I know I've seen gauges on people's bikes that tell you how the battery is charging. Usually it's just an unobtrusive little box with a few LED's. Has anyone wired a charging gauge into their Magna? I had never really heard about all the reg/rec issues before I joined this site. From the stories I've read when the regulator fails you've still got a couple hours before the bike's totally dead. With a gauge I could atleast try and make it home, or to somewhere I can get some help right? When the gauge alerts me the bike's not charging I can switch to low-beam to save some time and head straight home.
So, my question is, has anyone put a gauge like this on their Magna or any other bike and which one have you had good success with (preferably one that's fairly inexpensive)?
Try this thread.
http://www.magnaownersoftexas.com/forums/index.php?topic=1785.0
Thanks for the thread. If I understand the other threads on reg/rec the failure mode actually starts to overcharge the battery and boil out the acid. Which is why it will continue to run (off the charging system output) until you stop the bike and then you find the battery is fried. So I'm assuming that the first one mentioned in that thread, the one with only 3 LED's, won't really help much because it won't tell you when the battery's being overcharged.
The two listed in that thread that give actual numerical voltage readings would tell you when it's overcharging, but they're only good up to 16v. I recall in one of the reg/rec threads it was discussed that the overcharging of the battery could be as high as 20v. Anyone seen one that goes as high as 24v or so? I'd hate to fry the meter when the reg/rec goes because then I still won't know if the reg/rec is actually overcharging or if it was just a spike or something. I'll keep looking.
Quote from: JLeather on July 17, 2009, 07:45:28 AM
Thanks for the thread. If I understand the other threads on reg/rec the failure mode actually starts to overcharge the battery and boil out the acid. Which is why it will continue to run (off the charging system output) until you stop the bike and then you find the battery is fried. So I'm assuming that the first one mentioned in that thread, the one with only 3 LED's, won't really help much because it won't tell you when the battery's being overcharged.
The two listed in that thread that give actual numerical voltage readings would tell you when it's overcharging, but they're only good up to 16v. I recall in one of the reg/rec threads it was discussed that the overcharging of the battery could be as high as 20v. Anyone seen one that goes as high as 24v or so? I'd hate to fry the meter when the reg/rec goes because then I still won't know if the reg/rec is actually overcharging or if it was just a spike or something. I'll keep looking.
Regulators can go a number of ways (high / low / zero) I've actually had all of them..
I didn't notice what year bike you have.. This is mainly a Gen 3 issue between '94 & '00.
IF you know your Regulator goes to zero, (If it's at night you will notice your instrument lights getting dim, but by then you are pretty far gone) the best thing to do is pull your headlight fuse.. this will give you maximum life out of your battery..
My first failure was an over charge (I don't know the voltage, I believe about 18V) The bike died all at one.. I was able to add water to the battery, and get it home.
Before mine went to zero, it was running low for more than a year, but I did not recognize the signs... Every thing was fine, so long as I did not run with my brights & Aux light together.. If I ran both, it would drain the battery..
Hope some of this helps..
I am going to get one. Leaning toward the Kuriyakin over the digital one. The Kuriyakin will be accurate enough for me and it looks COOL.