OK, so I flatlined my battery a few weeks ago by leaving the bike on but not running... Oops.
A little time on the Battery Tender and a 100Mile ride later the problem seemed fixed.
I've added a Signal Dynamics Tail Light Modulator by plugging it inline with the tail lights. It seems to work fine.
This week, I'm having minor issues with the installed Garrage door opener, and I've been trying to fix that, so I have had the bike on without running it for short periods.
Then it's dead again, and will not start after short rides.
How fast does the engine need to be running to charge the electrical system?
How long should it take to recharge the battery by riding?
Another night on the Battery Tender and the problem seems fixed.
Until Today, when it started up just fine and got me to and from the gas station to fill up.
Then My wife and I climb back to head out of town for the day.
I press the starter and get one grunt and nothing.
My wife hops off and give me a push so I can get back up Mount Driveway and into the garrage, but she askes if it will always start with a small push? I say it should and she decides we should head out anyway, and she'll just push start me when we need it... If it doesn't just charge up like it has before.
So we head out for port dover about 80 miles away.
It never does charge the battery, but it seems to run fine except that the turn signal indicator flashes irratically and the neutral light pulses and flickers.
So, now it's back on the battery tender so I can check the R/R.
Any other insights?
[I'm also posting this on v4bbs and will check both]
Could be that your regulator is undercharging.. I had one do that on me for over a year.. It would keep things charged fine, unless I ran with my aux light.. Then it would drain the battery over time.. Then one day, out for a ride, I noted that the instrument lights were dimming while riding (at night).. Then at a light the bike died on me.. another segment of the regulator seemed to have died on the ride..
I say, put a volt meter while the bike is running.. You should be running about 13 volts at idle and about 15.5 - 16 volts at 3K rpm and higher..
Bikes 2000 and older are known to have regulator issues after some time..
I've had an over charge regulator (replaced), then undercharge (listed above) later...
If you discount carburetors gumming up from sitting unused for too long, the regulator/rectifier is the biggest headache on our bikes -- at least on the 3rd gen ones.
If you don't have a voltmeter handy, you can buy one at Harbor Freight for under $10 (under $5 on sale) which is accurate enough. Measure as Hootmon suggests and post the results.
The charging systems that I have measured don't do squat below about 3000 rpm.
The ignition runs off the electrical system, so if it won't charge, the bike will eventually die. You can then push it 'til the cows come home, it won't run.
Could be battery but will bet that your reg. has gone out.
You can try after market but I would get OEM if it was me.
There is a MOOT holder for the reg. that we are hoping it will let the reg. last longer.
Always make sure your battery cables are tight.
How old is your battery?
Your answer is likely the three post above mine, charge up your battery first than check the voltage while running as pointed out above.
The same thing happened to me a couple of weeks ago. My bike would not start one morning so I put the battery charger on it and charged the battery. Rode the bike back and forth to work for couple of days. Then the battery was dead again. Seeing I bought the bike last year. I did not know how old the battery was. So I installed a new one. The bike started and ran every day for a week back an forth to work. Until one night when I went to go home and all it did was grunt. I push started the bike an made it home. The reg./rec. had gone out on it. Seeing I did not have a meter. I did a simpler test to find the problem. I charged up the battery and got it running. Then simply removed a cable from the battery. It died instantly because there was no voltage being made. If the reg./rec. was working the bike would have kept running.
Battery tender is a slow low charger charger, may not have put a full charge back, and/or could have hurt a cell in the battery, I would start there. Batteries tend to die in the hottest or coldest times of the year. Could have pushed it over the edge.
I would get it charged on a deep cell automatic charger, if it cant hold under a load, then a new one. Then test your reg/rec, most tend to overcharge and kill the battery. Plenty of info on the forum about this procedure.
Battery Tender charged it to 13V overnight and the bike runs fine with signals and neutral lights working properly...
The battery voltage dropped while the bike was running (ie not charging.) The battery was above 12 volts when we shut it off after 5 minutes or so.
The Current Leakage (standby current) is at 6.18mA but almost all of that is the Guard Dawg installed. Without the Guard Dawg it is 0.1uA.
Regulated Voltage was 12.6V (What the battery had come up to after shutting down) and the main fuse in its outboard housing (Extended for easy changing) was discovered to be melted but not blown. The Fuse had a wider portion at the top that had shorted)
The Harnes side of the R/R connectors checked out correctly (The Battery charging and ground line checked good and the Alternator Charging Coil resistences were within specification) (~0.3 ohms)
On the R/R itself I get Infinite resistence on every combination with every polarity.
So I have a bad R/R right?
Thanks Guys
The '96 I sold was doing the exact same thing. I actually didn't see good charging voltage till over 5000RPM. The real killer was in the summer when the fan would kick on. Stop lights and traffic would drain my battery in a hurry. I got to the point of carrying a solar charger just in case I didnt have a place to plug in the tender.
"The charging systems that I have measured don't do squat below about 3000 rpm." Lawrence quote.
I especially noticed this on my VFR. I bought a led style charge indicator that changes colors as the volts increase/decrease. I notice that my bike won't even begin to start charging unless the bike is above 3000 rpm as well.
Quote from: arbadacarba on June 27, 2011, 07:33:02 PM
On the R/R itself I get Infinite resistence on every combination with every polarity.
So I have a bad R/R right?
I believe you are correct. The manual shows on page 15-8 shows that you should read 500 ohms to 10,000 ohms between some of these terminals (the forward drop of diodes.)
Yours is toast.
At least it is cheaper than the alternator core...
I didn't check the prices on the alternator core, ouch...
Yeah battery's are fickle things Ran fine and started fine from the office getting off the boat for MOOTMag and 6 hours later when I go to take off and head out for AR click click click DANG IT New battery time...
New R/R is in and it now reads 14.5 volts at 1200 rpm... Installed the Headlight Modulator, Jumper Cables Connection (A heavy guage SAE2 cable that is unfused) and my new Highway pegs (Interestingly enough there is only one option for placement of the Clamp)
Also replaced the cabling for the Garage Door Opener, so now that's working again too.
OK, I gotta know... Make, model, price and seller of the R/R. Since it puts out 14.5V at 1200 rpm, I want one.
I suspect this performance will only accrue to a better design, one with MOS devices instead of SCR's, and would really like to check it out.
I hate to admit it but I bought the cheap one that the Honda dealer said he had had good luck with... I'll test some numbers after I get back on Monday and give you accurate numbers for various RPM's.
I seriously considered the 270$ Honda one but at 110$ I figured I'm never anywhere I could get a tow if it failed, or replace it a couple of days later if we are REALLY far from home.