Re: Just bought it and broke down!
 

It happened to me on my first bike on my first ride home 2 years ago! I know the feeling. (Mine was 10 at night in february, sub zero middle of nowhere. I waited 2 hours for recovery!!!) My 2001 curvy has never let me down once though, took it all the way to Czech this summer, first bike trip! There is lots of fun and learing to come! Dont dispair! :D

Re: Just bought it and broke down!
 

:smt041

Re: Just bought it and broke down!
 

Sober now. :cool:

If you haven't already done it, do the following checks;

Reg/Rec Output.
Set your meter to 20V DC and check across the battery terminals with the motor running. Check at tickover and at 5,000 RPM's. You want to see between 13.5V and 15V.

Unregulated Voltage
Before writing off the Reg/Rec, check that it's getting the correct power in the first place.

Set your multimeter to AC (it's probably shown as V~). Set it to 100V~ and make sure the leads are connected in the correct sockets as per your meters instructions.

Disconnect the Reg/Rec connector with the three yellow wires and do the test on the bike side of the connector, not the reg/rec side.

You want to take three readings across the pins in pairs. So if you number the pins 1 to 3, take a reading across each of 1 & 2, 1 & 3 and 2 & 3.

Take readings with the engine running at tickover and again at around 5000rpm. You want to see similar readings across each pair and at least 70V~ at 5000rpm.

Leakage Test
Also worth checking for a short by doing a leakage test. With the ignition OFF, disconnect the negative terminal of the battery. Set your multimeter to the Amps function. Connect the negative lead of your meter to the negative terminal of the battery. Connect the positive lead of the meter to the disconnected negative lead. You want to see a reading of no more than 0.1mA but set the meter at a high rating initially and then reduce it to the milliamps setting just in case there's a high current flow.


Post up your results for the judgement of the collective. It probably is the Reg/Rec. It's a common problem and not expensive to sort.

Make sure your battery is holding a charge as Reg/Rec problems can knacker them fairly quickly.

Re: Just bought it and broke down!
 

Hi guys,

So, just spent an hour in the garage with a useful colleague of mine (electical engineer). We went through the fault finding instructions that were suggested. According to the instructions it turns out there doesnt seem to be a problem with any of it!

Before we started testing the battery was at about 13.8V, after starting it up a few times this went down to 13.2V. However, when we let the bike run for a while it started to climb back up.....

We couldn't find a problem anywhere and it seems to be charging again now. We've left it in the garage and am going to check the battery over the next couple of days to see if it's holding it's voltage. If it doesn't then it points to a new battery.

Thanks for all the help though guys, it's been much appreciate. Would be excellent if it starts working again without me having to spend any money! Would it be worth making the D'Ecosse mod anyway whilst I have the back end off (i.e. hooking the reg/rec straight up to the battery with a 30amo fuse)?

Thanks again for the help, really hope I'll be out and about in the next few days.

Re: Just bought it and broke down!
 

Im no expert on this but if it has shown to be weak then theres an issue. i would go for a very local roll around it could be that the fault with yours is when it gets hot something gets to hot causing serious resistance.
i did the wiring upgrade to mine aswell as fitting a honda cbr reg/rec an it charges perfectly at all checks.
mine did a simalar thing were it would die then be ok for a couple of weeks then die again.

Re: Just bought it and broke down!
 

Yeah, that's my plan. I'll have a pootle around close to home for half an hour or so, pop it back in the garage and see if I've lost any charge during the ride. Fingers crossed it'll charge nicely and I'll be good to go. If I have the same issue again then at least I now have the knowledge of what to look for and replace rather than dispairing that I'm going to be £200-£300 poorer for a fix!

Re: Just bought it and broke down!
 

yea a local run is a good idea then if it does break down you need a friend who has a car battery an some jump leads to get you home,
wow 200-300 where are you looking? it wouldnt cost any where near that mate it cost me about 30 odd quid in parts to change my reg/rec that was including wire and bits to do wiring upgrade.
what area are you in ?

Re: Just bought it and broke down!
 

£200-£300 was thinking about taking it in to Fowlers at Bristol. Upon breaking down I gave them a call to see if they could help. They offered to take it in the following Wednesday to look at it but wanted half hours labour just to figure out what the problem and reckoned it was likely to cost me over £150 for the mend.....was all a bit "upsetting" considering I'd just bought it for x amount and was now having to spend x plus £150-200!

However, I am happy to report that I have put a couple of hundred miles on the bike since the issues and have not had any problems, it's not skipped a beat at all! (Touch wood)

Again, thanks for the help.

Re: Just bought it and broke down!
 

well thats great dude glad to hear it seem ok, may of been due to lack of use just keep an eye on it an see how it goes.

Re: Just bought it and broke down!
 

I had similar trouble when I got my curvy. I bought a Yuasa battery, £50 and it's been fine since. My old battery showd "good" on an Oxford Oximiser, suggesting there was nothing wrong with it, but it would crank over for 2 seconds then die.