Battery/Charging issue

I'M BACK!!



Alright guys and gals, long time no speak! Time for me to stop hiding

I have a long list of stuff to fox on the SV before its road worthy again...so lets make a start.

On my last trip to Wales last year my battery stopped charging itself. Bumps and jump starts fine, so I'm thinking alternator or r/r?

r/r was replaced with a CBR one prior to my ownership.

Whipped my battery out yesterday, and woke up this morning to find it had finally finished charging. Its been standing for about 10 hours and the multimeter is only reading upper 9's to mid 10v, hops around a bit.

I'm guessing this means the battery is facked?

If so, where can I get a decent (read, cheap) replacement?

Once the new battery arrives how should I go about diagnosing where the fault lies? Is there anyway I can make do with the battery I have now, even to just find the fault? I;m wary about screwing up a new battery while fault-finding

[Bibio]

Hong. battery's just give up m8 and there might not be anything wrong with your bikes wiring/charging system.

i just got a new battery for mine as it was not holding a decent charge (1 week and it was dead).

ebay £34 delivered for a Yuasa.

Hiya Lance

I guess that is always a possibility - however prior to that the battery has always been spectacularly reliable.

What would be the way to check where the fault lies?

Also if you have the seller's name that would be most kind

[Bibio]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Genuine-Yu...item3a82320edc

don't matter m8 battery's are most unreliable. pretty much given if the battery is indeed loosing charge than its fubar.

i was getting a bit worried about you. nice to see you nice

Thanks I'm fine, just had a manic year and only just being able to get my head above water...

OK silly question. New battery - comes fully charged or do I need to stick on for a quick top up?

I'll install the battery, arm myself with a multimeter - then what?

[Bibio]

it comes with the acid out of the battery.

take the covers (keep in one piece and don't throw away as you will use them later) off the acid pack, peal the protector from the top of the battery, place charge pack above holes in battery and push down very firmly in one go to brake the seals on the pack, acid will slowly bubble into battery. once the pack is empty wait 10 mins and remove empty pack. wait another 30 mins and place the plastic cap strip that come with the acid pack into the holes in the battery. leave over night or a good 6hrs to let the battery charge up then put it in your bike.

What then?

I want to check I have the right voltages in the right places at the right times so I dont end up stranded because there really is a charging issue lol

[Bibio]

start with a fresh battery as its fubar anyway. there is a guide on here somewhere detailing what you need to check but you need a good state battery to start with or you will get all sorts of funny readings.

Simply pouring the acid into the battery does produce electricity, but your new battery won't be fully charged. Best to put it on a charger to fully charge it before use. Depending on how you use it, if you don't fully charge it with a charger, it's possible that it won't ever reach full charge, and somewhere along the line, it won't be able to reach full charge.

[jambo]

Hong!
You need a new battery, or a new multimeter, 9v is not OK

Once the bike starts up with the new, charged battery put a multimeter across the terminals and rev the bike with and without the lights you should get something like:

Bike off: 12.5V (ish)
Bike at Idle: 12.5 - 13V (ish)
Bike @ 5,000 rpm with lights - ~14V

If you're getting 12v flat then the bike isn't charging, if you're getting much north of 14.5V then it's over-charging. At that point take the tail plastics off and check the reg/rec by unplugging it and checking the alternator is putting out ~80-90V AC @5,000 rpm, and that the reg/rec is outputting 13-14v.

The Haynes Manual has this test in it and if you do a search for "Charging circuit test" on the forum you should find better written versions of the above with more accurate numbers.

Jambo