Charging problem.....mucho confusion!
 

Hi all! :D

Anyone with a clue, please help. OK, here goes.......

Bike laid up, outside, sub-zero temperatures for three days. Battery flat, had to bump the bugger to start it. Ran like poo but battery took a charge, however not holding it for long.

Still running like poo so strip and clean carbs. Battery confirmed as duff. Bin old and fit new battery. Running better except on very cold mornings.....AHA! Carb icing. OK, have to live with that one I guess.

Still getting discharged battery. Gat auto-electrician to check her over. Battery good. Reg/rectifier dead. Fit new one. Still losing charge!

Alternator is fine, unregulated voltage normal on all three coils (80 V AC), resistance test good. Voltage across battery terminals at tickover with all lights on -14.8 V, at 5000rpm drops to 13.5 V. Battery still not holding a charge! Argggghhhhh!

Wassup wiv it Guv'nor? :?

Worn hot cable giving it a path to neutral? Doubt it, but it might be...

Hi Northy!

Will check all wiring for chafing and shorts. Cheers!

Anyone else have any pearls of wisdom? :D

Regards

Rich :wink:

I had charging probs - when I checked the output from reg rec all was just about OK.

I decided it must be the reg rec, got a secondhand one, tested it and it gave similar results to the original one, but once fitted all was well again.

Remove battery, connect ohm-meter, (multimeter on resistance scale), across the battery leads - including the supply wires for any acessories fitted, heated grips for instance - with the ignition off there should be no reading - infinite resistance - or at least a negligible reading, (a couple of ohms max), if more then there's a current leak, so even when switched off some battery power is always being used, so no matter how well the bike charges it's leaking away.
If the reading is more than stated, disconnect the reg/rec unit, if the reading drops to zero then the new reg/rec unit has one or more duff rectifier diodes.

If you have an alarm, or other electrical acessories you may well find that the reading is rather higher, take the fuses out, the readings should come back to the appropriate figure.

Failing that check the usual suspects for wiring damage.

Will do, cheers Sid. :wink: