weak spark

[Master077]

I just took my bike off the tender. I got a reading of 13 v. I turned the headlights on and the voltage dropped down to 12.05 volts. Does this mean my battery is dead? I boughs this battery 2 weeks ago from cycle gear. Should the battery still be covered by warranty? Is my best bet to exchange the battery and do a charging systems test? It is also 25 degrees here, I don't know how much that affects the battery.

[tom203]

That's too low especially for battery that just came off charger ( how "big" is this charger anyways ?). But humor me, remove headlight fuse and repeat test, how low does it drop now just with key on ?

[Master077]

That's too low especially for battery that just came off charger ( how "big" is this charger anyways ?). But humor me, remove headlight fuse and repeat test, how low does it drop now just with key on ?

The voltage with the bike off 12.46
voltage with bike on 12.30 no headlight
with headlight on 12.15.
I am using a small battery tender.

[Master077]

Won't crank or wont start?

You don't need to have a running bike to do the first part of the Quick Test.

Also you will be waiting a very long time to get your battery charged up using a trickle charger.

I did you quick test

*key off................12.46

2.)*key on*(but not cranking with lights for 10 sec).....
12.1

3.)*at idle*(1500 rpm)..... 12.4

4.)*at 2500 rpm*13.67

5.)*at 5000 rpm.....13.20

6.)*12.00
would this be a stator or a rare problem? Or do I need to do more testing?

[tkent02]

I did you quick test

*key off................12.46

2.)*key on*(but not cranking with lights for 10 sec).....
12.1

3.)*at idle*(1500 rpm)..... 12.4

4.)*at 2500 rpm*13.67

5.)*at 5000 rpm.....13.20

6.)*12.00
would this be a stator or a rare problem? Or do I need to do more testing?

The fact that the voltage decreased going from 2.500 RPM up to 5,000 tells you that your regulator is working but that you have some poor connections. Read the rest of The Stator Papers, it's all in there, as well as how to fix it.

[tom203]

Your charging is marginal -you need to dive deeper into this topic to correct problem-this is a very common issue. member posplayr has the clues......

http://www.thegsresources.com/_forum/showpost.php?p=1138531&postcount=1

[Master077]

I found burn and melted wires coming from the stator and r&r.

[tkent02]

That's what happens when corrosion gets into the connections. Read the stator papers.

[SqDancerLynn1]

If it drops to 8 volts the battery needs to be re charged !!!!

[posplayr]

I did you quick test

*key off................12.46

2.)*key on*(but not cranking with lights for 10 sec).....
12.1

3.)*at idle*(1500 rpm)..... 12.4

4.)*at 2500 rpm*13.67

5.)*at 5000 rpm.....13.20

6.)*12.00
would this be a stator or a rare problem? Or do I need to do more testing?

The battery seems fine (maybe a little cold) but you do have charging problems.

If you re-read the diagnosis area of the Quick test. you Will see that the difference between 1.) and 2.) is a mini load test to see how good your battery is. 2) assumes you have the headlamp connected as it is a quickie test not requiring any disassembley.

3) shows you are charging some at idle enough to pull the battery back up to level from step 1)

4) shows that you have reasonable charging and in the "old days" some would even say you were OK.

However it is 5) v.s. 4.) which shows with increasing RPM your charging voltage folded back. That is a clear indication there are dirty connections between the battery and the R/R.

6) shows that the net result of cranking, and revving up your engine to do the test that you lost charge in the battery. This is an independent test to confirm the other diagnosis.

You will usually find you can improve this by adding additional ground (battery and frame) but there will probably still be residual voltage fold back on the positive connections.

You should clean all R/R connections and follow the grounding recommendations in GS Charging health and then rerun the Quick test to make sure it is better and then proceed to the Revised Phase A tests of the stator pages. You will find it at the same link. There you will measure the actual voltage drops across the leads while charging at max current. Should be less than 0.25V (max) I prefer 0.1 or less myself.

One last word, your measurements are better than most for a mis-cared for charging system.