Pointy flattens battery.

Hi guy's

Can anyone help, my bike has developed a fault and will not keep it's charge, I have not long changed the battery ie three months ago as the old one kept going flat, since then I can't leave my bike for longer than two days before it goes flat again. the battrey will charge from the maines and will then start, I can go for a run and it will start when i'm out but when I get back the following day it will not start.

I have an alarm on the bike, but have been told it is unlikley that, that would drain the battery to fast. I have also been told it may be the regulator, can some one tell where the regulator is. or is it something else.

My bike is an sv 650s 2003

Dangerous1

maybe check the alternator? the bit that charges the battery whilst running

is that the part they call the stantor, located by the sproket.

as you can see I don't a lot about bikes

umm i have no idea ha i'll google it

no such thing as a stantor?

it must be a stator then, unless thats what the Americans call them.

The stator ie regulator/rectifier, I know one is located at the left side of the bike by your foot, where the others, regulator/rectifier is I don't know, it sounds expensive though.

[Sid Squid]

The stator is not the regulator-rectifier, the stator is the static coil windings of the alternator. The regulator-rectifier is separate from the alternator on the great majority of motorcycles, and built in to the alternator on most cars*.
Alternator output is AC voltage, (hence the name), and varies with engine revolutions, it's on the end of the crank and goes at engine speed, if it works right output is 70V AC at 5000 rpm. The electrical system of your bike is 12V DC, (12V nominally that is, typically 13 - 14.5V DC), regulator regulates the voltage to a suitable level and rectifier uses diodes, (electrical one way valves), to rectify AC to DC.

If you have a charging problem the very first thing to do is see if the bike is charging the battery but the battery can't hold onto the charge, or if the bike simply isn't charging the battery. To do this you will need a voltmeter, set it to a range of ~ 20V DC and put it on the battery terminals, turn the lights on to high beam and rev the engine to 5000 rpm, what does the voltmeter tell you? Anything less than 13.5V DC means the charging system of the bike is suspect. Do this and come back to us with the result.

I wait on the edge of my seat! **

* This is not strictly true, car alternators while employing the same principles are constructed rather differently as they vary field current to vary output voltage.
** That's not true either .

PS. Moved to SV Talk.

Hi Sid

cheers for that,I will let you know how it goes, however won't be able to sort it for a couple of days as I'm back at work, but looking at the weather forcast I may have to do it sooner rather than later.

The battery is only a couple of months old and should be okay, but if it has gone it will be cheaper to replace than the stator or rectifier. so fingers crossed.

Dangerous1

[Sid Squid]

Stator failure is rare, wiring and/or regulator-rectifier failure is more likely.
There's no end of suitable regulator units on eBay and in breakers, it doesn't have to be an SV unit, in fact I dare say many would recommend fitting an alternative rather than an original. Of course an original is a simple plug-in fix, whilst an alternative will require some minor wiring alterations, but they really are very minor.

Thanks for the info Sid.

I guess the regilater is somewhere under the tank, I best get looking.

Dangerous1