Bike not charging at idle with headlight on.

[earlfor]

It sounds like you have a bad battery. The voltage apparently comes up with being on the charger, but there isnt any capacity. Thats why as soon as you try to start the bike (put a load on the battery), the voltage drops to 10 v or so.

Earl

I have the battery on my kitchen counter charging and when I put my ear up to it, i can hear a fizzing sound. Should I unplug this and just plan on getting a temporary cheapo walmart battery tomorrow? At least until I can get a Yuasa sealed battery in the mail.

I could hear the fizzing sound from a foot or two away when the tender was on it, and it was in the bike.

 

[posplayr]

bakalorz

bakalorz

Hey take a sedative, maybe your pulse with stay within a normal operating range so you can completely reading what I said.

>>>> I'm assuming there are about 3-4 ohms Resistance in the >>>>relay/solenoid coil. Use an ohm meter to measure the coil resistance >>>>to be sure.

I just grabbed a relay ER803-C-12VDC relay and it had 81 ohms so that means it is only going to pull about 150 milli-amp (not 3-4 amps) so I guess automotive relay have a lot more gain that I was suspecting. As I suggested measure to be sure.

Well if you read andrewclaycomb post he did ask

>>>Any ideas?

>>>That was just BAD information.
>>>>I don't particularly want to pick on you posplayr, but if you don't >>>>have a clue about a particular question don't take a wild flying >>>>guess.

I think if there is anything inappropriate here, it is your childish and amateurish behavior with "all red" and "over sized font" outburst. You can't possibly know anything about me and yet you presume to. That is the height of arrogance and arrogance begets ignorance. Get a clue.

You can rest assured you are hardly my technical equal and so with that outburst of yours I have no desire to respond to you anymore.

I do however understand that with a typical engineering curriculum that there are very few humanistic social electives required. So tact is not apparently not high on your list and probably not even in your consciousness. Hopefully you will learn some.

Posplayr

 

[tkent02]

Hey take a sedative, maybe your pulse with stay within a normal operating range so you can completely reading what I said.

>>>> I'm assuming there are about 3-4 ohms Resistance in the >>>>relay/solenoid coil. Use an ohm meter to measure the coil resistance >>>>to be sure.

I just grabbed a relay ER803-C-12VDC relay and it had 81 ohms so that means it is only going to pull about 150 milli-amp (not 3-4 amps) so I guess automotive relay have a lot more gain that I was suspecting. As I suggested measure to be sure.

Well if you read andrewclaycomb post he did ask

>>>Any ideas?

>>>That was just BAD information.
>>>>I don't particularly want to pick on you posplayr, but if you don't >>>>have a clue about a particular question don't take a wild flying >>>>guess.

I think if there is anything inappropriate here, it is your childish and amateurish behavior with "all red" and "over sized font" outburst. You can't possibly know anything about me and yet you presume to. That is the height of arrogance and arrogance begets ignorance. Get a clue.

You can rest assured you are hardly my technical equal and so with that outburst of yours I have no desire to respond to you anymore.

I do however understand that with a typical engineering curriculum that there are very few humanistic social electives required. So tact is not apparently not high on your list and probably not even in your consciousness. Hopefully you will learn some.

Posplayr

Come on guys, save it for the religious threads.
We are technical here, we can all get along.

 

[Guest]

just want to point out, as pointed out in the stator papers :-D, no use in troubleshooting the charging system if the battery is shot
test the battery first, if faulty - buy a new one
fully charge it with your trickle charger (assuming it itself is ok) and then run the troubleshooting as per the stator papers flowchart

saves a lot of guessing :-D and possibly some unecessary work too

 

[bakalorz]

Hey take a sedative, maybe your pulse with stay within a normal operating range so you can completely reading what I said.

>>>> I'm assuming there are about 3-4 ohms Resistance in the >>>>relay/solenoid coil. Use an ohm meter to measure the coil resistance >>>>to be sure.

I just grabbed a relay ER803-C-12VDC relay and it had 81 ohms so that means it is only going to pull about 150 milli-amp (not 3-4 amps) so I guess automotive relay have a lot more gain that I was suspecting. As I suggested measure to be sure.

Posplayr

Next time maybe YOU measure first rather than give a BULL**** answer that will lead someone to troubleshoot something that is absolutely not the problem.

And relays don't have "gain" ... "technical equal" my @ss

Well if you read andrewclaycomb post he did ask

>>>Any ideas?

>>>That was just BAD information.
>>>>I don't particularly want to pick on you posplayr, but if you don't >>>>have a clue about a particular question don't take a wild flying >>>>guess.

I think if there is anything inappropriate here, it is your childish and amateurish behavior with "all red" and "over sized font" outburst.
Posplayr

You gave horribly wrong advice. If Andrew paid any attention to it, it would have made him do totally the wrong things to fix it. It deserved to be shouted down in the strongest possible terms.

You can't possibly know anything about me and yet you presume to.
Posplayr

I know that you don't have the tiniest bit of a clue about what a reasonable amount of current in an automotive relay is.

I know more than once you posted incorrect information that will confuse other readers and hinder (not help) their troubleshooting efforts.

I know that in more than one thread you have given bull**** answers that you have just guessed at. And they were wrong.

That is the height of arrogance and arrogance begets ignorance. Get a clue.

You can rest assured you are hardly my technical equal and so with that outburst of yours I have no desire to respond to you anymore.

Posplayr

Absolutely fine.

But don't pretend that its because you're technically superior.
On every point that I recall calling bull**** on your posts it's because you were wrong.

And despite what you may think, I don't just point out the wrong advice to get my jollies.
I point it out because that wrong advice is confusing someone else or making them do something that will not help them solve their problem.

And if I read more bull**** I absolutely will respond to it.
So if you don't want me to respond to you, maybe you should check the accuracy of the stuff you post before you post it.

I'll be happy to never respond to another of your posts ... but that will only happen if you don't post bull that will mislead others.

I said it in the other post and I'll repeat it here:
if you don't have a clue about a particular question don't take a wild flying guess


By the way I bolded it, so that maybe you would notice it this time.

I do however understand that with a typical engineering curriculum that there are very few humanistic social electives required. So tact is not apparently not high on your list and probably not even in your consciousness. Hopefully you will learn some.
Posplayr

I don't know what your education was, but accuracy is not apparently not high on your list and probably not even in your consciousness. Hopefully you will learn some.

You spew a lot of wrong information.
I don't have a high tolerance for bull****, and if telling you you are wrong is a lack of tact, I guess there is one thing you are right about.

Tell you what, you improve your accuracy and I'll improve my tact.

Bye the way oh great technical superior ... do you want to take me up on the bet in my original post ...

didn't think so ... pffft

 

[Guest]

:arrow: 8-[ :shock:

 

[andrewclaycomb]

just want to point out, as pointed out in the stator papers :-D, no use in troubleshooting the charging system if the battery is shot
test the battery first, if faulty - buy a new one
fully charge it with your trickle charger (assuming it itself is ok) and then run the troubleshooting as per the stator papers flowchart

saves a lot of guessing :-D and possibly some unecessary work too

Is a battery tender a trickle charger?

 

[seuadr]

ya, i would think so. they usually charge at 1 or 2 amps, which is what i've always understood to be a trickle charge. essentially, you just want to avoid cranking a ton of amprage when you are charging. Although it will supply a high voltage reading, in reality, there power just isn't there. also a good way to fry a battery.

 

[chuckycheese]

Is a battery tender a trickle charger?

Yes, BatteryTender is a brand name. I would suggest you splurge and get the BatteryTender Plus. It's a wonderful little gadget and, over the years, it will save you a number of batteries!\\/ It will keep you battery fully charged but it won't 'fry' it or boil out the electrolyte solution.

 

[Matchless]

A quick test is to read the voltage across the battery and then see what it drops to when you crank it. On a car we used to put the headlights on and they would dim immediately when the starter started turning if the battery was suspect. If it immediately drops a couple of volts it tells you the battery is faulty or if the voltage drops more slowly after a good couple of starter turns then battery is not fully charged, not holding a charge or the starter is drawing excess current. Another battery or jumping it to a car battery should quickly help you. Do not run the car when jumping.

 

[GSJohn]

This is a little off topic but concerning battery power/capacity: My bike came with a battery that will only charge to 12.5 volts even out of the bike. The level is good on this walmart battery...I have not tested the specific gravity though. It was working just fine but for testing my electrical system I put in a small sealed AGM battery (only 4 Ah) I have around that maintains a 12.7V charge. It seems to work just fine but I wonder what the electrical system thinks of a smaller capacity battery. I'm a mechanical engineer so my "electrical intuition" is highly suspect...but I reasoned that the electrical system would just see it as a normal battery until it's reserve capacity is used up. As long as I don't deplete the reserve capacity it should not matter if it is smaller in size, right?

 

[andrewclaycomb]

Yes, BatteryTender is a brand name. I would suggest you splurge and get the BatteryTender Plus. It's a wonderful little gadget and, over the years, it will save you a number of batteries!\\/ It will keep you battery fully charged but it won't 'fry' it or boil out the electrolyte solution.

I was just using battery tender as a generic term. My "tender" is a Yuasa Smart shot 900. It shows charging and when it's full it goes into storage mode.

 

[Guest]

Is a battery tender a trickle charger?

hm, depends where you live :-D
yes it is

 

[earlfor]

A couple possible problems I see with a small capacity battery are: If your bike takes repeated cranking to get running from a cold start, you could quickly exhaust the battery before getting the engine running. Also, the charging system on a GS is not a load regulated system. Engine rpm controls electrical output. There must be excess output available for the system to be able to charge the battery. Once the battery is charged, any excess electrical production is shunted to ground. A larger capacity battery (I would think) would maintain a more stable electrical system voltage level as opposed to a small battery that may cause the lights to go dim immediately at low engine rpm.

Earl

This is a little off topic but concerning battery power/capacity: My bike came with a battery that will only charge to 12.5 volts even out of the bike. The level is good on this walmart battery...I have not tested the specific gravity though. It was working just fine but for testing my electrical system I put in a small sealed AGM battery (only 4 Ah) I have around that maintains a 12.7V charge. It seems to work just fine but I wonder what the electrical system thinks of a smaller capacity battery. I'm a mechanical engineer so my "electrical intuition" is highly suspect...but I reasoned that the electrical system would just see it as a normal battery until it's reserve capacity is used up. As long as I don't deplete the reserve capacity it should not matter if it is smaller in size, right?

 

[andrewclaycomb]

unfortunately the only thing I could get in town today was a regular battery and not an AGM one. If the battery was my problem because of the old reg/rec over charging it, I'm getting another sealed one asap. I'm already tired of making sure electrolyte levels are up. I don't even want to think of acid coming out of the vent tube.

This down time has been good for the bike though. I just cleaned the chain and adjusted it (I'm going to try the advice from the chain facts 101 thread and just clean more often with WD40 and no lube. The chain at least looks better. The old lube was really sticky and everywhere)... and I replaced a leaking oil drain plug gasket.

Even though no riding, it's still a good day.

 

[bakalorz]

unfortunately the only thing I could get in town today was a regular battery and not an AGM one. If the battery was my problem because of the old reg/rec over charging it, I'm getting another sealed one asap. I'm already tired of making sure electrolyte levels are up. I don't even want to think of acid coming out of the vent tube.

This down time has been good for the bike though. I just cleaned the chain and adjusted it (I'm going to try the advice from the chain facts 101 thread and just clean more often with WD40 and no lube. The chain at least looks better. The old lube was really sticky and everywhere)... and I replaced a leaking oil drain plug gasket.

Even though no riding, it's still a good day.

Don't put in the AGM one till the charging issue is straightened out though.
(other than possibly for brief tests to straighten it out)

The AGM batteries are great in a lot of ways, but if you overcharge them enough to cause gas to vent, you can't put it back in.

With the cheap batteries if the overcharge current is low enough that liquid electrolyte isn't really coming out the vent tube (just oxygen and hydrogen gas bubbles are) then you can use distilled water to replace what you lost, with no real damage done.

 

[andrewclaycomb]

Well, I just got the new charged battery in the bike and of course she starts right up. I take the bike up to 2500 RPM (exactly 13.5) volts and 5000 RPM (14.1 volts) and everything is within the specs on the stator papers.

And then I just now realized that I did the test with the low beam on.

I always ride with the low beam, almost always city. Am I fine for a while until I can go through and replace all of the old connections and properly go through the stator papers?

Can a low volt reading damage my battery?

 

[earlfor]

Doing the test with the low beam instead of the high beam on will not matter greatly. Low beam is 55watts and high beam consumption is 60 watts and that isnt enough to be concerned about. The voltages you recorded are fine. My 1150 with a fully charged battery always showed a 55/60mph, cruising down the road voltage on the dash volt meter in the 13.1 to 13.5 range depending on speed. You're good to go, enjoy the ride.

Earl

Well, I just got the new charged battery in the bike and of course she starts right up. I take the bike up to 2500 RPM (exactly 13.5) volts and 5000 RPM (14.1 volts) and everything is within the specs on the stator papers.

And then I just now realized that I did the test with the low beam on.

I always ride with the low beam, almost always city. Am I fine for a while until I can go through and replace all of the old connections and properly go through the stator papers?

Can a low volt reading damage my battery?

 

[andrewclaycomb]

voltage on the dash volt meter

What kind of voltmeter do you have? I'm thinking it wouldn't be a bad thing to monitor more regularly.

 

[earlfor]

It was a small black digital readout bar that showed voltage, time and temp.
I think it cost me about $25. It wasnt kuriakin (sp) but similiar. I think it was Brian that had posted the link for them. I'll check my bookmarks etc. to see if I still have the addy.

Earl

What kind of voltmeter do you have? I'm thinking it wouldn't be a bad thing to monitor more regularly.