My battery runs flat and there is oil in the alternator casing.

I'm having some trouble with my charging system. The battery runs flat after some time (about 3 hours of driving). I replaced the regulator as I suspected it to be gone, however that has not fixed the problem. Then I changed the battery with no luck here either.
The lights working fine and there seam little difference in the brightness of the driving lights if I vary the rpm. I measured the voltage at the battery terminals and it is just below 12 volt so I know I don’t get enough power to switch the regulator to charge the batery.
Strange thing is however that I get about 60 volt from each of the 3 spools of the alternator. I had a look under the alternator cover and all looks good.
There was some engin oil in the alternator casing, is that supposed to be lubricated by engine oil?
If anyone can shed some light on to this question I would be delighted.

Thanks for all your help.

Oil inside the left crankcase cover is 100% normal.

[flymo]

Originally Posted by YZEtc

Oil inside the left crankcase cover is 100% normal.

This surprised me a little when I first saw the SV. Most bikes I have come across have a dry compartment that contains the generator but obviously not on the SV. Ah well.

Top tip for those that dont already know this....If you are going to take a quick peep inside here, or alternatively change clutch plates etc on the other side then get the help of somebody else to lean the bike over while you do it.

Saves losing any oil while the case cover is off.

What model SV and how old is the battery as I would expect you to have over 12 volts from a fully charge battery, then over 13 volts when getting a charge from the engine.

[flymo]

Originally Posted by Dirk Eisner

I'm having some trouble with my charging system. The battery runs flat after some time (about 3 hours of driving). I replaced the regulator as I suspected it to be gone, however that has not fixed the problem. Then I changed the battery with no luck here either.
The lights working fine and there seam little difference in the brightness of the driving lights if I vary the rpm. I measured the voltage at the battery terminals and it is just below 12 volt so I know I don’t get enough power to switch the regulator to charge the batery.
Strange thing is however that I get about 60 volt from each of the 3 spools of the alternator. I had a look under the alternator cover and all looks good.
There was some engin oil in the alternator casing, is that supposed to be lubricated by engine oil?
If anyone can shed some light on to this question I would be delighted.

Thanks for all your help.

Dirk,

When you say you get just below 12 volts at the battery, is this with the bike running. If its running then measure it while you get somebody to rev it to 5000 revs and report back with the readings.

In case you've been away for the past month or so there has been a pretty extensive thread covering diagnosis of charging circuits. Check here;
http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=103259

Dont assume you have the same problem as its a little rare to see a faulty generator but the steps taken should identify most issues you would come across. Another useful troubleshooting route is to work through the steps on this flowchart http://www.offwidth.co.uk/bike/gener...lt_finding.pdf

Mike

Check and or relpace the main 30 amp fuse that is on the starter solenoid/relay, it is one of the week points in the bikes electrics. See my previous post http://forums.sv650.org/showthread.php?t=104482

You will be able to see a wiring diagram in colour as well as a trouble shooting guide on the SV charging system if you go to http://www.sv650.org/ select FAQs and How Tos
then Can I: buy a SV650 repair manual?
then Or you can download from this site here

Good luck

Thanks every one for helping out. Thanks to this document I found the fault.
http://www.offwidth.co.uk/bike/gener...lt_finding.pdf
The document is really good and easy to understand. It looks like that I have a bad connection in the charging circuit. I checked the main fuse but it doesn't looks like it is there I will try to find this bad connection and if I do I let you guys know. Thanks for all your help with out you I would have to spend a fortune in the workshop... and now I can spend it on beer instead. THANK YOU

[flymo]

Anytime Dirk. Let us know what you find.

Have done some more testing and it looks like the ignition switch (Key) shows some 35 ohm resistance if I disconnect the switch at the nearest connector and measure between the red and the orange cable with the key turned to on.
Dose this switch really builds the connection back to the battery for charging. I tried to disassemble the steering arrangement to get the ignition switch out but with little success there are a couple of special torx screws with a pin in the centre and I don't have a fitting spanner which I will have to organize tomorrow.
Could this be the problem? if anyone could tell me that would be great.

After some more thorough testing it turns out that I get different resistance reading from 0 to 150 ohm measuring across the ignition switch so there is defiantly a poor connection in the switch. I had in the past difficulty to turn the switch on occasion which may indicated that the look was in poor condition. Anyhow I will bridge the switch tomorrow lets see if this solves the problem.