Yuasa Lead Acid battery making sounds in the garage.

[Carter Turk]

Sometimes after a ride (Kat 1150), I'll relax in the garage for moment or three and I can hear the battery on the bike percolating, is that a normal discharging sound or a short somewhere or something else?

If I walk in the next morning and sit for a few minutes, I can hear it.

No multimeters whipped out yet, wouldn't know what I'm looking for or what setting I need to be on or where to put the probes.

[OldVet66]

Well if it is the battery boiling, your charging system is already damaged and overcharging. That won't last long before it boils it dry. There is probably stator damage too. That is one of the largest topics on the electrical forum so there is tons of information on it. That is also why many of us have changed over to Series R/R's along with a thorough maintenance of the electrical system. That is definitely not normal charging sounds.

[fastbysuzuki]

Second what oldvet says, start the bike and select a range on multimeter around 20 v dc put the red probe on the + on the battery pole and the black on the - pole on the battery post the readings both for 1100 rpm and at 5000 rpm.
A more detailed test by posplayer below
Charging System QUICK TEST

EDIT 8/10/2016: Make the measurements by stabbing the center posts of your battery. These are direct battery measurements. Avoid any connections.

EDIT 2/27/2014 : Read about the latest SERIES R/R's that are available
Stator Pages

Sometime people get a little confused in the details of doing the stator pages and sometimes they forget to check their battery. So just to help things along if someone is a bit confused and needs a sanity check.

These tests are NOT mandatory as long as you know you have a good battery and can follow your way through the stator pages. Otherwise it is just a nice real quick test.

NOTE THIS IS NOT TO REPLACE THE STATOR PAGES. IT IS JUST A QUICK FIRST SANITY TEST TO see the battery is good enough to proceed with the STATOR PAGES. The first part of the stator pages will actually measure how good your connections are and goes well beyond this QUICK check.

Quick Test Steps:

1.) key off................Normal 12.7 volts-12.9 volts

2.) key on (but not cranking with lights for 10 sec).....Normal 12.2-12.5 volts

3.) at idle (1500 rpm).....12.6volts - 13.2volts

4.) at 2500 rpm 13.5 -14.0 volts

5.) at 5000 rpm.....14.0 -15.0 volts

6.) key off.....slightly higher than measurements # 1 (12.8-13.0 v)

QUICK TEST Diagnosis Summary:

Basically Step #1 and #2 is making sure the battery is charged and in good health. The drop should be about 0.5 volts for normal headlamp and coil load (without cranking the starter). Anymore than 0.5V drop indicates the battery is weak even though the static voltage is OK (12.7-12.8V). If your battery is any lower it can have an effect on your charging voltages as the charging system only has so much capacity and will be drug down by a poor battery.

Step #3 is get a baseline starting voltage. This will vary some depending upon your idle and the particular R/R you have. It could be lower than the off voltage or as you idle up it will increase to 13.0 v

Step #4 by the time you get to 2500 RPM you should have close to the maximum output voltage even if you have bad connections. You are not pushing as much current and this shows that the stator is likely good.

Step #5 by the voltage at 5000 RPM being higher than at 2500 RPM you have a pretty good indication that your connections are good. If the voltage at 5000 drops from 2500 you have bad connections. If you already checked the grounds then it is likely in the positive legs between R/R(+) and Battery (+) check fuse box and the large bullet connector to the battery. The voltage climbs above 15.0 V it is likely the R/R not regulating and is bad bad.

Step #6 If after running for a few seconds in a charging state the voltage to the battery should have risen a bit. If it is lower than where you started then you did not charge at all, Again this will vary some what depending upon how long you let the bike run.


Good Luck


P.S. The voltages are indicative of state of charge as described in the file below. There are some variations in voltage but the shape of the curves is pretty representative.

http://www.scubaengineer.com/documen...ing_graphs.pdf


Rule of thumb C/10 would have the R/R output set at 14.V/100% SOC which is pretty typical. The Suzuki R/R's are pretty loosey goosey with an upper allowable range of 15.5V IIRC.

Anyway, this is really relatively independent of the at rest battery voltage which is not really even given in the curves as they assume at least C/100 Charge / Discharge and there is a significant discontinuity there.

Taking a closer look at the last chart is showing 12.7V at C/100 discharge and 13.35 ish at C/40 charging. So the lower chart confirms voltages in high 12's even possibly over 13V for topped off batteries.

So immediately after a ride if you are are at 12.5V I would say you are probably not charging very well.

Last edited by posplayr; 08-10-2016 at 08:47 PM.

Read about Charging Quick Test GS Charging Health GS Stator

"The smallest giant of mankind, is he who stands on the shoulders of a larger giant who himself stands on the shoulders of yet a larger giant, and therefore sees the most light from GOD." Posplayr 2017 adapted from : Bernard of Chartres



Stator ages for info https://www.thegsresources.com/_foru...31#post1138531

[Buffalo Bill]

I hope you have a hose from the battery down to the underside of your bike, or you've got corrosive acid dripping through that part of the bike.
Check the ground under the bike for acid stains.

[Brendan W]

............. and check the level in the battery cells.
Low level is a strong pointer to boiling/overcharging.

[greg78gs750]

i know there are a few that still insist on unsealed batteries, but when agm's are so readily available and reasonably priced, i don't see the advantage.