QuestionI've had my bike for 3 years and I am on my 3rd battery. On the 2nd battery over the winter I placed it on a trickle charger 3 times about 1 time a month. Installed it and was dead read 11 volts. So I bought anew one. After installing the new battery I put a volt meter on the battery to check if charging. At idle it showed 12.5 volts when I increase RPM's the volts rise into the mid to high 13v range however if I increase the RPM's more the volts begin to drop to high 12v to low 13v range. During the week I usually don't ride if I do it's mostly highway at high RPMs. I have a boat radio 200watts peak, 2 50 watt driving lights, and a garmin zumo GPS. So I guess my question is, is there something wrong with my charging system. Too many accessories? I would think the higher RPM's would create more volts not drop?
Thanks for your help,
Nick
Answer12.5V at idle is about normal, but it should run up to 14V at speed. Two possibilities occur to me:
- It is possible that either one winding of the stator or a diode in the regulator/rectifier has failed. Your shop manual should have instructions for checking these.
- If your driving lights are on when you are measuring the voltage that could be the problem. Bike alternators are usually designed to produce not much more power than is needed to run the lights & ignition and charge the battery. Adding 110W of driving lights (if you check, I think you'll find that they are actually 55W each) often results in the battery not charging, but running one at a time is usually OK.
See my article "The smart way to connect driving lights to a motorcycle" here: http://www.aegeansoft.com/silverwing/phorum/read.php?29,7744
Try measuring again with the driving lights off and if the voltage comes up to 14V reconnect the driving lights as described in my article. Make sure you have a switch to turn them off in the daytime to give your battery a bit more chance to get charged.
BTW: You were on the right track charging your battery every month. I'm not sure why it would have been dead in the spring.
Have a look at my article "Battery Maintenance/How Batteries Work" here: http://www.aegeansoft.com/silverwing/phorum/read.php?29,7836
I recommend joining an online forum like this one http://www.thesabrehood.org/forum/
Model specific forums are a great place to exchange info with others who have similar bikes to yours.
