Electrickery - reg/rec or battery - and 15v at idle!!

Hi all

New SV650s curvy 2000 owner. She's been a bucket of problems and came to me with a fresh MOT after four years of neglect and possible a front ender!

Long story short but it's been painful getting her ridable despite a fresh MOT (they count for sod all these days) - brake calipers basically fell off on ride home!! That's just one example.

Anyway - she seems roadworthy now but still exhibiting a few issues.

My primary concern right now is the electrics/charging circuit (please don't let it be a short - really don't fancy going through the whole loom)

Here are the facts

Battery keeps draining overnight - not tested the voltage as had to get to work but will get this later. This is the second time it happened - last time I put it down to dumb luck.

After a long ride yesterday (60 miles) she went lumpy at idle although I think this may be a mixture issue however I killed the lights and she picked up enough to seem like she wouldn't stall.

Now to the meat -

- Battery with bike off - 12.5

- Battery with bike on but not turning over - 12.7

- Battery did not dip below 11 when starting her up

- At idle before revving she was at - 13ish

- After revving to 5000 she was at 15.4

- Voltage didn't drop again - she remained at 15v at idle with lights on - this seems odd to me but I'm unfamiliar with this bike.

Tested circuit for drain and nothing

Tested alternator continuity (or lack of to ground) - all fine

Tested resistance - all fine

At this point battery was struggling with tests/getting started

Voltage dropped to 6 when starting

The only thing I haven't tested is the voltages coming direct from the alternator. It was late and I wanted the sofa and beer and the battery had given so sod bump starting it.

I'll charge the battery again and test alternator direct voltages but it seems like it's either battery or reg/rec or both.

I've heard a duff battery can take out a reg/rec - Is this true?

So what should my next step be and if I replace the battery and it isthe reg/rec am I going to murder the battery again?

The battery was 12.5 after being stood overnight but when I tested it the day before it was 12.8 and didn;t drop below 11 when cranking.

Anayway - I hate electrics


I used search and saw lots of people with curvys and similar issues but none as specific as mine. I'm a bit weirded out by it holding 15v at idle only after being revved.

Is the 15v at idle a regulator clue?

[Sid Squid]

It is, 15+V is a dab too high, 14.7 is as high as it should go, although meter accuracy can play a part obviously. That does rather point to the regulator- rectifier being out of sorts, this may well be the cause of your flat battery too, if any of the circuitry is duff who knows what else is damaged.
Disconnect the regulator, charge and fit the battery, if it still goes flat there's a fault elsewhere; wiring, battery. Does the battery self discharge when disconnected?

Not tested that yet.

I think in all of this the battery has had its day anyway - after all my faffing it was at 12.4 and didn;t have the juice to start her - volts dropped to 6.

I'll trickle charge her overnight and leave her for a couple days with everything but the reg/rec connected and leave her a day then take readings then do the same with reg/rec connected - would that serve much purpose?

I'd expect it to hold 12.4 + and still crank - my ZZR was 12.3 and she still starts easy in the cold.

Is there a test for the reg/rec that can be done? I'm going to acquire a more accurate multimeter over the next couple of days and retest over the weekend anyway.

[Geodude]

See tests in my sig. HTH

Aha!

Thanks - Away til the weekend so will run through this then.

Cheers

[Bibio]

''After a long ride yesterday (60 miles) she went lumpy at idle although I think this may be a mixture issue however I killed the lights and she picked up enough to seem like she wouldn't stall.''

did you test the battery voltage when you got back?

sounds like a duff battery to me.

Voltage was about 12.7 if I recall. I tested her straight away when I got back and she started fine with power not dipping below ten.

My first port of call with this would be battery but the apparent (unproven) overnight drain with no draw on the circuit and the 15v plus at idle after revving to 5000 has got me scratching my chin and thinking there's more to this than a duff battery.

Could be a chicken and egg scenario

hey buddy, had issues with my Curvy when I got it (November 2014), replaced the battery, which didn't help. So replaced the reg rec. Now she's super... Hope this helps buddy

Im going to go with a dead R/R due to the 60 mile ride discharging the battery

[Bibio]

a dead RR will discharge the battery (charging system is not working). a dead battery will cause bad cold starting issues then the battery will eventually fail (charging system working but battery not keeping charge).

to test a charging system you NEED a fresh battery or you WILL get false readings. a battery with a dodgy cell for instance will cause the charging system to look like its over charging at the battery due to the dead cell being like a piece of wire rather than a capacitor/resistor.