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Old 13-06-18, 05:42 PM   #1
daktulos
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Join Date: May 2016
Location: St Albans
Posts: 364
Default Alternator/reg/rec question ...

I took a 45 minute trip recently to see my mother recently with the headlight on. Unfortunately, I turned the key too far and left the side-light on when I parked it. After a couple of hours, I needed a jump start to get going again.

A 5W bulb for 2 hours is about .8Ah and the battery is 10Ah I think, so it clearly wasn't anywhere near fully charged or at full capacity.

I have a cheap battery, and I'm definitely not sure it was fully charged, so I'm not too worried about it.

However ... in the garage, I started the engine with the headlight on to check it is charging. The headlight brightens noticeably once the bike has started and idles which I expected, but revving the engine caused it to dim somewhat, which I wasn't expecting.

So, here are my questions: Is this normal? Is the alternator/reg/rec on the sv650 (curvy) so finely balanced that riding with the headlight on could result in the battery discharging? Or, does it look like I may have a problem?

Thanks.
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