Battery Charge

[Farkass]

Gday guys,

Problem is this.

Battery dies, so i replace battery. Go for nice long cruisy ride on freeway and Scarbby Beach Rd to charge it up. Stop off at Nookies (spotted Avian) got back on and turned over acceptively. Continue ride back home encounter a traffic jam and stall the bike. Bike doesn't even turn over.

In short, im thinking charging issue? Alternator? Regulator? Rectifier?

Any thoughts?

Thanks ^^

[Arwon]

if the alternator is charging then look at the connections on the regulator, you may have a hotwire joint.

[Eukanuba]

so many things it could be...

check your cables are on tight, check your fluid levels ( if you can ) in the battery..
get out a multi meter, check that there's charge going in to the battery when it's running..

Are you able to bump ( push ) start the bike ?
Are you getting head lamps / dash lights ?

Charge the battery properly, then rinse and repeat..

The best way, is to start with a fully charged battery - put the multimeter on it - ensure it's getting a proper charge in from the regulator/rectifier.. if it's not, then - you need to go back to the regulator, check the 3 wires coming in from your stator, check the AC voltage coming in, check the ohm's on the windings.. then check the output on the regulator..

[Barfrangipani]

is it a Honda? They're notorious for the regulator/rectifier going kaput.

So as arwon said, see if the alternator is providing juice, then see if the reg/rec is turning that juice into nice friendly 13.8-14.5V DC

[Captain Starfish]

Farkass

Process of elimination time mate.

There should be three same-coloured wires coming out of your alternator/generator. Generally speaking a multimeter across two of these should show at least 70 volts once the RPM hits 4000 or so.

If not, either your exciter coil isn't getting excited (ie the non-same-coloured-wire may have a faulty connection, or the regulator/rectifier is kaput) or the alternator is shagged.

Next step - regulator/rectifier. If the voltage across the battery doesn't rise from XYZ at idle to around 14.5 volts around 3-4krpm, and then STAY there as the revs increase, chances are it's reg/rec.

Shitty things to diagnose, good luck with it.

[Farkass]

yeh gonna give the battery a full charge tonight and run it for awhile see how it goes. after it died i could even jump it. but there r still dash lights + headlights. spoke to the guys at k-tec and they reckon it is probs the reg/rec. gotta bring it up there to get the switch block replaced so will probs get em to suss it out ^^

and yeh u guessed it ... its a honda ^^

anyway thnks guys ^^ muchos gracias

[Mattis]

If the battery was overcharged (i.e. it was brand new and the shop had just put the acid/gel pack in it and charged it up and it went straight into the bike) and you took it for a ride then with the extra voltage being supplied through the stator it could have been too much for the reg/rec to cope with and fried it as a result.

Same thing happened to my R1 a little while back, my battery was flat after the bike had been left sitting so I put it on quick charge for a bit and then started the bike and went for a long ride. 20kms up the freeway and the bike went completely flat, ended up needing to replace the reg/rec.

Definitely get a voltmeter across the terminals of the battery with the engine running. It should hold above 13V consistently (will vary somewhat with revs).

[Farkass]

nah other way round. got my dad to pick up a battery for me through one of his suppliers. chucked in in the bike and left it for 24 hrs (no xtra charge) then ran it. thats y im thinking and hoping its just a lack of charge in the battery.

[Mattis]

nah other way round. got my dad to pick up a battery for me through one of his suppliers. chucked in in the bike and left it for 24 hrs (no xtra charge) then ran it. thats y im thinking and hoping its just a lack of charge in the battery.

I see. Generally these batteries are delivered dry to the retailer without the gell cell or acid solution in them. This needs to be added and then the battery given a significant charge before it will be able to hold charge.

So chances are yeh, it is just undercharged at the moment or perhaps they didn't put the fluid in the cells?

Make sure you follow the manufacturers charging instructions on the battery (or in the documentation that came with the battery). Some of them don't like to be quick charged (i.e. hit with 5+ Amps for 15 mins) and instead require a slow charge (1.5Amp) for a few hours.

Once charged the battery should hold at least 12.5V.

[Farkass]

yeh nah got the bateery in the box. chucked the fluid in and let it sit then i ran it and subsequently it died. got ahold of a charger so gonna let it get nice and charged and try ti again and see if theres still a problem. (i hope not)

hahaha