battery charging to much

[kildrm]

i just purchased an 81 gs850 and the battery in it was a year old and had no acid in it. could it of fried the battery by charging to much? just dont want to buy a new battery and cook it

 

[JEEPRUSTY]

Hello new guy
yup a bad regulator will boil a battery

BassCliff will be around soon for a formal greeting but form what you describe you are going to be doing a complete diagnostic ont eh charging system

Not to worry GSs are notorious for charging issues.

 

[kildrm]

right on thank you

 

[Guest]

Not only that but overcharging can also damage the stators insulation varnish causing failure later on and reduce the life of headlight bulbs. I got a year out of my old stator after changing over to a modern series type R/R. I changed the stator when it failed a year later. The system is still running strong today. The interesting thing about it is that before the new R/R, I was replacing headlight bulbs every four to six months. I'm still using the same bulb I put in the bike after the R/R upgrade, so I have almost saved the price of the R/R already in headlight bulbs alone, and am able to run heated gloves and insoles in the winter.

 

[Guest]

New stator, new R/R (Compufire), new battery (several types to choose from now days). Clean and repair any and all electrical contacts. Check for bare and burnt wires and contacts, repair and replace as needed. Upgrade the bullet connectors to spade type. Your electrical system needs upkeep and tuning as well as anything else on the bike.

 

[alhntr]

I was wondering what the advantage of the spade terminal vs the bullet connetor ? I may have to do that also, cheap upgrade for connectors.

 

[koolaid_kid]

A good spade connector, correctly installed, provides a more secure, stronger connection.
Just get some shrink tubing (double-walled is the best) and use it as a stress reliever and you will be set.

 

[Dogma]

A good spade connector, correctly installed, ...

I smell a lot of "if" coming off of that statement. The stock connectors work fine if they're clean and tight. There's no need to upgrade unless they're damaged, and a spade is no guarantee of system reliability.

Before the OP starts replacing things, he should clean all the charging system connections and see if anything is actually fried yet. There's a good chance the regulator is done, but without testing there's no way to be sure. A new R/R with dirty connections will exhibit a similar failure.

 

[bonanzadave]

Mine was overcharging due to low voltage (voltage drop) at the point where I connected the sense wire. I did a relay mod so the sense wire saw + battery terminal voltage and now its a solid 14.5vdc. Grounding the regulator at the - battery terminal helped too.

 

[posplayr]

I smell a lot of "if" coming off of that statement. The stock connectors work fine if they're clean and tight. There's no need to upgrade unless they're damaged, and a spade is no guarantee of system reliability.

Before the OP starts replacing things, he should clean all the charging system connections and see if anything is actually fried yet. There's a good chance the regulator is done, but without testing there's no way to be sure. A new R/R with dirty connections will exhibit a similar failure.

I agree with the comments except in the case of the R/R connections especially if they are bullet type.

Apparently Detoxit works to get inside of the crimps and dissolve or remove corrosion, so perhaps that would work but on the OEM connections. I still would not trust bullet connections except perhaps for the large one on the main red lead between battery and the R/R.

Those bullet connectors on the stator wires seem to always get hot. And your don't want additional connections between the R/R (-) and ground.

The proof will be in the measurement of the voltage drops between the battery and the R/R. At 5000 RPM there should be no more than 0.25V preferably closer to 0.1V max.

Make sure you do these two tests and report the results for diagnosis.
STEP #2 MEASURE POSITIVE LEAD VOLTAGE DROP
STEP #3 MEASURE NEGATIVE LEAD VOLTAGE DROP


Link to Revised PHASE A of Stator Pages:
http://www.keepandshare.com/doc/3970459/stator-papers-phase-a-pdf-may-13-2012-10-43-am-55k?da=y
ORIGINAL_STATOR_PAGES

 

[kildrm]

thank you

thank you

thanks guys:lol:

 

[posplayr]

thanks guys:lol:

Any Updates?

 

[BassCliff]

Greeteings and Salutations!!

Greeteings and Salutations!!

Hi Mr. kildrm,

Sorry I'm late. Here's some information that I hope will help in the care and feeding of your 30 year old motorcycle.

If you are here you probably have a 30 year old motorcycle that needs about 20 years worth of maintenance. In the links below you'll find maintenance lists, documentation, wiring diagrams, "how to" guides, vendor links, tips, tricks, and a whole lot of GS goodness. This is your "mega-welcome". Let's get started.

Let me dump a TON of information on you and share some GS lovin'.

I just stopped by to welcome you to the forum in my own, special way.

If there's anything you'd like to know about the Suzuki GS model bikes, and most others actually, you've come to the right place. There's a lot of knowledge and experience here in the community. Come on in and let me say "HOoooowwwDY!"....

Here is your very own magical, mystical, mythical, mind-expanding "mega-welcome". Please take notice of the "Top 10 Common Issues", "Top 15 Tips For GS Happiness", the Carb Cleanup Series, and the Stator Papers. All of these tasks must be addressed in order to have a safe, reliable machine. This is what NOT to do: Top 10 Newbie Mistakes. Now let me roll out the welcome mat for you...

Please Click Here For Your Mega-Welcome, chock full of tips, suggestions, links to vendors, and other information. Then feel free to visit my little BikeCliff website where I've been collecting the wisdom of this generous community. Don't forget, we like pictures! Not you, your bike!

More links to helpful threads in the forum:
Help! Your Bike Won't Start
DON'T DO THESE THINGS
Help! Your Bike Won't Run Well
Oh God! Pods!


Thanks for joining us. Keep us informed.

Thank you for your indulgence,

BassCliff

 

[Redman]

i just purchased an 81 gs850 and the battery in it was a year old and had no acid in it. could it of fried the battery by charging to much? just dont want to buy a new battery and cook it

Yes, overcharging can cause the battery to be dry of the acid/fluid.

Assuming it did have acid at one time, Do not need to add acid, just water (distilled water preferably).

Or... maybe someone got a mail order battery that didn't come with the acid, and did not know they needed to go get some. Do not know how you can tell if it never had any acid or was overcharged and "boiled off" all the water.
Was it completely - completely dry? Not even a little bit in very bottom of a couple cells??

So that is one mystery.

Other mystery will be known by measuring the battery voltage with engine off and again with engine running at mid rpm, about 4 thousand rpm.
You will need a meter for that, and will need a meter for any further troubleshooting. Is very hard to troubleshoot electrical systems with your eyeballs.

Tell us more what you find.

Also tell us what model of R/R you have.
REason I ask is this: If its a Shindneden (don't really know how to spell) like on a Honda, it needs a sence wire. If problem with the scence wire circuit, then R/R maybe okay, but problem with the sence wire/circuit will cause the R/R to greatly overcharge.
I have such a R/R, and had a problem with the sence wire/circuit and the R/R went to about 18 volts, Yikes!
Tell us how many wires of what color is on your R/R.



.

 

[Redman]

kildrm,

Maybe add your location to your profile. (goto UserCP)
THen that will show up in every post. Maybe someone nearby can take a look for you.


.

 

[cableguy]

Shindengen (you were close!)

 

[ThrottleBack]

I know I'm late but make sure it's not cracked. I bought an ATV once and a hairline crack along the bottom of the battery caused it to run dry. Never even saw it at first.