test the stator wires now so will post finding shortly. I haven't bothered taking a reading from the battery when engine was running as I'm fairly convinced the rectifier is pants, is there anything else I can check over just to be thorough while my sv is in bits. Cheers all.

Re: Gen1 battery woes again!
 

So .. further testing concludes as follows... fully charged brand new battery hooked up, started, engine warm, battery test with full beam on was 14v at idle exactly and did not rise at 5,000 rpm but dropped to 12.3v at 5,000!?.
All 3 stator wires read 25 at idle and rose to 75 at 5,000... does that sound ok? Engine off and all 3 stator wire tests a-b-c... etc. read zero and continuity beep indicated no breaks in wires. Put volt meter on live and earth wires of rectifier while plugged in and engine running and lights on full beam and at idle it reads 12.3v and doesn't rise when bike is revved or held at 5,000, So does that then mean the reg rec is defo at fault bearing in mind the previous posts readings?