how to test a battery

with one of these multimeter



what readings should I be getting for a good charge on a curvy SV

Cheers

When all is functioning correctly, you should see at least 14.5 volts across the battery at 4-5 thousand rpm with the lights on.

[yorkie_chris]

13.2v when stood there doing nowt

That depends on what you want to know from the battery.

Fire up the engine, and put the DMM into DC Volts (top left corner of the dial), on the number 20. Put the DMM probes on the battery terminals, red to positive, black to negative. Rev the bike to 3500 RPM. What voltage do you show?

Shut the engine off, disconnect the DMM, then disconnect the -ve lead from the battery. Now put the battery into DC Amps (right side of the dial). Start with a high value, say 20A (not 20m or 20u). Attach the red DMM probe to the -ve terminal on the battery, and the black to the -ve lead you took off the battery. Keep increasing the DMM sensativity until you get a reading. That will tell you if the battery is leaking - most likely the cause of a dodgy earth somewhere on the bike, or an alarm.

Reconnect the -ve lead to the -ve terminal on the battery, and disconnect the battery side of the regulator rectifier. Attach your DMM to the probes here (check the service manual or haynes for pin specifications - I'm unsure on the Curvy), and fire up the engine. DMM probes want to be in DC Voltage again, and somewhere around the 20V mark, or you could use 200V for this. Again, rev to 3500 RPM, what do you see?

Shut down again, and disconnect the alternator side of the regulator rectifier. Again, look at a manual for the pin specifications, but this time you're looking at AC Voltage (top right on the dial). CAREFUL. This is pretty high voltage. Start the engine & see what you get on the DMM.

Lick the battery, that will probably let you know if its working....