2 questions in 1, charging and air box...

[Guest]

Hey all, for the first time in over a year my bike almost left me pushing. I was about 1 mile from home when it just died on me. Tried popping the clutch while still rolling and it would turn-over but not run. Tried starter button and nothing. (diagnosis--flat battery).

After some pushing and cursing got to the top of another hill, got her rolling, some verbal encouragement, popped the clutch and she fired up, rode home under power \\/ .

Got home checked voltage on battery and had like 10.xx V.

I thought I had the charging system fixed. But, I put the battery on charge for about 1hr before I left for work that day, it wasn't fully charged when I left. Is is possible that the trickle charge from the running bike wasn't enough to bring it up from below-full to full? I've not yet done my ground checks and such. New Stator, new R/R in January.

I'm 'hoping' that the battery was low when I left, and 4 turn it off, restart it, putting around town at 40mph wasn't generating enough RPMs to get any charge back into it.

Thoughts?

2nd question: Took battery off bike when I got home to charge it, noticed on the back-side of my airbox there was little nub that perhaps is supposed to have a hose on it. I've often wondered WHERE the air comes from that gets sucked into the apparently sealed airbox. My Clymers didn't have a drawing in it for me to say ah-ha! so i thought I'd ask.

Thanks!

[fgh]

It sounds like you have a charging problem or a bad battery. Check the voltage at your battery at 4K rpm and if it ain't around 13 run the tests in the stator papers. A bad battery might be able to cause the events you experienced. Charge it overnight and if it doesn't crank strong its probably bad.

Kinda hard to talk about your air bax if you don't say whet your riding!

[Mark whiz]

Sounds to me like your charging system is definitely not working properly. I've had stator failures twice treat me like yours did. The engine would suck the battery dry, die, and in 10 or so minutes of pushing time it would regenerate itself enough to allow a push start, run a couple miles and then die again.

If the battery was able to cold start the motor when you left for work - it would have had enough juice to run and get you home unless the charging system isn't working - OR if you have a voltage drain that the system can't keep up with. I recently fought that problem in a major way and it ended up being an igniter box that was going bad and draining my system dry.

A bad battery could also be the culprit as well, as I had to replace my batteries soon after stator failures. Typically, a 1amp trickle charger is going to need 8 to 12 hours to bring a badly depleated battery to a useful spec. Charge it overnight and if it ain't up to par in the morning, it's a good candidate for replacement.

[jbs80106]

Thanks!

its an 82 650G. I'm hoping its not something in the charging system after having dropped the 150 or so for the new stator and R/R. Don't recall what the Electrosport warrantee is on the R/R.

I need to check it out with my voltmeter. Battery is 1 yr old and I did have known charging problems last summer, hence the replacement work this winter. Its full of water still so no topping up required. I'm assuming the electrolyte balance is good still.

Step 1: recharge battery (done over night last night)
Step 2: check my grounds for loose connections
Step 3: put battery back on and check voltages coming back to battery at 4000 rpm (this test was fine back in January/Feburary)
Step 4: if 3 passes the test, I'll try again to see if battery holds/takes charge from the bike, if not will replace.

Sounds good?

[earlfor]

Acid does not evaporate, so once filled, the electrolyte balance does not change. It doesnt matter how many time you have added water.

Earl


[quote=jbs80106;638327]
I need to check it out with my voltmeter. Battery is 1 yr old and I did have known charging problems last summer, hence the replacement work this winter. Its full of water still so no topping up required. I'm assuming the electrolyte balance is good still.

[Dave8338]

At 5000 rpms, you should see a 14-15.5 volt charge. If you don't...assume that your connections are in need of a good cleaning. All electrical connections between the r/r engine block, battery posts, and the ground wires...all of them. Pull the bullet connectors apart and buy yourself a small can of copper pipe/solder cleaner-prep and a tube of dielectric grease. Clean all the connectors with the solder cleaner , wipe them down good and treat them to a healthy coat of the dielectric grease, and you'll be done wondering if it is a connection issue. :-D

[RJz1100E]

I had similar problems once recently. Bike was running fine, next time I went to start it, no lights, no anything. Turned out that the battery connections were ever so slightly corroded. Cleaned em up and BAM. Juice.

Rj

[psyguy]

2nd question: Took battery off bike when I got home to charge it, noticed on the back-side of my airbox there was little nub that perhaps is supposed to have a hose on it. I've often wondered WHERE the air comes from that gets sucked into the apparently sealed airbox. My Clymers didn't have a drawing in it for me to say ah-ha! so i thought I'd ask.

Thanks!

(on 850) at the back of the airbox, at the top, just under the tank/seat part of the frame is the opening for the air (it's a relatively small intake)
there are also a couple of openings at the botom of the airbox
the bracket on the airbox is i think for the vent hoses off the carburetors