300 miles away... and now what?

[earlfor]

11.8 volts, fresh off the battery charger is a toasted battery. At that voltage, its almost dead. You will not make 300 miles on that battery with an inoperative charging system If it were a new battery, and holding the full 12-14 amps possible, you would not be able to run 300 miles/aprox 5 hours.
The bike consumes about 8 amps per hour.

Earl

hey guys, thanks for all the replies. I went out yesterday took the city bus and found a random car shop. They recharged my battery for 8$ !! that seems a bit pricy but under the circumstances... I know sears would of done it for free (it's a die hard battery). The water levels are fine. But the guy who recharged the battery literally said to me "it says it's at 12v so I guess it's fine" ... at that point I took the chance, I knew that a 12v reading is a dead battery. When I got home I checked it with my voltmeter and it read 11.8 or so. I put it on the bike and after a thousand kicks it started up, left it running a little bit without the headlight on and it recharged it some. Right now I'm about to take the chance and get out of here before all the rain starts. I going to one final check to see if the R/R is working fine... if not I have a honda replaceable that I brought with me just in case. It seems that my battery will only charge at 5 + or if I have the headlights turned off... but this is from before. If I make it home, maybe I'll recoil the stator with lower gauge copper wire...for more amp??? well wish me luck! and thanks for all the helpful responses!!!!

[bexabarr]

Thanks guys for all the replies... and for all the help that you guys offered. I took the risks yesterday and made it home fine. The battery now reads 12.16... I think that my charging system is working off and on, and it is about to go. I also suspect that it could just be a loose wire or something. I took 83 North (I was going to take 81N but decided to take it easy... and not push the bike too hard) then went through route 15/11 and onto 14 then 13 N. Penn got a lot of rain, and the river that runs next to 15/11 had nearly overflooded onto the road... it was quite the sight to see...

Thanks again for everything!

[Hoomgar]

Glad to hear you made it. The GS, you gotta love them

[rustybronco]

glad you made it home beni.

[earlfor]

Your charging system is working, thats for sure. How well is still a question.
First thing to do is replace the battery. If the battery is fried, and if you ran it dry, its on its way out, a perfectly functioning charging system will not be able to charge it.

E.

Thanks guys for all the replies... and for all the help that you guys offered. I took the risks yesterday and made it home fine. The battery now reads 12.16... I think that my charging system is working off and on, and it is about to go. I also suspect that it could just be a loose wire or something. I took 83 North (I was going to take 81N but decided to take it easy... and not push the bike too hard) then went through route 15/11 and onto 14 then 13 N. Penn got a lot of rain, and the river that runs next to 15/11 had nearly overflooded onto the road... it was quite the sight to see...

Thanks again for everything!

[JMHJ]

I ran my battery out of water once (well, enough that it wouldn't start the bike); after refilling and recharging, it worked fine. That was 6 months and a couple thousand miles ago. I checked it the other day and had to add about 20 oz. of water again, to fill it up. Seems to be working fine, but I guess I've got (over-)charging issues myself.